Building Boom in the Rose City
It seems the economic slow-down or recession or whatever you
want to call it is over. Building
projects are leaping up all over the damned place.
The Albina Fuel location is FINALLY moving forward. They knocked down all the buildings on the
site, scraped up the rubble and are working like beavers at constructing the
new thing. It’s going to be the typical
layout – ground floor retail and condos above.
The ground floor retail is supposed to be, get this, a New Seasons grocery
store. Wha….?!? Yes, right between Freddy’s and QFC, and down
the street from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.
Well, it’s not like we won’t have choices. They will be adding a traffic light at 32nd,
which is going to be necessary when they add the hundreds of dwelling
spaces. It feels odd to have a giant construction crane looming over
Broadway.
There’s a so-called ‘super-block’ being developed in the
Lloyd District. It’s the property that
once was a private parking lot between Multnomah and the Max tracks. Next door to the computer store. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a mix of
ground floor retail and business and condos above. Sound familiar? This is our future, apparently. Right now, they have a tall chain link fence
with tarps on the inside all around the property. I kind of resent that because we all like to
watch stuff being built in our neighborhoods.
The new bridge over the Willamette is going along
nicely. It’s actually nice looking so
far with a spiderweb of steel cables stretching from the towers to the road
bed. I’m supposing it will be a lift
bridge because yes, we are a PORT and shipping should be able to go further up
the river than that. At least, I’d bet
the businesses in Oregon City think so.
I’m actually pretty excited about this bridge. It’s going to be used for light rail, bikes
and pedestrians. Not cars! Well, probably buses and maybe emergency
vehicles, but not cars in general.
Good. Progress.
I had mentioned some time ago that there was a building
going up at that wacky intersection of Burnside, 12th and
Sandy. It looks like it is nearing
completion. I understand that it is
supposed to be a senior living facility (no doubt over ground floor retail). I’m not sure why it’s going up right there –
other than the obvious: someone wanted to build something big and had the land
for it. What I mean is, there aren’t any
obvious services geared to seniors in that neighborhood. There is a bus line or two. And, plenty of bars and a couple of strip
joints… I suppose the Franz bakery might have cheap bread for the
oldsters. But, it’s not really even a
very walkable location. I don’t get
it. Maybe I need more info.
I have also mentioned the Edith Green Wendell Wyatt Federal
Building and its big redo. Looks like
they might be nearing completion on that.
I really need some pictures to do this post justice.
The outside of this building looks like a giant pipe organ. I don’t know if they make noise, but the
front of the building is covered with rows and rows of massive upright
pipes. I suppose it’s some form of green
technology and it is interesting looking.
I’ll give it that.
I have taken the bus a couple of times this week, and there
are some updates along the route. I’ll
be back on the bus more, what with the weather getting so very wet
suddenly. I’ll take better notes,
because there are things happening!
