The Future (?) of Skyscrapers

 

Big Pink (nee U.S. National Bank Tower)

In the history of urban development, Portland faces a problem perhaps never before considered:  What to do with skyscrapers nobody wants?

 At issue are 72 stories in two downtown skyscrapers, the former U.S. National Bank tower (42 stories) and PacWest Center (30 stories) which made big news when they opened in 1983 and 1984, respectively.

 Now both are for sale.  With office vacancy rates running at 30 percent or higher and many employees happily ensconced working from home, it is hard to imagine these towers ever being filled again with office workers.  The high-end owners who are throwing in the towels likely are headed for major “haircuts,” the investment trade jargon for losses. 

Aside from the financial losses, what lies ahead for these towers?  Demolition seems unlikely, given the huge costs involved.  Can they be remodeled into something else, with other uses besides office space?

 The topic is attracting attention in the construction trades, where housing often is listed as the primary need in repurposing old buildings.  Yet the obstacles are daunting, including earthquake bracing, operable windows for fresh air, and redesigned plumbing and electrical access.  Yet the problems are not always insurmountable.  Downtown Portland’s best example is the Woodlark Hotel, created by joining the 9-story Woodlark office building from 1912 and the seven story Cornelius Hotel from 1908.

Carl Kloos, a Portland structural engineer, said seismic requirements were met in part in the Woodlark project by tying together the common walls between the historic buildings.

 

Woodlark (left) and Cornelius Revived Together

In a talk with the Carbon Leadership Forum, Kloos said the city of Los Angeles started taking steps to encourage older buildings being rehabbed into housing.  Since 1999, he said Los Angeles has added 12,000 housing units in buildings converted from other uses.

 In 2025, Los Angeles revamped its development rules by adding new incentives for adaptive conversions.  Incentives include an extra story allowed above zoning or height limits for fitness facilities or lounges open to all residents; up to two additional stories dedicated to affordable housing; no minimum unit sizes; and square footages lost to lightwells or courtyards can be added on adjacent properties.

 Kloos said the beauty of the Los Angeles rules is they show developers what the city really wants instead of what it merely will tolerate.  “Why isn’t somebody doing something like that here?” he asked.  His message clearly caught the attention of Portland preservation advocates, who see adaptive reuse of historic buildings as a vital means of saving valued historic architecture that otherwise could be demolished.

 As for what happens to the former U.S. Bank Tower and PacWest Center – we must not hold our breaths.  Architecture buffs will remember that the pink granite on the U.S. Bank Tower was recommended by Pietro Belluschi, who served as a consultant late in his storied career.  The tower quickly earned Big Pink as a nickname. Now maybe its new nickname will be “White Elephant.”

----Fred Leeson

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Coming and Going in the East Portland Historic District

 

Two changes are afoot – one positive, one not – in the Grand Avenue East Portland National Historic District.

On the plus side, Mother Foucault’s Bookshop has moved into the long-vacant building at 711 SE Grand Ave., a three-story building erected in 1892.  The building shares the block with two other buildings built in 1883 and 1896, respectively, by Nathaniel K. West, a dry goods merchant who served as president of the East Portland City Council when East Portland was a separate city.

The oldest building of the three, at 701 SE Grand, now houses the Architectural Heritage Center.  The “newest” building at the southern end is a tavern.  Though the buildings look they might share common walls, there are narrow spaces behind the front facades that separate them. When they were built, they backed up to the marshy banks of the Willamette River.

Mother Foucault concentrates in used, vintage and rare books.  With the Architectural Heritage center next door and the new Literary Arts store across the street, the nexus creates an interesting cultural connection for people interested in books, historical lectures, author presentations, and architectural displays and research all within a couple hundred feet.

 

On the downside, owners of Next Adventure, a major retailer of used sporting goods, have to enter retirement by liquidating the big store at 436 SE Grand.  The store has been a fixture in the historic district for 30 years.

The four-story building was erected in 1911, with four retail storefronts on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors.  It is owned today by REACH Community Development, a nonprofit that develops and manages affordable housing.  The housing on the upper floors assures continued viability for the building, although filling the retail spaces below will be a major challenge.

Internet shopping and the pandemic seriously damaged retail shopping both in downtown Portland and neighborhood commercial districts.

 The space housing Mother Foucault contained a hair styling shop for several years before the pandemic.  The upper floors housed offices of Mia Birk, a bicycle transportation consultant.  Public records show that her firm still owns the building though she no longer works in it.

Mother Foucault is no stranger to the neighborhood.  It formerly operated at 538 SE Morrison in the Clifford Apartments.  It was forced to move when the apartment owner started renovating the building.

-----Fred Leeson

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Honoring the McMenamins

 

AHC Director Heather Flint Chatto and Connors McMenamin

Whenever a historic building falls into jeopardy in the Pacific Northwest, we often hear: “Maybe the McMenamins will buy it.”

 For 40 years, the company headed by brothers Mike and Brian McMenamin of Portland has established a remarkable record of transforming historic buildings with vibrant, often multiple new uses, while capturing the buildings’ origins with artifacts and historic mementos.

In a better world, other creative entrepreneurs would follow the McMenamins formula by finding vital new uses for historic structures.  With now more than 50 venues (not all of them “old”) in Oregon and Washington, the company has proved its magic on vacant schools, theaters, fraternal lodges, hotels, a county poor form and even a funeral home.

 Despite their success, the two brothers do not seek public attention.  When the Architectural Heritage Center honored them with a preservation away this month, Connors McMenamin represented his father and uncle at the ceremony.

 The younger McMenamin said his elders were impressed by early travels in Europe, when they noted that pubs often offered entertainment for whole families, not just for those imbibing alcohol.  That spirit is carried at the McMenamin venues, where, given available spaces, visitors can hear music, see movies, attend history presentations, eat meals, enjoy spas and in many cases rent hotel rooms. And have a beer.

Aside from respecting history in their buildings, the McMenamin brothers also helped make history in 1985.  They testified successfully in favor of a state law that would allow breweries to sell beer at the same locations – thus creating Oregon’s brew-pub industry.

 Connors McMenamin said the next generation intends to carry on with the business and to take advantage of opportunities to let old buildings continue to tell their stories.  And to provide visitors with recreational opportunities beyond eating and drinking.  Along the way, perhaps their successes will encourage other entrepreneurs to find successful new uses for interesting buildings that otherwise face demolition.

 The Architectural Heritage Center’s preservation award is named in honor of William J. Hawkins III, an architect and Portland historian whose work includes restoration of the Kamm House and restoration of the commercial building that now houses the AHC at 701 SE Grand Ave.  Hawkins, a proactive preservation supporter, finished the AHC rehabilitation 20 years ago.

---Fred Leeson

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