Sam and his developer pals are throwing aside historical aesthetics to make everywhere look like the Pearl.
And in 30 years these hideous monuments to 60s Soviet bloc soul-suckers will have "unbelievable graffiti inside, lots of needle use, people sleeping on the floor." and nobody will care.
And another thing - last I checked - mining and processing steel and glass and importing timber was not exactly on top of the soon to be old joke 'green' agenda.

Shouldn't the iPod and the internet be considered when placing "blame" on independent record stores being shut down? There have been several in this town that have disappeared over the years, gentrification is not the reason.

That record store was closed 20 years before iPods existed

Last summer we had a meeting like this for some idiot (Grey Purcell?) who wanted to build a four story condo across from New Seasons on Division.
The tape-out looks familar. 49 parking spaces and 3 (?!) motorcycle spaces for 72 cramped units plus, of course, REtaaail. I'm guessing buzzphrases like "mixed-use", "sustainable", "car-free" and "transit-friendly" got tossed around a lot at that meeting. Also the assertion that there are hundreds of single young telecommuters just itching to move into this trendy neighborhood ("so let's BUILD RIGHT NOW before we lose this excellent opportunity").
For all the complaints by the people who lived there, I'm sure some bike helmet-wearing wonk wannabe stood up and scolded everyone for their lack of vision, probably beginning his/her statement with something like "When I lived in Brooklyn...".
So am I close?

We are one of the neighbors affected by this development. My husband and I are not against density. Our opposition is not simply a knee-jerk response to gentrification. Your article suggests a false dichotomy between gentrification vs community heritage, density vs empty lots. Carefully considered planning that encourages development AND fits the needs and context the neighborhood--that's what we support. The current building plan has been fast-tracked without a lot of neighborhood input. 72 units is a lot for such a small lot. We are not against apartments per se.

The phrase "perceived gentrification" suggests misperception of those who oppose the development. I wish the author also took the same kind of skepticism towards the developers claims. What happened to fact checking the claims of the developers?

I cared about it. So much so that I made a significant offer on the property in hope of restoring it to it's former self. It was the perfect place for a brew pub and theater. The property was held in trust, and no offers were being accepted per the estate. Suddenly it was being bulldozed.

There has been zero transparency in this process. I live in direct sight of this project, am white, and love the diversity in our neighborhood. The article makes it sound as though this is about gentrification. It isn't. It's about an eye sore that is completely out of character with our neighborhood. All other projects along Williams have been in harmony with their surroundings. A great example is the building that houses Pix as well as the remodel of the old Oregon Food Bank. This new building is done with zero regard to aesthetics and is strictly about ROI.

Menashe paid $1.1 million for the property in November, per the city (www.portlandmaps.com "3620 N Williams"). Looks like the money sure as hell did come in.

That record store was closed 8 years ago, in 2001. I don't really understand the point of this article though. Is it about overdevelopment, gentrification or what? A business that closed 8 years ago, that became a dilapidated building that no one cared about, is linked to this new development because..?

This should be built. Williams and Vancouver are perfect candidates for more density, which will bring more pedestrians and more life to this part of the city, my part of the city.

Most new developments in Portland seem to have the same 'modern' design, which looks dated by the time it's finished. For example, the giant hideous building that was just finished on Mississippi. A building of it's size and design is robbing the neighborhood of it's historic charm and inches us closer to a whole bunch of streets like Sandy.
I have a feeling that the Architects for these building are experts at churning out these cheap and easy designs for their developer friends. Where are the design review boards?