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Sneak Preview of the New Eastside Streetcar
Portland’s newest streetcar line (and the first on the city’s eastside in more than 50 years) opens in less than a month on September 22, 2012. In anticipation of this substantial expansion to the existing streetcar network, Mayor Sam Adams, along with members of the Portland Streetcar board and Bureau of Transportation, rode on the first passenger-carrying train to traverse the new alignment earlier this month.
The eastside expansion will bring passengers over the Broadway Bridge from NW Lovejoy Street, connecting to the Lloyd District, the Oregon Convention Center, the Central Eastside’s Produce Row, and OMSI. When the new segment opens, streetcar service will be divided into two lines, which will overlap on 10th and 11th avenues in NW Portland and downtown. The opening of the eastside line will bring enhanced service to the most heavily used section of the Westside alignment (on 10th and 11th between Portland State University and the Pearl District). This section will see trains arriving every 7 minutes, down from the current 12-13 minute wait times. Trains on the eastside, NW 23rd, and the South Waterfront will arrive every 14 minutes. For a map of the new two-line system, click here.
To watch the video of the first ride, click here.
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How’s the Portland OR real estate market doing?
The National Association of Realtors has released the following stats for the 2nd quarter of 2012. I continue to be busy, but never too busy to help someone new.
A Trip Down Memory Lane in Portland Oregon
My husband grew up on the hill overlooking downtown Portland. His father was an avid photographer, and I've endured many a slide show with photos from his parents' trips through Africa, and many other exotic spots. But some of his best photos, at least to me, are the shots taken from their balcony over the city as it grew. Since I've only lived in Portland for around 20 years, I've only seen it as a big city. But in a time before skyscrapers, the views were very interesting, and I loved looking at the view of Mt. St. Helens before she blew her top.
So when I found this website, I knew the Perkins kids, and other Portlanders (and future Portlanders) would enjoy seeing it as well.
There's a little white castle on Buckingham street that was across the street from his family's home. It is fun to see the view from above the castle (although it's shot too high to see his old house)
Below is the copy attached to the photo on this marvelous website, Vintage Portland.
Portland spreads out below Piggot’s Castle in this nice 1907 bird’s eye view. The 1892 castle still sits on SW Buckingham Drive and is visible up the hill from the foot of SW Broadway looking south. Broadway is seen here on the left.
Enjoy the views of Portland in these historic photographs!
Where are housing prices headed?
Everyone seems to be asking their professional Realtor’s prediction is on where home values are headed.
To answer this question I want to quote three separate reports that have been published in the last 60 days: the Home Price Expectations Survey (HPES), the Urban Land Institute Real Estate Consensus Forecast (ULI) and the Demand Institute’s Report (DIR): The Shifting Nature of U.S. Housing Demand. Here are their projections:
A slow but steady return is projected by all. If you plan to stay in your house for 5 years, you can expect appreciation – not like the good old days in the rush, but a good, modest growth at a pace that’s a welcome relief after the last few years.
With thanks to the KCM Blog.
Pearl District’s Field Park
The Pearl District is finally getting it’s park!
My clients in the Pearl District are going to be so excited! Especially the ones with kids and dogs!
After more than a decade of conceptualizing, planning and designing, Fields Neighborhood Park is now under construction in the northeast end of the Pearl District.
R&R Construction this month started work on the $3.1 million project, in which a 3.2-acre parcel is being transformed into a recreational field and play area.
Fields is coming out of the master plan that first spurred creation of the Pearl’s Jamison Square and Tanner Springs Park – two elaborate public spaces featuring a popular interactive water fountain, artificial wetlands and walking paths. Fields is intended to complete the recreational picture.
“I think it’s going to be kind of a game-changer for the North Pearl District,” said Dave Davis, president of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association.
Davis, whose condominium overlooks the park, said access to a large swath of land where residents can exercise, play softball or throw a flying disc is long overdue for the dense downtown area.
But design involved more work than plotting four corners of a field and planting some turf. Andrew Sullivan, an associate principal at the Office of Cheryl Barton, which designed the park, said the community wanted to make sure the San Francisco firm got it right.
“A lot of people know, short of something happening with Centennial Mills, that this is the last big piece of open space that is planned for this area of the Pearl,” Sullivan said. “So it’s their last real chance to get the park they want for their future, family or whatever their agenda might be.”
Fields Neighborhood Park was designed by the Office of Cheryl Barton and will include a dog area, children’s play areas and a large open space.
Sullivan said some people wanted the space to be a huge dog park, while others wanted children’s play areas, and others wanted only a field. The result is a design featuring all of those elements with a motif that aims to conjure the swirling, sweeping, eddying image of the nearby Willamette River.
Sullivan said the plan is to include artistically scoured lines in the sidewalks, interactive play walls for children, permeable pavers and rain gardens to recycle stormwater. But a big design aspect will be wave-like planters and tree canopies.
“I think what we’re trying to do is use the planter to kind of pop lots of different colors,” he said. “We’ve got these sweeps at both the ground level – these beds of perennials and canopy trees around the perimeter – and these sweeps that will have really nice spring blossoms as well as fall colors.”
Sullivan said another focus will be encouraging kids to interact with nature. Play walls will invite children to reach plants through openings and play areas will steer kids through planters rather than around them.
“It reinforces the idea that kids are in a natural setting instead of putting them on a rubberized surface, on an asphalt lot, with just plastic equipment,” he said. “I think putting them in a natural setting, and pushing for more imaginative play leads to a richer experience.”
One original design aspect that will not be present is a pedestrian bridge linking the Fields park to the Portland Development Commission’s nearby Centennial Mills site. Shawn Uhlman, spokesman for the PDC, said the agency is reviewing development proposals from Venerable Properties and Daniels Real Estate for that site. The preferred proposal is planned to be presented during a meeting on May 23.
Sullivan said the Fields park was designed to accommodate construction of a pedestrian bridge to the Centennial Mills site when that property is finally developed.
The Fields park also represents completion of negotiations between Hoyt Street Properties LLC and the city of Portland.
Riley Whitcomb, system development charge program manager for Portland Parks and Recreation, said Hoyt donated the three-acre site in exchange for consideration of a $650,000 waiver on a future development project. Whitcomb said $400,000 of that waiver would come from the parks bureau and the remaining $250,000 would come from the PDC. He said it was a small price to pay for an integral piece of property.
“We really needed that extra land, and from that standpoint it was a very good deal,” Whitcomb said. “The value of the property is a lot greater than the credits that we will likely eventually give them.”
Aaron Slowik, project manager for R&R Construction, said its contract completion date is January 2013. Davis said neighborhood residents are anxious to see the finished product.
“We wanted an exceptional park rather than just land and a couple trees thrown here and there,” Davis said. “But the proof is in the pudding.”
(Article courtsy of Daily Journal of Commerce, Oregon.)
(Rendering courtesy of the Office of Cheryl Barton)
10 Things to love about Portland OR
The second season of Portlandia, a critically-acclaimed show, if you’ve never heard of it, on IFC that lovingly lampoons life in one of the country’s most unique cities, recently wrapped up its season. But you want to know what’s even more fun than watching Fred Armisen make jokes about Portland, Oregon on your television? Tuning into the actual city itself!
Should you need a little push, here are 10 compelling reasons to book a flight, like, now (speaking of which, here’s a list of airfares to PDX).
#1 It’s exactly what you think.
Funny hats, food trucks, obsessive baristas, urban gardening, bike lovers: Portland is practically a laboratory of all that’s hip and cool in North America right now. Soak up the vibe with a visit to the city’s legendary Saturday Market, which just launched its 36th season. The event — which actually runs both Saturdays and Sundays, in the city’s historic Chinatown area — features tons of local artisans, as well as plenty to eat (portlandsaturdaymarket.com).
#2 The city has an amazing arboretum.
Any city can do parks, but how many have gigantic arboretums, brimming with gorgeous flora from around the world, plonked directly on top of the downtown area? Just a short hike up from the bustle of the city center, the cool, green forests and manicured gardens of the Hoyt Arboretum remain one of Portland’s finest assets (hoytarboretum.org).
#3 Emerging artists.
Portland is known for inspiring its share of creativity, and schools like the Oregon College of Art — with a handsome campus among the trees on the edge of town — do their part to help channel all that inspiration. See tomorrow’s big names today at the school’s ever-changing Centrum Gallery, which rotates monthly with work from current students, as well as alumni and faculty. The Retail Craft Gallery on campus sells the work of more than 100 artists, all affiliated with the college (ocac.edu). A short drive down Burnside, back in the heart of town, the Pacific Northwest College of Art is a partner in the cutting-edge Museum of Contemporary Craft, which features a free First Thursday (of every month) event, where the museum stays open into the evening hours (mocc.pnca.edu).
#4 Distillery Row.
We all know there’s a ton of really good beer around here. Has been for ages. But even cooler is the rise of the city’s Distillery Row, a collection of — you guessed it — distilleries located within walking distance of one another, just east of the Willamette River. Together, they are working to ensure that nobody ever needs to drink out-of-town whiskey — or gin, or vodka or rum — again. Each stop on the Row keeps weekend drop-in tasting hours; learn more at distilleryrowpdx.com.
#5 Local brews.
Seriously. Coming to Portland and not drinking the local beer is kind of like going to New York and refusing to eat pizza. From Deschutes Brewery’s heady black beers to Laurelwood’s Organic Green Mammoth IPA, you really can’t go wrong; make sure to also sample the more obscure stuff, such as Upright’s complex sour beers or Cascade Brewing’s barrel-aged Bourbonic Plague, with an ABV of — mind how you go — 12 percent. To brush up on the scene, check out portlandbeer.org.
#6 Gorge-ous scenery.
Remember how Seattle used to be the cool town and Portland was that little thing you sort of just breezed through? Well, Portland’s the one everyone’s paying attention to now, and you can still breeze through it. There’s sprawl here, but not much. From the middle of town to the beginning of the protected Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area can take as little as 20 minutes. Once in, get off the freeway and slow down. There are dozens of waterfalls, more than 100 great hikes of all difficulty levels and of course, that incredible scenery. Map out your route at gorgefriends.org.
#7 A coffee maven’s haven.
Portland’s coffee is some of the country’s best. How good? It’s best-known roaster, Stumptown, went on not only to become an immense hit in New York City, but it’s also getting its hooks into Seattle, too. They’re still the big guy around here, but they’re also just a start. Other roasters to know include Coapa, with its chic café in the Industrial District, Courier Coffee on SW Oak Street and Exacto Coffee, which is served at the cool GrindHouse Coffee in up-and-coming corner of North Portland. (Which you can refer to as NoPo, if you like.) If you’re in a downtown hotel, your best bet is Sterling Coffee’s simple but perfect Coffeehouse Northwest up on Burnside. It’s been around a few years now, but it’s still one of the most perfect venues in town. Learn more about what’s brewing locally at caffeinatedpdx.com.
#8 Culinary treats.
From one of the best bacon-egg-and-cheese-on-a-roll breakfasts you’ll ever eat in your life (at Bunk Sandwiches) to epic meat dinners at Laurelhurst Market, a butcher shop and restaurant, to a proper night out at Le Pigeon to spicy wings and cool salads from hipster Thai Pok Pok to crazy bad-for-you breakfasts at Pine State Biscuits to those food carts mentioned previously that serve up every kind of food you can imagine, all over town, to incredibly fresh vegetables and locally (and sensibly) farmed meats to great Northwest fish and oysters and you name it, Portland is a town for people who really, really like to eat. Don’t come expecting a ton of traditionally fine dining but do come hungry. Really, really hungry. Maybe also bring stretch pants.
#9 And save room for dessert.
One of the most famous foodstuffs in town for a few years running now has been a now-oft-copied bacon maple contraption at Voodoo Donuts, but that’s just the start of the fun. Here you have everything from “Cupcake Wars” champ Kyra Bussanich making magic at Lake Oswego’s Crave Bake Shop to James Beard Award winner Kim Boyce, making waves at her new Sandy Boulevard bakery, called — rather simply — Bakeshop. But there’s nothing simple about the pastry; Boyce has years of experience in top kitchens in Los Angeles. From rhubarb hand pies to fig buckwheat scones, you have to try it all.
#10 A peddler’s paradise.
Eventually, even the most intrepid eaters and drinkers will be crying “uncle.” Now you know why this town’s as into outdoor activity as it is into stuffing awesome things down its gullet. It’s called survival. And not weighing 400 pounds. If you’re having trouble getting motivated to get up and get going, join a group bike tour — anywhere from an easy spin around downtown or a day out in the Gorge or up in wine country — through Pedal Bike Tours (pedalbiketours.com). If you prefer an upper-body workout, the Portland River Company offers cool guided tours — and instruction, too — out on the Willamette River (portlandrivercompany.com).
And I’d like to add #11.
It’s a fabulous place to call home. If you’d like to see a few houses while you’re visiting, please let me know! Portland OR Real Estate is at bargain prices, and with today’s interest rates, amazingly affordable.
Thanks to George Hobica, Syndicated travel journalist and founder of Airfarewatchdog.com for this terrific article. Be sure to subscribe to airfarewatchdog.com for best deals on your favorite city pairs – a surefire way to get the best price on airfare for your coming trips. For a linkback to the original article on Huffington Post, click here.
Rent or Buy?
Each quarter, Fannie Mae releases their National Housing Survey. They survey the American public on a multitude of questions concerning today’s housing market. We like to pull out some of the findings we deem most interesting each time it is released. Here they are for the most recent report:
84% of the general population believes that owning a home makes more sense than renting.
The Most Important Reasons to Buy a Home
When we talk about homeownership today, it seems that the financial aspects always jump to the front of the discussion. However, the study shows that the four major reasons a person buys a home have nothing to do with money. The top four reasons, in order, are:
- It means having a good place to raise children and provide them with a good education
- You have a physical structure where you and your family feel safe
- It allows you to have more space for your family
- It gives you control of what you do with your living space (renovations and updates)
The Home as an Investment
Though most people purchase a home for non-financial reasons, everyone realizes there is a money component to homeownership. Here is what they said on this issue:
- 63% of the general population believes that homeownership is a ‘safe’ investment.
- 53% believe that homeownership has more potential as an investment than any other traditional asset class.
Rent vs. Buy
We are always interested in the difference people see in renting vs. owning.
- 64% of renters have aspirations to someday own their own home
- 70% of renters think that owning is superior to renting
Bottom Line
Our belief in the value of homeownership grows each time this survey is released.
A Spot of Color on this Rainy Day
When it’s this gloomy out, I need something sunny and bright to help me make it through ’til Spring.
Here are a few bright and sunshiny house photos that I’ve collected. Any of these things would make me happy on a day like today.
Yellow Adirondack chairs
An amazing red rug and chairs on my porch
This bright orange lacquer planter with purple orchids
Funky kitchen tiles
Simply adorable pillows, especially when placed on a bright settee bench
Hurry, spring!
How to Furnish your First Place
So you’ve finally moved into your first place that you care about as an adult, and you want to really put the time and effort into making it a home, but then you start adding up the costs of doing so…
We have all been there, and although you may not have the cash roll to go on a shopping spree at all your favorite furniture stores to make your dream home just yet (and, really, when is that ever the case?), with some patience, research, and shopping in unconventional ways you can turn your first adult apartment into a breathless beauty on a budget.
Shop at Home: The first stop is your parents’ home. Start hunting around the house for your favorite items or things that have been tucked in the garage for years. See what they are willing to give up. Don’t just stop there — hit up immediate family and friends as well and send out an email asking if anyone has or knows of items that you need or they are getting rid of. Have them over for a nice home cooked meal to say thanks.
• Favorite Family Furniture and Heirlooms
• In the Family: The Value of Antique & Heirloom Furniture
• Antique Shopping at Mom’s House
Garage, Estate Sales and Auctions: This is another place to score some one of a kind treasures for next to nothing. Check local listings or drive around town on the weekends and follow the signs.
• All About Estate Sales: A Crash Course & Tips for Newbies
• What You Need To Know: Furniture Shopping at Estate Sales
• What You Need to Know: Furniture Shopping at Auctions
TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Home Goods: All of these stores have some great finds at incredibly marked down prices and often get overlooked but they shouldn’t.
They are good places to get towels and odd accessories, etc.
Ikea: Ikea has helped out many a home with keeping a modern style at good prices. If you don’t have a brick and mortar store in your area you can always shop with them online.
• 5 Places To Shop For IKEA When There Isn’t One Around
Thrift and Consignment: Score some great finds or bring things home that you can re-make to fit your space and style. Great way to get kitchenware, vases, rugs, and appliances, as well as furniture.
• Readers’ Favorite Vintage, Thrift, & Secondhand Shops
Craigslist, Freecycle and Ebay: Look at free sections first and see what people just need to get rid of asap. Keep your DIY eye open for the stuff you might at first pass over and try to see what potential is there. If you can be patient and not rush to fill the space, you can furnish your apartment with the most incredible finds.
Just remember it’s really all about your style, choices, and imagination, not about how much it costs. And lucky for you the Apartment Therapy archives are always here to help you tackle those design dilemmas and give you some inspiration along the way.
(This post is dedicated to Alex, Jackie, Jessica, Andy, Leslie, Whit, Shane, and all the other young buyers in my recent past…. you’re amazing for starting so young!)
source: apartmenttherapy.com thanks!
and source: Shelby’s Sophisticated Studio for more photos and information
Excellent article on the Real Estate Rebound
Maybe you think Realtors are being optimistic when we say that the market is coming back. We are, I believe, optimists by nature. This job isn’t for the faint of heart, especially in the last few years when up to 40% of the Realtors left the business. But here is Barrons joining in our argument that we are on the mend.
Not only that, the article predicts 30% growth in the next 10 years. Payback. If you were waiting for the bottom, wait no longer. Let’s go house shopping.
