Misplaced Pages

#806193

18-624: The Selling Building , also known as the Oregon National Building , is a building located in downtown Portland , Oregon , listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The structure was built in 1910 for Ben Selling & Associates, composed of Ben Selling and partners Charles Moore and Moses Blum. In 1967, when the Oregon National Life Company became a new, major tenant,

36-479: A plan to revitalize downtown Portland. Moses charted a highway loop around the city's central freeways, which would become Interstate 405 as it links with I-5 south of downtown. Additionally the creation of a downtown transit mall in 1977 , a new waterfront park in 1978 (later named after Governor Tom McCall ) in place of a freeway , the creation of the Pioneer Courthouse Square in 1984,

54-583: A portion of the nearby Lloyd District after 2001. However, in 2010, free rides became limited to MAX and streetcar service – no longer covering bus service – and the zone renamed the "Free Rail Zone", and in September 2012 the fareless zone was discontinued entirely, because of a $ 12 million shortfall in TriMet's annual budget. Several high-rise buildings are located in downtown Portland. The five tallest are: Fox Tower The Fox Tower

72-463: Is a 27-story, 113.39 m (372.0 ft) office skyscraper in downtown Portland , Oregon , along Broadway between Yamhill and Morrison streets. The tower was completed in 2000 at a cost of $ 64 million, and was named after the Fox Theatre that occupied the site from 1911 until the late 1990s. TVA Architects designed the building and Tom Moyer developed the property. Original designs for

90-699: Is the farthest east, while most of the high-rises end by I-405 to the west. Interstate 5 runs on the opposite bank of the river, crossing over on the Marquam Bridge. U.S. Route 26 connects downtown Portland to the Oregon Coast and the Cascade Range . Downtown is also served by several forms of public transportation. TriMet , the regional mass transit agency, operates MAX light rail on two alignments in downtown, one running east–west on Yamhill and Morrison streets and north–south on 1st Avenue,

108-694: The Portland State University campus (also bounded by I-405), except for a part of northeastern portion north of SW Harvey Milk Street and east of SW 3rd Ave that belongs to the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood. High-density business and residential districts near downtown include the Lloyd District , across the river from the northern part of downtown, and the South Waterfront area, just south of downtown in

126-700: The South Portland neighborhood. Portland's downtown features narrow streets—64 feet (20 m) wide—and square, compact blocks 200 feet (61 m) on a side, to create more corner lots that were expected to be more valuable. The small blocks also made downtown Portland pleasant to walk through. The 264-foot (80 m) long combined blocks divide one mile (1.6 km) of road into exactly 20 separate blocks. By comparison, Seattle 's blocks are 240 by 320 feet (73 m × 98 m), and Manhattan 's east–west streets are divided into blocks that are from 600–800 feet (183–244 m) long. By

144-597: The Pearl and Northwest Portland districts. The system currently has two routes, measuring 7.2 miles (11.6 km) end to end, and connects in South Waterfront with the Tram (aerial cableway) to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Starting in 1975 and continuing for almost four decades, all transit service in downtown was free , as downtown was entirely within TriMet's Fareless Square , which also covered

162-764: The Selling Building was renamed the Oregon National Building. The Selling Building is owned and managed by Schlesinger Companies. This article about a property in Oregon on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Downtown Portland The downtown neighborhood extends west from the Willamette to Interstate 405 and south from Burnside Street to just south of

180-571: The city is attempting to reduce in order to promote higher density, create storefronts, and make downtown more vibrant. Some changes are being made slowly, such as the creation of the Smart Park garage system, and conversion of a surface-level parking lot into a park with underground parking at Park Block 5 between the Fox Tower and Park Avenue West Tower . In 2017, Human Access Project partnered with Portland Parks & Recreation to open

198-556: The city's first officially recognized public swimming beach, Poet's Beach . In 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic , Downtown Portland faced an increase in homeless camps and a reduction in office workers due to remote work . During and after the Black Lives Matter protests, there was an increase in graffiti, property damage, and windows being boarded up. Portland is sometimes known as "Bridgetown", due to

SECTION 10

#1732782642807

216-411: The contrast between its curving east side and boxy west side. The juxtaposition of the building's angles create a unique profile from each side. This multiplanar and set-back design is meant to prevent as much of the building's shadow as possible from falling upon Pioneer Courthouse Square on the opposite corner. The ground floor houses retail stores, and Regal's Fox Tower 10 movie theater is located on

234-546: The early 1970s, parts of Portland's central city had been in decay for some time. New suburban shopping malls in the neighboring cities of Beaverton , Tigard , and Gresham competed with downtown for people and money. Unlike many downtown revitalization efforts around the United States at this time, Portland's plan did not call for widespread demolition and reconstruction. Robert Moses , the designer of New York City 's gridded freeways, expressways, and bridges, designed

252-729: The number of bridges that cross its two rivers. There are nine bridges entering downtown and immediately adjacent areas. The bridges are (north to south): Outside the downtown area there are three other road bridges within Portland limits that cross the Willamette River : the St. Johns Bridge and Sauvie Island Bridge (to the north) and the Sellwood Bridge (to the south). Most streets in downtown Portland are one-way. Naito Parkway (two-way, formerly known as Front Avenue)

270-520: The opening of the Portland–Gresham light rail line in 1986, and the opening of Pioneer Place mall in 1990 successfully drew or retained businesses and lured customers. After 1990, downtown Portland dominated the city's development, with 500,000 square feet (46,000 m ) more development there than on the east side ( Lloyd District , Central Eastside Industrial District, and Lower Albina ). Downtown Portland has many surface parking lots , which

288-664: The other running north–south on 5th and 6th avenues. On the latter two streets, an extensive transit mall —known as the Portland Mall —limits private vehicles and provides connections between more than fifty bus lines, MAX light rail, and the Portland Streetcar . The southern part of downtown and the West End are also served by the Portland Streetcar system, operating from South Waterfront north into

306-520: The second floor. The 462-space underground parking garage was the deepest in Portland when built. In 2006 the Fox Tower's developer, Tom Moyer, started construction of an underground garage on the block to the west, connected to the Fox Tower garage. This new parking structure opened in December 2007 making the total underground parking space count 1132. Because the west block lies slightly uphill from

324-466: The tower included seven floors of above-ground parking. Plans for the above-ground parking levels were removed in 1998 to add space for what was originally to be a movie theater operated by Act III Theaters . The building earned Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2012 for its sustainability. The building is most notable for

#806193