In addition to the 6,500-sf restaurant site at 4th Avenue and Harrison Street, for which the PDC will pay $935,411, it also is preparing to spend another $2.2 million to acquire the adjacent Harrison Court Apartments at 5th Avenue and Harrison Street and the Value Inn motel, which sits one block away on Montgomery Street, also between between 4th and 5th avenues. When combined with existing ownership, the acquisitions would give the PDC the better part of three contiguous blocks that it says have the potential to add 850,000 sf of new development--423 housing units, 31,000 sf of retail and 150,000 sf of office--at a combined public and private investment of about $125 million.

The three blocks all neighbor a fourth block that is the current terminus for the city's streetcar line, which was redeveloped in partnership with PSU and now includes not only the streetcar station but also PSU's book store, among other things. The Harrison Court Apartments and the Jasmine Tree restaurant are needed to extend the streetcar line, but when combined with the city-owned parking lot covering the rest of the block also would allow for a 14-story "L"-shaped building with two floors of underground parking, 11,000 sf of street-level retail and 13 floors of for-sale housing.

Immediately to the north of that block is the Value Inn motel site. That property would be combined with an adjoining parking lot owned by the parish of St. Michael and redeveloped into an 11-story building with two levels of underground parking, 19,000 sf of office space, 5,000 sf of street-level retail and 210 rental units.

The third block, across 5th Avenue from the Harrison Court Apartments, holds the one-story PCAT Building. That structure would be demolished in favor of a nine-story building with 14,700 sf of lower-level and street-level retail, 140,000 sf of office space and 300 above-grade parking spaces. The office space would be jointly owned by Portland State University and the PDC.

The timeline for the office building has construction commencing sometime this year and ending sometime in 2006. The timeline for the redevelopment of the Jasmine Tree/Harrison Court Apartments block, which would be sold to a private developer, is for to start construction in the fourth quarter of 2005 and complete the building in the spring of 2007. A timeline for redevelopment of the Value Inn motel block has not yet been determined.

Instant Insights /

Development Commission Acquires U-District Eatery

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