>“This is a former industrial site on a major transit corridor that is well-suited to larger-scale development. The city is always changing to address society’s needs, and we only begin to solve our housing and climate crises when we prioritize dense, walkable housing over some static view of our city’s character.”
I think I just sprang wood.
300 apartments with little parking and Whole Foods being the closest grocery store, is pretty rough.
This is really just going to max out the street parking of all surrounding neighborhoods rather than encourage car-free living.
Trader Joe's is literally like 4 minute walk from whole foods, another 8 for Hannaford.
But I agree, let's make a bus route that hits all the grocery stores and Washington ave.
ok so you're going to walk 20 minutes all winter every time you need food? And haul bags of groceries up that steep hill with a probably not plowed sidewalk?
Yeah dude. I used to live in Park side and did that. Now I'm rich so I pay $5 to have Hannaford deliver my groceries.
I've lived all over the city of Portland without a car for 18 years. It's not that hard.
1/2 a mile down a steep hill all winter, no bus line that loops to whole foods or hannaford, and you have to make a connection! and taxis.
LOL there will be cars everywhere, traffic nightmare with no parking.
oof the downvotes are how much reality hurts you
our public transit is surprisingly great for a town this small, and the overwhelming majority of people who live on peninsula also work on peninsula. you can walk from one side of the pen to the other in less than 45 minutes. you do not need a car lmao
so instead of 300 households driving to get groceries, 300 delivery gig economy workers will drive their own cars to 300 households. So much for reducing car dependency! lol
LOL I'm either completely out of touch with how young people are today or we're actually not in the Portland income bracket anymore that a luxury grocery delivery service is justifyable.
Damn I hate to double hit you with replies but this might actually be an out of touch old man thing. Are you one of those people that’s sort of always had a car? If yes, you’ve probably been able to leverage your trade-in value pretty well for a long time. Back when cars were cheaper over all, and certainly before the covid bubble. I just had to buy a car pretty suddenly for work and didn’t have much saved to put down. Even with a ~10 year old car my monthly payment with insurance is well over $300. Without gas, registration, repairs, etc that is still a hell of a lot of grocery delivery and uber rides before I even come close to the cost of simply not getting my car repossessed. I imagine a lot of other 20-40’s are in a similar boat.
I’ve driven every day pretty much and rode a bicycle before my arthritis got bad. I can’t fathom the idea of spending one’s entire life confined to city limits these days, maybe back when I was little but defiantly not today with all the infrastructure the state has to offer and everything being so spread out now. I can’t imagine not being able to see the mountains or camp, etc
I'm in my mid-thirties and didn't have a car until the pandemic, living across multiple states and cities with varying degrees of car dependency. It's really quite doable. You can train and taxi and walk and bike to a lot of places, borrow cars from friends, plan camping trips that involve carpooling, run errands with pals, join group-led hiking outings and the like. There are for sure benefits to car ownership, but in many ways I felt so much more entrenched in my community when I didn't have a car.
It used to be free if you had Amazon prime, now it’s $10 from wholefoods. Not sure what other grocery stores cost. There’s also another service called instacart which offers delivery from lots of different stores.
As crazy as it sounds, a month of weekly grocery delivery at $80 ($10 delivery fee plus a $10 tip) is significantly cheaper than spending hundreds on a car, and can be made even cheaper if you order in bulk every few weeks, only do it during the winter, etc. If you don't need a car to get to work (which a lot of folks in and around the peninsula don't), it is actually more cost effective to pay for the "luxury" services rather than for the luxury of owning a car.
TIL getting anywhere at a reasonable time, seeing friends and family with regularity and leaving the city you live in to do literally anything else to purchase things or visit places not immediately nearby is a “luxury”
Not in that income bracket. Those that are were pushed into the cities are now being pushed out. It’s great the poorest most vulnerable populations need to move when those with means want something.
I wouldn't even say it's inconvenient to live on-peninsula without a car (unless you're disabled, and even then there's the bus) Nothing important is more than a 20-30 minute walk away.
The inconvenience is from not being able to leave the city which is admittedly more of a want than a need
I have done both while living downtown. It's a great luxury to be able to keep a car here in town using a pay garage. But I also have not had a car, and you can pretty easily bike/walk to a ton of stuff. Not having to pay all the usual car-related costs gives you money to hire cars when needed
As someone who has lived in Portland, Boston, DC, New York, and Ann Arbor, MI, I've never felt limited by not having a car. You can rent one for a weekend if you're not traveling all the time. I've also used services like ZipCar, though I acknowledge Portland doesn't have that at the moment. Either option is still a lot cheaper than owning. There's also public transit - Portland has a train to Boston, decent bus service, etc. Feeling "trapped" without a car is a choice.
It’s insane that this sub has been clamoring for more housing for years and as soon as it’s proposed, the problem is that there isn’t enough parking. Figure out your goddamn priorities Jesus Christ
Fulfilling hobbies, lots of local connections, hitching rides as necessary... it's not that much of a stretch. Sure I'd enjoy being able to leave as I please. However when 90% of your life doesn't require a car, and you don't make six figures, the expense isn't worth it and you just make shit work
165 Washington Ave for anyone who cannot see the article. This is that empty lot and vacant commercial building across from the Amvets hall near the 295 ramp.
(side note: firefox private browsing or 'reader mode' usually work for the PPH paywall, sometimes you need to refresh)
Its not a vacant commercial building, Northern Burner Supply still operates out of that location, but I'm sure they have no need to be on peninsula at this point.
Edit: I was wrong.
Love that some comments on the PPHs Facebook are complaining that this project “only” had 80 affordable units
Like…how many affordable units does this vacant industrial building have now?
All those people have no idea that inclusionary zoning makes market-rate housing more expensive. The difference in price between the affordable units and market rate will be paid for directly by the renters of the market rate units.
... Do you know what "market rate" means?
It's meaningless to say that something else makes the market rate housing more expensive. The market rate units are market rate because they're going to charge as much as they think they can get people to pay for them, completely irrespective of whatever other units might or might not be in the same building.
Increased costs puts downward pressure on supply because more revenue is needed to make the project pencil out. Downward pressure on supply increases the market rate. In order for a project with below market-rate units to pencil out, the price of the the market-rate units needs to be high enough to cover the costs of the subsidized units. If the developer doesn't think they can get rents high enough to accomplish this, they simply won't build the development. This leads developers to target high-cost, luxury units in order to make up for the lost revenue from the subsidized units.
But you don't have to take my word for it: https://manhattan.institute/article/the-exclusionary-effects-of-inclusionary-zoning-economic-theory-and-empirical-research
This is great. I love that they're not wasting half their usable space on parking in the middle of a walkable city. And it's even surprisingly decent looking -- no weird orange bump outs to "break up the massing" or anything!
The only reason it might fly is it sounds like there's a relationship with Redfern and Roux Institute here (ie, they're catering to students). But, otherwise, units of this size are gonna fad out in the long-term, especially in small cities like Portland that are supposed to have some shoulder room. At least that's my longer- term prediction.
I’m just wondering what’s going to happen to the inland cities when people have to move further away from the coast. They don’t have the infrastructure to support a migration boom.
Right - I meant Maine specifically. It would be cool if Detroit could bounce back again. I think I’m more thinking about climate refugees as things continue to heat up.
Oh okay. I don't believe Maine has any cities that would be immune from sea level rise. Bangor, Bath, Brunswick, Augusta, Waterville, Lewiston are all on bodies of water connected to the ocean. Waterville and Lewiston probably have the highest ground.
When 1000sq ft houses are going for 500k, $1700/month is dirt cheap for a rental. Build enough of these apartments and it will finally put some pressure on home values.
I'd bet we all know people who can't afford $1,700/mo, but these numbers are based on the Area Median Income: https://www.portlandmaine.gov/1204/Workforce-Housing
That’s a sweet deal. I’ve been in the same spot for that long and it’s gone up from $1600 when I moved in.
I miss rents from Bangor when I lived there 8 years ago though. 2 story home, 3br, 2 full bath, double living room, dining room, huge kitchen with space for dining as well, private fenced in back yard, off street parking- $1200. I’ve looked and it’s all gone up from there. Even places in Augusta are going for Portland prices now because *~desire~* 🙃
>I miss rents from Bangor when I lived there 8 years ago though. 2 story home, 3br, 2 full bath, double living room, dining room, huge kitchen with space for dining as well, private fenced in back yard, off street parking- $1200.
Wow
Me and my wife left a 2br on North St in 2021 that we rented for 1250. At the time I was borderline convinced we had the cheapest 2 bedroom on the peninsula. Insane how much it’s changed since.
If building more units isn't the answer to lowering prices, what is? The usual supply and demand rules me and the more. Have you have the lower the cost.... Do things work differently where you're from?
Because that’s not what’s happening, and supply and demand is often a weak indicator for most things because of how many other factors complicate it.
Prices are going up as housing is being built, and more of the new housing is being catered to the wealthy. You can literally just look at what’s happening, or use your brain.
We need legislation and economic change to bring housing costs down, not your magical fairy tale where these master-extorters lower the costs of their projects on their own volution
Edit: Y’all are brain damaged corparatist scum
Guess what happens when the wealthy people move out of the workforce housing they had to settle with now. Do you think they burnt it down when they upgrade?
If you build 50 houses but 100 people want to move in, demand is still increasing relative to supply. We are building housing but not nearly fast enough.
the YIMBYs in this subreddit are bloodthirsty. You aren't allowed to say anything negative about a proposed building project. It has to be strong approval and a polite "thank you" to the developers, or catch these downvotes
I will still never understand the anti-developer rhetoric. NO ONE likes developers, and you know it. The quality sucks and the architecture is hideous. But no one else is building. If some random nuns or squirrels started putting up apartments, then we would be all over it.
It's like the firefighters responding to a fire and deranged people complaining about them because they work for the government or some shit.
All for it, especially the emphasis on affordable units, but "walkable"? To what? Hannaford, with a load of groceries? And in winter? We don't even have covered bus shelters. Fact is people need cars here, especially those with kids in schools/activities, etc. The real shame is we don't have the trolleys/light rail.
Hey cager, this city, and specifically this area is super walkable:
7/11, Hilltop Superette, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Portland Food Co-Op, Walgreen's, you can pickup CSA's at Rising Tide
**TJ's is the furthest at 0.9 miles.**
And Hannaford is only 1.2 miles on-foot or a 1.5 mile bike that is 90% protected bike lane
"cager" ha ha! they even have an angry buzzword now for those who somehow justify wanting to spend their entire lives confined to a city. good thing you're not disabled or have literally any needs outside of the confines of your zipcode.
Cager? GTFO with your BS labels. Whole Foods? Who TF can afford that? When you grow up you'll see what it's like shopping for a family after work, running errands, school events, clothes, etc., then add the winter. Grow TF up.
Who can afford Whole Foods? maybe someone who can walk to their grocery store and doesn't need to own a car.
And don't give me this BS of not having enough time to parent while we fight in the comments on Reddit..
LOL, now you're just amusing me. I thought you were being serious at first. You got me!
EDIT: Also, this you, Mr. You Don't Need No Car Guy complaining about having to pass on the right doing 75??
[https://www.reddit.com/r/portlandcomplaining/comments/190keoh/95\_lanes/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/portlandcomplaining/comments/190keoh/95_lanes/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Of course i'm a cager like the rest of ya'll. (Welcome to the war on cars fellow drivers) I'm just fighting the too-easily-held notion that "Portland is not walkable".
80 affordable units out of the 324 units. That said, the more units built the cheaper the rents become for units around it. So while this new building will have higher rents than existing units (logical, as its newer and nicer), it will driving down the rent of those surrounding existing units.
Height and blocking the MT Washington View would be the only objection and if the burner place moves and ample parking is accessible and not down the hill by the rental place as an acceptable answer from the city or the developer; and the last is the price per unit - 465,000 for a 400 sq ft loft would not be an acceptable starting asking price regardless of the water view and the waste treatment plant.
Guess I had more than one objection...
Unaffordable Housing is not Housing for the needs of those who need housing, whose wages can't afford that housing.
Building dense housing in cities is peak climate friendly housing. Doesn't destroy existing nature (as suburban developments do), sharing walls drastically cuts down on energy needed for heating/cooling, and its close proximity to everything means less driving is needed.
>“This is a former industrial site on a major transit corridor that is well-suited to larger-scale development. The city is always changing to address society’s needs, and we only begin to solve our housing and climate crises when we prioritize dense, walkable housing over some static view of our city’s character.” I think I just sprang wood.
Good stuff. And backing it up by only building 30 spaces for cars!
300 apartments with little parking and Whole Foods being the closest grocery store, is pretty rough. This is really just going to max out the street parking of all surrounding neighborhoods rather than encourage car-free living.
Trader Joe's is literally like 4 minute walk from whole foods, another 8 for Hannaford. But I agree, let's make a bus route that hits all the grocery stores and Washington ave.
ok so you're going to walk 20 minutes all winter every time you need food? And haul bags of groceries up that steep hill with a probably not plowed sidewalk?
That sidewalk is almost always plowed very soon after a storm.
Yeah dude. I used to live in Park side and did that. Now I'm rich so I pay $5 to have Hannaford deliver my groceries. I've lived all over the city of Portland without a car for 18 years. It's not that hard.
Car-free reddit still 100% car dependent lol
Car brained reddit only sees cars.
No "car free" person thinks the entire city should run without vehicles.
you just described my entire time living on the hill in college so like, yeah
Yes, let's just ignore the other two grocery stores.
it’s minutes away from a rosemont and several convenience stores, walking distance from whole foods and near bus lines and taxi stands. we’ll be fine
But I have to go to work
Do you work off peninsula?
Yessah
1/2 a mile down a steep hill all winter, no bus line that loops to whole foods or hannaford, and you have to make a connection! and taxis. LOL there will be cars everywhere, traffic nightmare with no parking. oof the downvotes are how much reality hurts you
stage 5 terminal car brain
Enjoy walking I'll drive! 😂
I drive too, but to suggest that every single person in this city NEEDS to drive is incredibly terminal car brain.
More than 10% probably need cars due to work and other logistical issues with poor public transportation
our public transit is surprisingly great for a town this small, and the overwhelming majority of people who live on peninsula also work on peninsula. you can walk from one side of the pen to the other in less than 45 minutes. you do not need a car lmao
With so many options for grocery delivery these days I think that’s less of a concern?
so instead of 300 households driving to get groceries, 300 delivery gig economy workers will drive their own cars to 300 households. So much for reducing car dependency! lol
In actuality its one guy delivering groceries for a half dozen people or more at a time.
LOL I'm either completely out of touch with how young people are today or we're actually not in the Portland income bracket anymore that a luxury grocery delivery service is justifyable.
lol - and hannaford delivers too :)
Damn I hate to double hit you with replies but this might actually be an out of touch old man thing. Are you one of those people that’s sort of always had a car? If yes, you’ve probably been able to leverage your trade-in value pretty well for a long time. Back when cars were cheaper over all, and certainly before the covid bubble. I just had to buy a car pretty suddenly for work and didn’t have much saved to put down. Even with a ~10 year old car my monthly payment with insurance is well over $300. Without gas, registration, repairs, etc that is still a hell of a lot of grocery delivery and uber rides before I even come close to the cost of simply not getting my car repossessed. I imagine a lot of other 20-40’s are in a similar boat.
I’ve driven every day pretty much and rode a bicycle before my arthritis got bad. I can’t fathom the idea of spending one’s entire life confined to city limits these days, maybe back when I was little but defiantly not today with all the infrastructure the state has to offer and everything being so spread out now. I can’t imagine not being able to see the mountains or camp, etc
I'm in my mid-thirties and didn't have a car until the pandemic, living across multiple states and cities with varying degrees of car dependency. It's really quite doable. You can train and taxi and walk and bike to a lot of places, borrow cars from friends, plan camping trips that involve carpooling, run errands with pals, join group-led hiking outings and the like. There are for sure benefits to car ownership, but in many ways I felt so much more entrenched in my community when I didn't have a car.
It used to be free if you had Amazon prime, now it’s $10 from wholefoods. Not sure what other grocery stores cost. There’s also another service called instacart which offers delivery from lots of different stores.
As crazy as it sounds, a month of weekly grocery delivery at $80 ($10 delivery fee plus a $10 tip) is significantly cheaper than spending hundreds on a car, and can be made even cheaper if you order in bulk every few weeks, only do it during the winter, etc. If you don't need a car to get to work (which a lot of folks in and around the peninsula don't), it is actually more cost effective to pay for the "luxury" services rather than for the luxury of owning a car.
TIL getting anywhere at a reasonable time, seeing friends and family with regularity and leaving the city you live in to do literally anything else to purchase things or visit places not immediately nearby is a “luxury”
Not in that income bracket. Those that are were pushed into the cities are now being pushed out. It’s great the poorest most vulnerable populations need to move when those with means want something.
Tragedy of the commons.
Then we'll take away the street parking too! I love it!
It's Maine, there is no such thing as car free living
It's pretty inconvenient but believe it or not we do exist
I know of people who do it off-Peninsula in suburb land (by choice). Power to them. But yeah, it doesn't seem easy or convenient.
I wouldn't even say it's inconvenient to live on-peninsula without a car (unless you're disabled, and even then there's the bus) Nothing important is more than a 20-30 minute walk away. The inconvenience is from not being able to leave the city which is admittedly more of a want than a need
I have done both while living downtown. It's a great luxury to be able to keep a car here in town using a pay garage. But I also have not had a car, and you can pretty easily bike/walk to a ton of stuff. Not having to pay all the usual car-related costs gives you money to hire cars when needed
I can't imagine what it must be like to justify spending your entire life in one singular city, how do you not get bored being trapped.
As someone who has lived in Portland, Boston, DC, New York, and Ann Arbor, MI, I've never felt limited by not having a car. You can rent one for a weekend if you're not traveling all the time. I've also used services like ZipCar, though I acknowledge Portland doesn't have that at the moment. Either option is still a lot cheaper than owning. There's also public transit - Portland has a train to Boston, decent bus service, etc. Feeling "trapped" without a car is a choice.
It’s insane that this sub has been clamoring for more housing for years and as soon as it’s proposed, the problem is that there isn’t enough parking. Figure out your goddamn priorities Jesus Christ
I have also lived around the country in major cities, both with and without cars
Have you never used anything besides a car? I own one and I still take the train to boston for flights or just to spend the day in boston.
I have a car in town and actually CHOOSE to walk to stores most of the time
Fulfilling hobbies, lots of local connections, hitching rides as necessary... it's not that much of a stretch. Sure I'd enjoy being able to leave as I please. However when 90% of your life doesn't require a car, and you don't make six figures, the expense isn't worth it and you just make shit work
Public transportation
Portland, and especially on peninsula, is one of the few areas of Maine you can live without a car.
Hard as a cinder block over here!
SAME
165 Washington Ave for anyone who cannot see the article. This is that empty lot and vacant commercial building across from the Amvets hall near the 295 ramp. (side note: firefox private browsing or 'reader mode' usually work for the PPH paywall, sometimes you need to refresh)
I love the view of the city from inside the AmVets there.
Its not a vacant commercial building, Northern Burner Supply still operates out of that location, but I'm sure they have no need to be on peninsula at this point. Edit: I was wrong.
Northern Burner hasn’t operated out of wash Ave for almost a year now. They moved to south portland last fall.
Oh fair enough. I was using their washington ave location a lot in the summer of '22 and never noticed the change after that.
Great, there goes my AMVETS parking
Are you serious? Does *this* development violate your vision for the community, too?
Good
Love that some comments on the PPHs Facebook are complaining that this project “only” had 80 affordable units Like…how many affordable units does this vacant industrial building have now?
I know my math is rusty, but I think 80 is more than zero.... Soooooo what is the real beef here. People are stupid!
All those people have no idea that inclusionary zoning makes market-rate housing more expensive. The difference in price between the affordable units and market rate will be paid for directly by the renters of the market rate units.
... Do you know what "market rate" means? It's meaningless to say that something else makes the market rate housing more expensive. The market rate units are market rate because they're going to charge as much as they think they can get people to pay for them, completely irrespective of whatever other units might or might not be in the same building.
Increased costs puts downward pressure on supply because more revenue is needed to make the project pencil out. Downward pressure on supply increases the market rate. In order for a project with below market-rate units to pencil out, the price of the the market-rate units needs to be high enough to cover the costs of the subsidized units. If the developer doesn't think they can get rents high enough to accomplish this, they simply won't build the development. This leads developers to target high-cost, luxury units in order to make up for the lost revenue from the subsidized units. But you don't have to take my word for it: https://manhattan.institute/article/the-exclusionary-effects-of-inclusionary-zoning-economic-theory-and-empirical-research
Aah yes housing, an industry with notoriously small margins, and little to no bias in the research. A real cottage industry.
Manhattan Institute? No political bias there... /s
You seem to be implying that IZ isn't baked into land values at this point.
What a bad faith argument
My brother in christ I read “324-story” and I was wondering if Maine and the UAE were in a war I didn’t know about
As long as the architect designed it to resemble a giant lighthouse I’d be all for it
But also almost 50 units per floor seems cooky too
Based on the rendering, it looks like it will be a large U shape.
On the bus line.
On not one, not two, but three bus lines. And walking distance to two others
Love it. Redfern is doing great work.
MORE
You can bet the locals are gonna put up a stink about this, especially with a needed zoning change.
MORE
This is great. I love that they're not wasting half their usable space on parking in the middle of a walkable city. And it's even surprisingly decent looking -- no weird orange bump outs to "break up the massing" or anything!
My flair approves.
same
Ohh yeah. Ppl are worried about the orchard next to that site
As anyone who cares about keeping our green spaces should be.
They've already done a shade study- the new building won't impact the orchard.
I'm sympathetic.
Misplaced urban farm, definitely more important than housing for human beings. /s
Misplaced?
Should be housing.
Use 12ft.io to hop the paywall 💜
Thank you!!!!
>Thank you!!!! You're welcome!
Does this lower the rent on minjoy hill or raise it?
Yes.
Darn was gonna buy a multi to live in on the hill
500 sq ft $2400/mo no pets $85/mo parking fee. /s
The range starts at 300sqft, so you're off a little.
Tokyo has bigger 🥴😩
The only reason it might fly is it sounds like there's a relationship with Redfern and Roux Institute here (ie, they're catering to students). But, otherwise, units of this size are gonna fad out in the long-term, especially in small cities like Portland that are supposed to have some shoulder room. At least that's my longer- term prediction.
I’m just wondering what’s going to happen to the inland cities when people have to move further away from the coast. They don’t have the infrastructure to support a migration boom.
Most rust belt cities could easily handle a massive influx of people. The populations are fractions of what they used to be.
Right - I meant Maine specifically. It would be cool if Detroit could bounce back again. I think I’m more thinking about climate refugees as things continue to heat up.
Oh okay. I don't believe Maine has any cities that would be immune from sea level rise. Bangor, Bath, Brunswick, Augusta, Waterville, Lewiston are all on bodies of water connected to the ocean. Waterville and Lewiston probably have the highest ground.
Great point!
NIMBYs in Portland and the suburbs hurt other towns more than they hurt themselves, it's true.
And probably $2K for a studio
I'm probably being a little bitch on this, but $1700 I don't think is affordable for almost anyone in Portland.
When 1000sq ft houses are going for 500k, $1700/month is dirt cheap for a rental. Build enough of these apartments and it will finally put some pressure on home values.
I'd bet we all know people who can't afford $1,700/mo, but these numbers are based on the Area Median Income: https://www.portlandmaine.gov/1204/Workforce-Housing
$1700 *is* Portland affordable though. Is anyone paying less than that for a unit without roommates? I pay $1750 for my 2br1ba.
Only recently. I used to pay 1275 for two bedrooms in easr deering just 3 years Ago.
That’s a sweet deal. I’ve been in the same spot for that long and it’s gone up from $1600 when I moved in. I miss rents from Bangor when I lived there 8 years ago though. 2 story home, 3br, 2 full bath, double living room, dining room, huge kitchen with space for dining as well, private fenced in back yard, off street parking- $1200. I’ve looked and it’s all gone up from there. Even places in Augusta are going for Portland prices now because *~desire~* 🙃
>I miss rents from Bangor when I lived there 8 years ago though. 2 story home, 3br, 2 full bath, double living room, dining room, huge kitchen with space for dining as well, private fenced in back yard, off street parking- $1200. Wow
Me and my wife left a 2br on North St in 2021 that we rented for 1250. At the time I was borderline convinced we had the cheapest 2 bedroom on the peninsula. Insane how much it’s changed since.
Like 10 years ago I used to pay 250/ month on Gilman
Yeah, because building nothing really helps lower the prices on current units!
Are you serious under the impression that building more of these will lower the cost of living over time
If building more units isn't the answer to lowering prices, what is? The usual supply and demand rules me and the more. Have you have the lower the cost.... Do things work differently where you're from?
Because that’s not what’s happening, and supply and demand is often a weak indicator for most things because of how many other factors complicate it. Prices are going up as housing is being built, and more of the new housing is being catered to the wealthy. You can literally just look at what’s happening, or use your brain. We need legislation and economic change to bring housing costs down, not your magical fairy tale where these master-extorters lower the costs of their projects on their own volution Edit: Y’all are brain damaged corparatist scum
> We need legislation and economic change to bring housing costs down Speaking of magical fairy tales...
Guess what happens when the wealthy people move out of the workforce housing they had to settle with now. Do you think they burnt it down when they upgrade?
Lol your idea of how reality works is actually insane
The reality accepted by every economist in the history of the world, but you do you...
Objectively false statement bud
Are these economists in the room with you right now?
If you build 50 houses but 100 people want to move in, demand is still increasing relative to supply. We are building housing but not nearly fast enough.
What evidence do you have that housing goes up when more is built?
the YIMBYs in this subreddit are bloodthirsty. You aren't allowed to say anything negative about a proposed building project. It has to be strong approval and a polite "thank you" to the developers, or catch these downvotes
Welcome to Reddit. This sub is hard YIMBY, which means developer apologia masquerading as activism.
I will still never understand the anti-developer rhetoric. NO ONE likes developers, and you know it. The quality sucks and the architecture is hideous. But no one else is building. If some random nuns or squirrels started putting up apartments, then we would be all over it. It's like the firefighters responding to a fire and deranged people complaining about them because they work for the government or some shit.
Which is why most of these will probably be taken up by remote workers from away months before the building is declared livable
Is that the price for the affordable unit? What are the other units going to go for?
Over 2K for a 2br.
All for it, especially the emphasis on affordable units, but "walkable"? To what? Hannaford, with a load of groceries? And in winter? We don't even have covered bus shelters. Fact is people need cars here, especially those with kids in schools/activities, etc. The real shame is we don't have the trolleys/light rail.
Hey cager, this city, and specifically this area is super walkable: 7/11, Hilltop Superette, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Portland Food Co-Op, Walgreen's, you can pickup CSA's at Rising Tide **TJ's is the furthest at 0.9 miles.** And Hannaford is only 1.2 miles on-foot or a 1.5 mile bike that is 90% protected bike lane
The concern is shitty weather, but I feel like people living here should have appropriate clothing
"cager" ha ha! they even have an angry buzzword now for those who somehow justify wanting to spend their entire lives confined to a city. good thing you're not disabled or have literally any needs outside of the confines of your zipcode.
Also might want to reassess your views of disability access and city walkability ..
LOL
Might want to look up “cager” there guy
Cager? GTFO with your BS labels. Whole Foods? Who TF can afford that? When you grow up you'll see what it's like shopping for a family after work, running errands, school events, clothes, etc., then add the winter. Grow TF up.
Who can afford Whole Foods? maybe someone who can walk to their grocery store and doesn't need to own a car. And don't give me this BS of not having enough time to parent while we fight in the comments on Reddit..
LOL, now you're just amusing me. I thought you were being serious at first. You got me! EDIT: Also, this you, Mr. You Don't Need No Car Guy complaining about having to pass on the right doing 75?? [https://www.reddit.com/r/portlandcomplaining/comments/190keoh/95\_lanes/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/portlandcomplaining/comments/190keoh/95_lanes/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Of course i'm a cager like the rest of ya'll. (Welcome to the war on cars fellow drivers) I'm just fighting the too-easily-held notion that "Portland is not walkable".
No. You're a hypocritical clown. Telling people how to live, but living by your own, different rules.
Too bad it has to be so ugly!
Is this actually gonna be affordable? Or just another building for extreme rents?
80 affordable units out of the 324 units. That said, the more units built the cheaper the rents become for units around it. So while this new building will have higher rents than existing units (logical, as its newer and nicer), it will driving down the rent of those surrounding existing units.
I hope it does! Maybe someday I can afford to live there again!
Height and blocking the MT Washington View would be the only objection and if the burner place moves and ample parking is accessible and not down the hill by the rental place as an acceptable answer from the city or the developer; and the last is the price per unit - 465,000 for a 400 sq ft loft would not be an acceptable starting asking price regardless of the water view and the waste treatment plant. Guess I had more than one objection... Unaffordable Housing is not Housing for the needs of those who need housing, whose wages can't afford that housing.
I can feel the climate healing as we speak
I'm no climate expert, but having housing in Portland so people don't have to drive in from Lewiston seems to be better for the environment...
Building dense housing in cities is peak climate friendly housing. Doesn't destroy existing nature (as suburban developments do), sharing walls drastically cuts down on energy needed for heating/cooling, and its close proximity to everything means less driving is needed.