Until last year, NE Couch was a quiet back street. But after the city turned Burnside and Couch into a couplet, suddenly Couch is an major thoroughfare. It’s only a matter of time before big developments start popping up and the newest is a five-story mixed use development slated for NE Sixth and Couch.
A Lake Oswego development group purchased half the block between NE 5th and 6th Avenues in 2006 for $1.47 million and hired architects Vallester Corl to design the Couch Apartments. Portland Architecture reports the details on the building: It’ll have 70 apartments, mostly studios and one-bedrooms, above 11 ground-floor retails spots. That’s a ton of retail for Couch, whose retail currently amounts to mostly a vacuum store and laundromat.
The Couch Apartments will also have more parking for bikes than cars, offering 23 car spots and storage space for 70 bicycles. That’s a great sign and makes sense, seeing as the building is right on the bus line and a few blocks from the soon-to-be streetcar. Besides that, I’m not psyched about the design. Here’s what it looks like, it’s all metal and pine on the facade and looks like a condo:
- Vallester Corl
Sadly, the new Couch Apartments are demolishing two cool, early 20th century brick apartment buildings. Here’s what the site looks like now:
I’m impressed they bought the place in 2006. Must have done their research on the city’s long-range plans, and weren’t afraid to bet $1.47 million on it.
Sad indeed. I lived in the 525 NE Couch Bldg from ’01 to ’06, back when it still had a cool balcony on the front. My best friend lived there from ’96 to ’08. The 525 building was a bordello at one point early in its storied history. It had a ton of character and even more stories over the decades. It will be missed by many.
Are they going to name it “Block 50” so everything in this once-cool looking city is exactly the same Soviet-bloc BS?
At least the new building won’t be a collapsing-brick-deathtrap come The Big One.
If you’re curious, Sarah, these are the $600+ studios that you don’t know exist.
Not that I’m overly in love with the design myself, but what does ‘looks like a condo’ mean? Should it look like a diner?
The difference between apartments and condos is nothing more than ownership and management, so it seems appropriate that it should look like a building that lots of people live in.
Something about the speed of light in a vacuum store.
(Sorry, Graham, you threw a schtick and I fetched it.)
@4:
You’re right. Now it’ll be a shiny new generic, right out-of-the-box, totally earthquake proof building chock full of the type of bland, uptight assholes that sometimes, when not self-absorbed in ignorant bliss, will have the temerity to complain about how Portland doesn’t have any history.
I realize that I’m in the minority and that I’m somewhat of a relic because I miss the kinda trashy around the edges “old” Portland that I grew up with, but that place was a beautiful building. The guy who owned the place before selling it to the Lake O crowd actually lived there for a spell. Sure it was a little beat up around the edges, but it had character and soul.
If I could pick how I got to die, I think sitting on the balcony of that building having a drink and watching the sunset would be at or near the top of the list.
@ billyjak, That’s too bad, since you’ll probably just end up overdosing on uncut schmaltz.
@billyjak I am on your side with this one 100%. Lake Nonegro should fucking stay in, well, Lake Nonegro. Leave Portland and it’s historic architecture alone…it is what gives the city character, and without that we are as soulless as the Pearl district yuppies who are whores to nice cars and stainless steel lives.
That building in the photo??!! Because a few people feel nostalgic about a building (that one in the photo??!) isn’t a good reason to keep it. I have fond memories of each of the 12 places I’ve rented here in Portland.
C’mon, you schnorrers, Colin and I did our part, make an effort, will you?
@Colin:
I do admit I’m the type that is still living on the set of Drugstore Cowboy. But uncut schmaltz is for me what spinach is for Popeye. The more dismissive of this town’s history the trendy “in-crowd” gets the more strident I become in defending the lore of yore.
@11
Clearly you haven’t seen much of the building other than the “after” photo presented on this post. You also seem to miss the point that the building had a rich history that predates my own personal nostalgia for the place by decades.
And don’t get me started on what a hoot it was to hang out on the balcony and watch the drunks get dragged into the old Hooper detox by the cops. Good times.
Wait…is it the “trendy in crowd” you’re angry at or the Lake Oswego-ans? Because I am fairly certain those are not the same things.
In any case, let’s embrace a little change, people. I like old brick apartments with pretty moldings and clawfoot tubs too but I like plumbing that works, lower electric bills, and wiring that won’t kill you better.
Fortunately, for those who love old buildings, there is a way for you to preserve them. Just fucking buy them. Obviously, nobody felt this one was worth saving or they would have done it. And by “buy it” I don’t mean “have someone else use their money to buy it”.
I’m glad they’re replacing old apartments with new apartments, rather than parking lots as was done through most of the last century.
@kiala:
They may not be one in the same but they tend to clump together. Having met the harpy shrew from Lake O that bought the place I gotta tell ya that people like her have a symbiotic relationship with those in need of a sterile place to plug in their laptop and blog about how much they love “Lo-Bu.” You may also want to brush up on your reading comprehension skills. The guy who owned the apartments lived there for a spell. Although a bit overdue, shit got fixed up fairly swell. Killer hot water for the clawfoot.
@Demondog:
Tell me about it. I was talking with a buddy of mine that does commercial real estate about what it would take to buy the place right around the time John sold the building to the Shrew. In one fashion or another I scooped up a few houses in the next couple years since I moved out and would have gladly swapped those for the building but regrettably I was beaten to the punch by the Shrew.