PORTLAND, OR-The Portland Development Commission has released a Request for Interest to solicit development teams and concepts for portions of the Burnside Bridgehead site in the city’s Central Eastside Urban Renewal Area. The RFI is a “concrete and crucial first step in the implementation of the Burnside Bridgehead Framework Plan,” according to a prepared statement.
The Burnside Bridgehead Framework Plan was created through “extensive research and collaboration among members of the greater Portland community and various consultant groups as a tool to ensure that redevelopment meets the vision for the site.” According to Trang Lam, PDC senior project manager, “The wheels are turning.”
He adds that “The Framework Plan honors the existing character of the district, and we are aligning that approach with the RFI to spark immediate, transformative redevelopment that will catalyze and identify the Central Eastside as an attainable, productive, and sustainable district.”
The four-acre, four-block Burnside Bridgehead site is an essential component in the city’s work to energize redevelopment, stimulate job creation and generate tax increment in the Central City, according to a prepared statement. “The Framework Plan calls for a mix of uses—commercial, employment and residential—that activate the site, build on its unique character, and provide opportunities for the community to gather,” the statement says.
In April of 2005 the PDC selected Opus Northwest to develop this site for $200 million, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. At that time, Opus’ proposed development program assumed that market rate condominiums would lead the redevelopment and help finance the other project components such as office and retail. Since that time the market for condominiums has significantly declined. Consequently, in February of 2009 PDC and Opus mutually agreed not to extend the Memorandum of Understanding—executed in March of 2006—due to the economy. In summer 2008 Beam Development approached PDC and indicated their interest in the project. PDC and Beam entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in February 2009. In October of 2009, PDC kicked off the next phase of the Burnside Bridgehead development with the selection of Will Bruder + Partners as the consultant team for a six-month Framework Plan process. “The framework plan process supports this goal by taking advantage of the downturn in the market to refine and clarify public goals and objectives for the property and identify key opportunities and constraints on the site,” according to the PDC website. The PDC is also developing a sustainability plan, a construction cost reduction study, and metrics for how future development proposals on the site could be evaluated against the framework plan’s goals and objectives.
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
