Recycled Home
Part of being green means restoration. If there is a historic home or building, it should be renovated, not razed. As progressive as Portland is in some ways, it’s terribly backwards in the placement of density before reuse. So, in my historic neighborhood, Irvington, a developer is about to rip down this home (currently several apartments), and build a completely inappropriate 12-plex condo complex.
The strange thing is that I actually like the design:
But it is completely and totally out of place in our neighborhood, with homes ranging from the early to mid twentieth century.
I call NIMBY!
Here’s what I found in the Oregonian about the “development”:
From one big house to 10 townhouses
A large old house converted to apartments will be disassembled about the end of this month to make way for 10 townhouses.
Two three-story buildings with a shared driveway and courtyard are planned at the southeast corner of Northeast Tillamook Street and 11th Avenue. The townhouses will average 1,650 square feet.
Some nearby residents say the project is too large for the property, too modern for the historic neighborhood and takes out too many trees. During a briefing from the Irvington Community Association’s land-use committee, residents discussed seeking legal help.
The three developers, who each plan to live in a unit, say the project meets design and zoning requirements, meshes with the city’s goal of increased density and is socially responsible, with sustainable-development elements.
Developer Ry Koteen says the $3 million project is called The Tanzamook — a combination of Tillamook and Tanzania. Another partner, architect Ben Hufford, designed a school in Tanzania. Koteen says the school project will receive some money from townhouse sales.
I found this photo of Mr. Koteen on Facebook. Sometimes fashion sense is indicative of other aesthetics. I do hope he’ll rethink this terrible design for the neighborhood.
Update: Jack Bogdanski has a good piece on this infill too, including a google street view of another abomination they put in on my street a few years ago.
How will this affect the ongoing effort to get the Irvington Historic District to the National Historic District level? If enough original structures are destroyed, this will disqualify the Irvington Historic District from become a National Historic District. I am genuinely concerned about this possibility, as so much heart and energy has gone into the ongoing effort to attain National Historic District status.
I will check with a long-lost friend who has done a lot of work with historic districts and preservation. Hopefully she can answer this for us.
dude
check out the
d-bag fb profile of the deeveloper who wrecked the backyard next to me
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?sid=904d267960b6b993d53fa63659ec7fbc&id=1002605848&hiq=kevin%2Cmcdowell
I started buying real estate in 1997 when I was 25. My goal was to buy another house every two years until I owned ten, and then sell them all to buy a commercial property. At the same time, I decided to re-enroll and finish my undergrad studies at PSU and in 1999 I emerged with my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. My continued long term goal is to eventually buy a building in downtown Portland. Eleven years later I’m up to seven properties including my primary residence, and it looks like 2008 will be a banner year for purchasing investment property. Along the way I found that I could make a living out of sharing my experiences with my clientele and help make them wealthy as well. That is why you are reading this, and why I am now a Mortgage Advisor. I have also taken some of the acquired properties and subdivided the lots to build infill homes to expand my inventory. Not only has this career given me the opportunity to lend my knowledge of real estate to my clients, but it’s also given me a greater understanding of the financial world and more importantly; how wealthy people grow their money.
I manage risk in wealth building transactions. To be competitive in the mortgage world I’ve developed the sixth sense for buying or refinancing a home. The first five are easy; Service, Speed, Price, Rate, and Communication. The next level is integrating your mortgage into a wealth building strategy that looks at the mortgage in a balance sheet approach. You have to understand your debts and your assets if you want the assets to grow as fast as possible.
Specialties:
I also attend to the matters of limiting tax liability, developing a cash cushion, minimizing interest costs, developing significant liquid funds, and paying off your home early.
There’s a better way than making extra payments to pay off your home early. It’s not a tricky chance method, it’s just simple math. Of course I’m not going to tell you here, you have to call me.
someone should start a blog on d-bag developer web profiles
[...] Remember this historic home which was razed to make room for ten condos? [...]
As the third floor rises on Tanzamook, the true scale of this planning disaster takes hold. There is no setback or sense of integration to the rest of the street. The structure towers over everything else and they still have another level to go up.
The Tanzamook website (www.tanzamook.com) is a marvelous display of the elasticity of the English language and overly optimistic mathematical logic.
Most of the units are little more than cramped vertical studios with the two primary floors covering +/- a whopping total of 1,000 sq. feet.
That’s a total of 500 or so sq ft a floor — smaller than most bedrooms.
Yet an enterprising formula that adds sundry items like ” 28 sf “entry deck”; 40 sf “living deck”; 34 sf “bedroom deck” and a whopping 411 sf for a roof deck that can’t be used most of the year brings the total up to something that looks like it might make sense. On paper.
At least until you realize that most of the “decks” can barely hold two suitcases.
Then there’s the 300 sf garage. No wonder they feature Smart cars in the illustration – they are the only things that will fit.
The site also has a lot of “greenwash” in the copy, but all you have to do is look at the construction and the only green thing about it is the money that isn’t being spent. This is the most basic, cheapest structural option possible; the finish will be stucco and glass, just like a medical building.
There is now a 5-year backlog of condos on the PDX market. These undersized units are going to be priced in the low-to-high $400K range. What happens when they don’t sell?
North Carolina has been on the same tear (down) and build up during the real estate frenzy. Raleigh and Charlotte were hit particularly bad. Nice Colonial Revivals were replaced with apartments or steroid houses that were built up to the lot line. Neighbors were so overwhelmed by the new structures that the sun never shined on their porch again and you know how important porches are in the South!
Our only hope (unless more restrictive tear down codes are adopted and that is not gonna happen) is to get enough owners to grant conservation easements. Glenn and I will probably do it as soon as we talk our neighbor into it too. It means that the house will remain even after we are gone and it has sold many times.
I like the design too but it is inappropriate for your neighborhood.
[...] Global Greenie [...]