NEIGHBORS ON N WILLIAMS are fighting a development—a
project that embodies Portland’s shiny new ethos—on the former
site of an African American landmark.
For almost 50 years, African American record store House of Sound
occupied the corner of N Williams and Beech. In December, developers
razed the dilapidated building to make way for the Albert Apartments, a
72-unit complex that may qualify for a $1.12 million city tax break
thanks to its sustainable, transit-oriented designs.
Four different groups of neighbors and historical preservationists
appealed the tax break at city council last week, arguing that the
planned four-story apartment and commercial space does not fit the
character of the community nor does it create a public benefit worth
subsidizing. At the heart of neighbors’ anger is their distaste for
perceived gentrification.
“It’s not like this is some real amenity for the neighborhood, it’s
a commercial apartment building. This is a land grab,” says Tracy
Olson, who filed one of the four appeals—Olson lives near the
controversial corner and owns Random Order Coffeehouse on NE Alberta.
“When I talk to my neighbors about it, they’re like, ‘Well, what are we
going to do?’ Which is a sad thing for people who own the neighborhood,
not monetarily but culturally.”
The House of Sound was an African American cultural keystone before
it closed its doors in 2001.
“Everyone who loved music had to go to the record store because our
type of music wasn’t played on the radio. It was the most popular
business on the street,” says David Dawson, who owned the store from
1967-1973. “Communities were much stronger then.”
While many locals considered the building historic, the business
owner never applied for any official “historic” designation in
2001.
Developer Jack Menashe of Ruben J. Menashe, Inc., says he was
shocked to learn that neighbors cared about the place. “The building
was derelict in every respect, there was unbelievable graffiti inside,
lots of needle use, people sleeping on the floor. Those buildings
didn’t look like anyone cared about them, nobody seemed to care about
it until it was gone.”
“I think that when the community wakes up one morning and important
buildings are gone, that’s a signal to people that change is coming
very fast,” says Cathy Galbraith, who appealed the apartments’ design
on behalf of the Architectural Heritage Center. “They’re wiped away and
what’s proposed to replace them is a massive 72-unit apartment building
that makes no effort to be compatible with the neighborhood.”
While neighbors criticize the height, small sidewalk setbacks, and
“ugly” design of the new apartments, the planned Albert Apartments are
actually smaller than the area’s maximum zoned limits. The development
falls within the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Transit Corridor,
which is zoned for high-density development.
Several design elements qualify the Albert Apartments for a 10-year
tax abatement, according to developer Menashe: 18 of the 72 apartments
will qualify as low-income housing, they will be LEED silver certified
and the commercial space will help cluster new businesses in the
area.
“With all the vacant lots in this area, there’s going to be a lot of
tall things going on,” says Menashe. “But we’re the first ones in the
door and we’re putting this area’s zoning on the neighborhood’s
radar.”
The promise of new businesses and apartment clusters sounds like
gentrification to African American neighbors, says Sylvia Evans,
cross-cultural neighborhood organizer with the Northeast Coalition of
Neighborhoods. “What they did to House of Sound is what’s being done to
the entire street. All that history isn’t being respected because all
the people who ran that neighborhood don’t live there anymore,” says
Evans.
Mayor Sam Adams wound up not approving the tax break in council last
week, but referred the project to Commissioner Nick Fish’s office for
further review. Meanwhile former House of Sound owner Dawson takes a
cynical, matter-of-fact view of the changing neighborhood.
“It’s the same old story,” he says. “The money comes in and people
make choices.”
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 (http://www.portlandmaps.com “3620 N Williams”). Looks like the money sure as hell did come in.
This development belongs in Hillsboro with the rest of the cookie cutter crap with no personality. I can’t wait until this douchebag leases spaces to Subway and Blockbuster Video. Goodbye Portland; it was fun while it lasted.
The person who wrote this article is a blind fool.
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..?
Hey Predator, check out his link: http://www.neighborhoodnotes.com/ne/boise/news/2009/05/the_albert_apartments_proposed_for_williams_corridor_in_boise/
There was a lot more to this building than a record store; it was a big part of the childhoods of many of the remaining locals. And it will be replaced by some rich white douche’s vision of the “future”. Balls.
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.
The dominant gang in this town seriously believes that transferring wealth in the form of community assets to already-rich private parties is best for the city. The worst is when they try to do this with park and school lands that were donated by community-minded private parties in the first place. The Portland school district and City of Portland are both finagling their legal underpinnings so they can give real estate away to rich people for the purpose of making those developers richer and housing people who could already afford to live anywhere. These people should all be in jail. But, as long as they pretend to be green, they get no opposition at the polls.
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?