Media Release

October 9, 2009

Consultant team selected for Burnside Bridgehead plan

The Portland Development Commission (PDC) has selected Will Bruder + Partners as the consultant team for the Burnside Bridgehead Framework Plan.  Expected to occur over the next six months, the planning process will culminate in the release of a Burnside Bridgehead Framework Plan in March 2010. This high-level guidebook to redevelopment will include the refinement and clarification of public goals and objectives for the property and identify key opportunities and constraints on the site. 

“The team envisions an urban place of mixed uses, quality jobs, business support opportunities and civic amenities…an iconic and catalytic example of visionary thinking about affordability, sustainability and urban livability,” said Will Bruder of the approach to the Framework Plan.

The selected team brings to the project diverse experience, commitment to listen and a fresh perspective, led by Will Bruder, President of Will Bruder+Partners PHX/PDX and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Urban Architecture in the School of Architecture at Portland State University. Collaborators are inner east side Portland architects Group Mackenzie and Works Partnership Architecture, as well as subject matter experts Johnson Reid (market analysis), Green Building Services ( sustainability), Peter Finley Fry (urbanist), Lango Hansen (landscape architecture),  Architectural Cost Consultants (cost estimating) and Group Mackenzie Engineering (transportation analysis). 

An additional element of the Framework process is PDC’s partnership with BEAM Development. In February 2009, BEAM agreed to serve as PDC’s strategic advisor for the Framework Plan, providing development advice in exchange for the opportunity to develop a minimum of 20 percent of the site.

“PDC is energized to begin a new phase at the Burnside Bridgehead site,” said Erin Flynn, PDC Urban Development Department Director.  “We look forward to working with our partners, with the consultant team, and with the community to prepare the site for a landmark mixed-use development that supports the goals of the City’s Economic Development Strategy and is well-positioned to take advantage of the next upswing in the market.”

The Burnside Bridgehead Citizen Advisory Committee, which meets monthly, will provide significant input and comment to the project team.  Two public workshops offer further opportunity for public engagement. The first workshop, planned for November, will provide a forum for conversation between the project team and stakeholders early in the process. The second workshop, slated for early 2010, will offer attendees a chance to comment and provide input to a draft Framework Plan.

The Burnside Bridgehead site is located at the base of the Burnside Bridge on the east side of the Willamette River, on four-plus city blocks in the Central Eastside Urban Renewal Area.  The creation of a significant mixed-use gateway development on the site is called out in the city’s recently-adopted Economic Development Strategy as a key opportunity for catalytic investment in physical place-making, to support the city’s job creation efforts and maintain Portland’s leadership in sustainability through urban innovation.

###

PDC was created by Portland voters in 1958 to serve as the city’s urban renewal agency as laid out in Chapter 15 of the City’s Charter. PDC provides comprehensive housing, development and economic development programs within the Portland region.

for PDC's News & Information E-mail Lists
View the e-mail archive | Unsubscribe from our e-mail Lists
Find us on: