Comments

1
Masked views aside, it is a good example of handling the urban growth boundary by building up rather than out. Population growth + fixed surface area = thinking in three dimensions. (Or Soylent Green, one of the two.)
2
Developmentally stunted yippies will also love the freedom from choice and privacy living in The YARD offers! Its specially designed Panopticon viewing suites guarantee developers can watch you at all hours of the day. Walking down to the craft beer bar? The YARD approves. Going on a bike ride? The YARD expects you back at 2300 hours. Posting a provocative thought on Twitsnap? The YARD would like to have a friendly chat with you in the laundry room!
3
The fact that anybody would have to agree to pay $2400 for a one-bedroom is the underlying problem, but Yard is the solution to the extent that it's giving those people who can afford that price a place to live other than my house. If it weren't there they'd be bidding their way into it instead.

Also might be worth noting that 57 of those apartments will be low-rent and reserved for households making 60 percent or less of local median income.
4
All these comments lack the most important question: how many milkshakes will it take to bring all the boys there?
5
Todd, it doesn't matter how many milkshakes. Californians will just whip out a long straw and drink them. Drink the milkshakes.
6
Part of the cost is that it has the best view in the neighborhood, in that you can look out your window and not have to see The Yards. That is one freaking hideous building.

Fewer people in town would hate the all the new buildings going up if so much of the architecture wasn't complete shit.
7
african savannah hypothesis: we moved out of the forest and onto the savannah where establishing high ground next to water was imperative. Are brains are perhaps hardwired to pay higher rent for this, even if what your looking down on is someone pooping in the local business doorway.
8
https://www.ted.com/talks/marwa_al_sabou…

Merc you should do a piece on her argument/ story.

I have demolished out historical buildings in portland made with stone pulled from ships from china, bricks, naturally grown wood, Thick amish style beams, things like 150 year old wells, and of course the Shang-hi tunnels (these were actually already closed off long ago, but they are or were part of at least a couple of buildings I've worked on), and an overall sense of culture. Then I’ve seen what gets constructed in their place; the wells get filled, the stone replaced with quick-dry concrete mix, bricks and clay replaced with fiberglass, sheet rock, and aluminum studs, the wood is engineered rather than natural, and plastic membrane I believe is used to compensate for the fact that all these materials don’t withstand the rain well. As for the sculptures which exist atop all older Portland buildings, they are nowhere to be found on the new ones.

As for the homes I've demo'd much the same can be said; older portland homes have unique designs; random sub-levels and mysterious cubby holes, lots of natural grown wood and brick. It all gets replaced with cookie cutter crap.
9
cast iron old school things get 'upgraded' to made in china and sold through IKEA crap
11
Remember last year when everyone was bitching about how much it cost to live in Portland? 2015 is going to look like the good old days in a decade (or less). They will get these prices. A similar sized new construction apartment with no view goes for $2500+/mo in Los Angeles. Over $3500/mo in San Francisco. Even if these prices seem insane to locals, they are still relatively cheap for a major west coast city with great amenities.
12

Great amenities is an arbitrary term. A more powerful microwave, a faster elevator, a little plate and hook taken out of a 1'' x 4 '' box stamped made in china which makes the bike rack- those are not great amenitites. Nothing can compensate for the simple fact that it is cheap material with no craftsmanship or sense of cultural style. Snap on flooring and all the crap I already mentioned before - I've worked in the million dollar condos and they are all made of that stuff. People are gullible enough to get sold on enhanced functionality of cheaply made and overpriced stuff and lose sight of both the simple fact that they'd still survive without those things (they may even lose a few lbs or feel better) and that - again - 'enhanced' functionality does not replace quality material with character and craftsmanship.
13
But yeah your right, insanity has just begun. Especially considering all these 'advocates' ask for doing the same thing every other currently insane town has done and expect different results. And news papers (WW) spit that "keep pumping them out, once we reach the point of supply/ demand the bubble will burst" bs...Like right, I'm no economist but it sure did not work for other big cities.
14
Guidogazz is correct: increasing the supply will likely not lead to a commensurate decrease in demand over the long term, just like building more highways will not decrease the congestion over the long term. The prices may stabilize at some fantastically high rate, but like, look at New York, San Francisco, and LA: every time you think it could not possibly get any crazier, it does. To compound the problem here, we have the UGB. I think the UGB is a very good thing, but it limits options for the people who cannot afford 2400/month for rent. Right now, people living in crackerboxes out in Beaverton pay over a grand, which really is painful for someone making even $12 to $15 an hour.

Tl/dr: Shelve those dreams of being a rock star/writer/artist/freelance inventor/full time activist, and learn to write code.
15
Guido, I mean "amenities" as in the City of Portland and what it has to offer, not the building itself. But you're right, most new construction is a lot cheaper than the old stuff. But labor was cheaper (or occasionally free) back then too.

As for the supply and demand, yes prices are high in Manhattan, San Francisco, and most of LA, but they are even higher in low-density attractive locales like Malibu, the Hamptons, etc. It's not whether it keeps prices as low as they are now, but whether additional supply keeps prices lower than they would be otherwise, and I think the evidence is pretty clear on that front.
16
Oh, no need for the newsflash: Most of us have already been hating for months.
17
Visually, the YARD brings three images to mind: 1) A metallic turd dumped from the ass of Optimus Prime of the Transformers; 2) A replica of the evil Borg ship from Star Trek; and, 3) A modernist tribute to the stilted architecture of the old, failed Soviet Union, circa 1950. What a harsh Welcome to Portland visage.

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