The Earth Advantage Institute, a nonprofit green building resource based in Portland, announced yesterday that it joined forces with the U.S. authority on “Passive House” to co-develop an Energy Performance Score labeling system that can be used for certified Passive House buildings. The Portland-based Earth Advantage Institute signed an agreement with Passive House Institute US that joins the two nonprofit organizations as affiliates.
Whether you’re restoring a historic home for sale or you’ve just purchased a diamond in the rough that needs some polishing, Portland has some amazing resources for classic restoration hardware, fixtures, and furniture that are true to the spirit of Northwest style and sustainability. What better way to be green when you’re fixing up a classic home than to use salvaged antique materials?
The Walker Naylor neighborhood recently became Forest Grove’s third neighborhood to earn a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, joining the Clark and Painter’s Woods districts that were established in 2002 and 2009. Forest Grove is now home to three of Washington County’s four historic districts, and city leaders hope to make Forest Grove a destination for seekers of the quaint, beautiful and classic (Washington County’s only other historic district is in downtown Beaverton).
The three-story, 100-year-old building at SW 12th and Stark in Downtown Portland sits in a strange spot along the bustling Burnside thoroughfare. Separated from the rest of the commercial buildings in the area on a triangular block, the building is getting a new life as the Crystal Hotel, a boutique 51-room lodge with a restaurant on the first floor and a below-ground bar. The nearby Crystal Ballroom draws crowds from Portland and the surrounding areas for popular concerts and events, and the Crystal Hotel will provide a new place for music lovers and Portland visitors to spend the night in style.
Just a quick reminder: The Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland‘s annual Tour of Remodeled Homes is happening this weekend, March 12-1, 2011 from 10 to 5. Only $17.50 for both days, tickets can be purchased online or by calling 503-684-1880. This event is a great way to get inspired to remodel your next home in Portland, or to make your current house ready to be a successful sale in the Portland Real Estate Market.
Here in Portland, we’re so well known for the many bridges crossing the Willamette and Columbia Rivers that our unofficial nickname is Bridgetown, and one bridge in particular remains infamous. The Sellwood Bridge, connecting the southernmost regions of east Portland with the southern West Hills and Lake Oswego, has been derided as one of the worst bridges in America. Though it’s location is important, conveniently connecting areas like the South Waterfront real estate and OHSU homes and commutes, many people take the long way around, using the Marquam Bridge or Ross Island Bridge to avoid the Sellwood Bridge altogether. Luckily, committees have been working diligently to come up with a viable replacement bridge, and the final design has been selected and property acquisition has begun for the project. The Multnomah County Commission unanimously approved the deck arch design for the new Sellwood Bridge this morning.
Next up in our new series of Portland Home Style Guides is the Greek Revival style guide, also known as “Federal” or “Neoclassical” homes. The first architectural style to take off in the Oregon Territories in the 1850′s, Greek Revival is a highly geometric, clean, and simple home style that evokes Greek temple architecture. While Greek Revival homes can be quite grandiose and imposing, the style trickled down to the average residential home-builder throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, resulting in the many symmetrical column-porched family homes you now see around town. In the McDonald Group Portland Real Estate Greek Revival Home Style Guide you’ll find historical information, interior and exterior architectural details, and where to find many Greek Revival homes in Portland.
First up in our new series of Portland Home Style Guides is the Tudor Revival style guide, also known as “Medieval Revival,” “Mock-Tudor,” “Tudorbethan,” “English Cottages,” or “English Countryside” homes. Common in many older Portland neighborhoods, the Tudor Revival side is a romantic, charming home style reminiscent of classic English country architecture. In the McDonald Group Portland Real Estate Home Style Guide you’ll find historical information, interior and exterior architectural details, and where to find Tudor homes in Portland.
Victorian, Craftsman, Ranch, modern, mid-century, “Portland Style.” If you’ve spent any time looking for homes for sale in the Portland Real Estate market, these words should be very familiar – but do you really know what they mean? If you were to do a search in the Portland Real Estate Market for “Tudor” homes, you’d no doubt come up with drastically varying results. What are the characteristics that make up a Tudor home, or an English cottage, or an “Old Portland”-style house? If you love classic built-ins, fireplaces, and hardwood floors, what words should you be using? If you want a truly modern West Hills home, what can you ask for to avoid being shown all the ranches and mid-centuries? We’ll answer those questions and more with our upcoming guides to Portland Home Styles.
The City of Cornelius is reinventing itself, starting with a new city library and a Virginia Garcia Wellness Center – the first urban building in town – which city officials hope will initiate a new era for the Portland suburb. The Virginia Garcia Wellness Center will be the first building in town with three stories, and the first to take up a whole city block, while the library is slated to be the town’s community gathering space. While Cornelius offers convenience and affordable homes for sale, it has been missing a central downtown area. The new central area will define the center of Cornelius, paving way for a new century of new construction for the historic town.
Two rivers wind through Portland, Oregon: the north-flowing Willamette, separating the city into East and West Portland, and the mighty Columbia, the fourth largest river in the US, which divides Oregon and Washington. Portland is called Bridgetown for a reason: the twelve bridges crossing these rivers (each an example of a unique architectural style and six that must open for tall sailboats and giant cargo ships) are a vital part of life for most Portlanders. This month several Portland bridges are celebrating their “birthdays” – the Sellwood (1925), Glenn L. Jackson aka I-205 (1982), Hawthorne, Ross Island (1926) and Oregon City (1922) bridges all opened in mid to late December. Though there is no technical reason why bridges would be finished at the same time of year, Portland’s bridges seem to near completion in the winter months. Officials have decorated the Morrison Bridge with special red, green and white lights to honor the December birthdays and the holiday season. This December is extra special for the Hawthorne Bridge, built in 1910, which will celebrate its 100th birthday this Sunday, December 19.
TriMet is getting very close to opening the MAX light-rail station in Gresham, and city officials are anticipating a boom of Gresham Real estate and business development in response to the new transportation hub. Portland regional government Metro and the city of Gresham combined forces to organize the new construction of the Civic Drive Station, a MAX stop slated for commercial center between the Gresham City Hall and Ruby Junction MAX stops. The plan is to revitalize the Civic neighborhood by first bringing the transportation, then assisting development. It’s an interesting reversal of the typical planning steps of building first, drawing traffic later. In this new construct, Gresham officials are baiting new businesses and development firms with the promise of easy access for residents and consumers.
The long-awaited replacement Sellwood Bridge is one step closer to completion this week, as Sam Adams, Portland’s mayor, and Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen have reached a compromise over the disputed funding of the structure. Issues arose when the city of Portland analyzed the prospective traffic of the bridge and found that most of the Sellwood bridge traffic is coming from outside of Portland city limits, yet the city’s taxpayers were expected to pay the majority of the bill. After the city attempted a move to gain jurisdiction over all of the Willamette River bridges, the county agreed to return half of the projected savings on the bridge construction (expected to come it at around $20 million) back to the City of Portland to aid the construction of the MAX Light Rail’s Portland-Milwaukie line. The city has hired an independent engineering firm to find places to scale down construction on the bridge without affecting its functionality and safety. One of the scale-backs includes the elimination of a ramp to a west-side business along the Willamette river that is no longer operating.
Scott and I have sold alot of homes in Happy Valley, in fact we think it’s a fantastic place to invest right now as you can buy an amazing grand home with a view, level lot, great school and a great neighborhood all within in a few minute drive to the freeway. We’ve watched Happy Valley’s housing market go through several changes, short sales, bank owned…. but what we are seeing as the current and growing trend is new construction homes for sale and they are selling fast. New construction homes are not only competitively priced they are amazingly priced. Smart builders are picking up lots at great prices and passing the savings on to the home buyer. Not only does the home buyer get a new home, they get to chose finishes, make changes to the plans or even design their own. What we are seeing in the way of resale homes is that the good ones are picked over and the ones left are beat up, distressed , on impossible lots, poorly constructed or attracting multiple offers. When going with a new constructed home you can move into the home you envisioned and not spend an abundance of time waiting for the right one to hit the market. Another advantage is that the home is taxed at today’s value, not a tax assessed value from 2005.
In news that spread across the icon-obsessed City of Roses like wildfire, the city of Portland is working on a deal to purchase the iconic White Stag sign. Located near the Western end of the Burnside Bridge, the sign currently reads “Made in Oregon”, an advertisement for a former Portland, Oregon store, but will be changes to read “Portland, Oregon” as soon as Thanksgiving if the deal goes through. The sign has been an iconic image of the city for many years, and serves as a greeting to visitors entering downtown.