PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Mayor Ted Wheeler, as well as multiple local developers, are looking at several options to help Downtown Portland recover from empty storefronts and high vacancy rates in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, protests, crime, and drug use.
One of the bold ideas is to convert commercial buildings into residential properties.
The idea is simple: Get more people living downtown, who will then spend money to support downtown businesses. It’s an idea that New York established in the 90s and other major cities are currently attempting to duplicate.
The Mayor’s office has hired Gensler Architects and ECONorthwest to study which buildings are good candidates for conversion.
“As a Portland resident, I’m certainly aware of the challenges in our downtown area,” said Maurice Reid with Gensler Architecture. “If we could bring people back to the City Center, I think that would enliven the vibrancy and create a vibrant downtown.”
Reid also said that converting commercial real estate into residential buildings could diversify the City Center, which has “historically been dominated by office space.”
Gensler is a leader in the art of converting buildings. It’s their Toronto office that developed a calculator to evaluate buildings for conversion, using 80 different criteria to give a quick assessment of which buildings are worth further consideration.
A major hurdle in Portland, that other west coast cities also face, is costly earthquake structural requirements.
“Cost might be around $200 a square foot for a normal conversion or for an upgrade or renovation of a building. But because of the seismic upgrade, it’s probably another $75 to $125 a square foot,” Reid said. He’s heard from local developers that extra costs can make projects too expensive.
Other cities have offered incentives for conversions, something Mayor Wheeler’s office is exploring.
“If we can find some number of those, it’s potentially hundreds of units of housing that we could build. So, we should pursue that amongst the other larger scale solutions we’re looking at in terms of reducing development charges, reducing technical code burdens, that don’t impact safety, including looking at tax credits, abatements in the use of urban renewal area, as you say, enterprise zones. There are other strategies that we need to bring to the table simultaneously, not just the conversion,” he said.
KOIN 6 News talked with four downtown developers and large property managers earlier this week who share many of the same concerns, including costly permits and high taxes.
Another big question is if Portland has enough people that can afford converted apartments and condominiums, as well as disposable income.
“It doesn’t save Portland,” said Pearl District developer Homer Williams. It’s like I said, if you’re building affordable housing, even though we have people living downtown, don’t have the money to support the other parts of downtown that are struggling.
A preliminary review done by a different company for Wheeler’s office over the summer showed 14 older buildings that might be good candidates for conversion. Typically, they’re smaller buildings, built in the 60s and 70s. Bigger buildings don’t usually pencil out for conversion, because apartments and condos need windows.
If affordable-sized apartments were built in a large building, then there’s the question of what you do with the space in the middle.
However, Gensler was able to pull off a conversion in a large building in Philadelphia called The Franklin Tower.
“Those interior spaces can present an opportunity to plan different amenities on every floor, perhaps. So, it might be (a) community room, fitness spaces or bike storage,” Reid said.
The results of Gensler’s study are a couple of months away, and the Mayor is hopeful conversion is part of the solution.
“We all know that the City of Portland’s not going be the same. The workforce isn’t going to be the same. The way people use office space isn’t going to be the same, but people will always need a place to live. And if we can draw more people into the central city, I’m optimistic about the future of Portland’s downtown,” he said.