RiverPlace Area Fast Facts
| Created: | The area known as RiverPlace was added to the Downtown Waterfront (DTWF) URA in 1979. The City excised a portion of RiverPlace from DTWF transferring it to the North Macadam URA, which was established on August 11, 1999. |
| Total Acres: | 52 acres (RiverPlace area only) |
| Expires: | June 2020 |
| Boundaries: | View the RiverPlace Area |
 Click map image to view a high-quality PDF. |
Goals:
Portland's 1998 Central City Plan set forth seven goals to ensure appropriate and accessible development along the Willamette River:
- Recapture the east bank of the Willamette Riverfront between the Marquam and Steel Bridges by expanding and enhancing the space available for non-vehicular uses.
- Locate a wide range of affordable and attractive activities and attractors along the riverbank and create frequent pedestrian access to the water’s edge.
- Encourage a mixture of land uses along the river, while protecting opportunities for water-dependent uses, especially north of the Broadway Bridge.
- Maintain and improve public views to and from the river.
- Improve the Central City’s bridges for pedestrians and bicyclists and enhance the bridges’ roles as connections between the two sides of the Willamette.
- Encourage development of facilities that provide access to and from the water’s surface throughout the Central City.
- Foster opportunities for touching and entering the Willamette River.
 |
Overview:
From an article posted on Terrain.org, a Journal of the Built and Natural Environments, using Portland's RiverPlace project as a showcase in urban "unsprawl."
Though Portland’s sustainable city principles were not published until late 1994, they were already in place in spirit two decades before, when the idea of demolishing a freeway sandwiched between downtown Portland and the Willamette River first surfaced.
With the goal of promoting “a sustainable future that meets today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs,” the City of Portland has committed to:
- Support a stable, diverse, and equitable economy
- Protect the quality of the air, water, land, and other natural resources
- Conserve native vegetation, fish, wildlife habitat, and other ecosystem
- Minimize human impacts on local and worldwide ecosystems
RiverPlace, along with the surrounding 73-acre Waterfront Park, demonstrates these principles in their most urban, and urbane, form. As the name suggests, RiverPlace begins, like all of central Portland, at the river. Above all else, Portland ’s Central City Plan Fundamental Design Guidelines call for an integration with the Willamette River: “The river is the Central City’s most significant geographic feature and acts as the binding element,” the Guidelines state. “The river is also a center for activity; important to Portland ’s overall economic health and livability. The river’s importance is measured not just as a working river, but also in terms of its aesthetic, recreational, and tourism potential.”
The specific river-oriented design guideline that helped RiverPlace’s developers create its form states, “Integrate the river as an important design consideration into the projects which are located along or near the edge of the Willamette River, through means such as the composition of architectural and landscape elements, location of windows, doors and attached outdoor areas, and offering access ways for the pedestrian to, along, and from the water’s edge.”
Projects and Project Area Publications
Initial RiverPlace Development Strategy (July 1997)
Phoenix Award 2003/South Waterfront Redevelopment Area
2100 SW River Parkway
This site was originally developed in 1995 through a Disposition and Development Agreement with PDC as a $15 million company headquarters for Pacific Gas Transmission. That organization has since relocated and the building is currently owned by a California teacher’s pension fund and leased to David Evans and Associates, a nationally recognized architecture, engineering, and design firm.
2100 SW River Parkway Fact Sheet
RiverPlace Parcel 1 – The Strand
This $110 million mixed-use development features 220 condominium units in three glass and steel towers with ground level town homes, a waterfront restaurant, retail, live/work space, and a 100 space public parking garage. RiverPlace Partners LLC, a partnership led by Onder Development, purchased the 2.7 acre site from PDC in 2004, and has shared the cost of reclaiming a Brownfield site that was once the home to PP&L’s Lincoln Steam Plant.
Parcel 1 - Rendering (PDF, 1,247 kb)
Parcel 1 - Site Plan (PDF, 2,764 kb)
Parcel 1 - Rendering (JPG graphic, 1,085 kb)
Parcel 1 - Site Plan (JPG graphic, 761 kb)
RiverPlace: A Case study in Urban “Unsprawl” (Spring 2002)
Press Release – March 1, 2005: Construction Underway On The Strand At Riverplace
Press Release – May 25, 2007: New PUBLIC parking Garage to open at RiverPlace
RiverPlace Parcel 8 and Parcel 3 Redevelopment
Announcement (PDF, 271 kb)
You can e-mail Geraldene Moyle with any questions or comments.
Harbor Drive-SW Naito Parkway Redevelopment Study
Harbor/Naito Concept Plan (including Appendix and Artist Rendering) — Final Report June 2004
Study Area Map (PDF, 1,067 kb)
South Waterfront Park
South Waterfront Park fact sheet
South Waterfront Park - Design Merit Award
Related Links
North Macadam Urban Renewal Area publications
PDC Project Team
- Todd Juhasz, Development Manager
503-823-3815, e-mail - Geraldene Moyle, Senior Project Coordinator
503-823-3420, e-mail - James Mast, Senior Project Coordinator
503-823-3949, e-mail - Patrick Quinton, Senior Development Manager
503-823-3355, e-mail - Larry Brown, Senior Development Manager
503-823-3353, e-mail - Joleen Jensen-Classen, Public Participation Coordinator
503-823-3352, e-mail - Charlie Baad Senior Administrative Specialist
503-823-2595, e-mail
North Macadam Calendar of Events
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 for PDC's News & Information E-Mail Lists |
 |
| Archive of sent E-Mails | |
| Unsubscribe from our E-Mail Lists |
Portland Development Commission | 222 NW Fifth Ave | Portland, OR 97209-3859
Phone: 503-823-3200 | Fax: 503-823-3368
Survey
Page
