| By
Ryan Frank
Since time began in Portland, Old Town has been that rough patch in
the crook of downtown where the Willamette River makes its northwest
turn. It's been home for the rowdy men of the forest and shipyards and,
in recent years, drug pushers who've kept their street corner grip even
through downtown Portland's renaissance.
But the churn of change -- the kind that can transform an entire neighborhood
-- is starting to shake Old Town's century-old brick.
With prodding from Portland's urban-renewal agency, the Portland Development
Commission, developers have seen beyond Old Town's stigma of crime and
urban decay. The result, all sides hope, will be that rare big-city neighborhood
that the poor, middle-income and rich call home.
Workers are pounding away on the "Made in Oregon" building
to spruce it up for future University of Oregon students. Following the
Ducks, Mercy Corps last week got the city's OK to move its headquarters
and learning center into the neighborhood.
And the Bill Naito Co., fresh from resolving years of bickering within
the larger Naito family, is ready to reshape a string of Old Town properties
into condos, apartments, a boutique hotel, an alternative health center.
Old Town's old-timers have seen promising signs flame out before, and
this version has a long way to go to meet reality. But even they say
this time looks different.
"I think we are starting to see the start of some real change," said
Paul Verhoeven, Saturday Market's manager.
A new beginning
Old Town's recent action started where a decade-long Naito family fight
ended.
After developer Bill Naito died in 1996, his brother Sam and the children
of both men couldn't agree on much about the family business, including
their key Old Town properties.
For nearly 10 years, their real estate sat fallow as their dispute raged
and the neighborhood sputtered along with them. Investors steered into
the Pearl District, which hems in Old Town to the west, and left the
neighborhood to crack dealers and social service groups that serve the
homeless and drug addicts.
But after a 2005 resolution, one side of the Naito family operating as
Bill Naito Co. set out to reinvest in their real estate.
Then the University of Oregon came calling.
The
university wanted to move into the Naitos' White Stag building where
the "Made in Oregon" deer
flies.
The university was searching for a new Portland campus in a historic
building and in a part of town that needed a boost, said developer Art
DeMuro, who helped the school search. DeMuro bought the White Stag building,
and UO signed a lease in May 2006.
News of UO's move caused others to give Old Town a look. "They made
it legitimate for others to come in," said Richard Harris, executive
director at Central City Concern, an Old Town nonprofit that serves the
poor.
Then Mercy Corps followed.
Like UO, the humanitarian organization wanted to be an urban pioneer
and spark an area that needed help. (The group is now in Portland just
south of downtown.) Neal Keny-Guyer, the group's chief executive officer,
also wanted to be in a historic building.
Old Town fit both requirements. "I just love the neighborhood and
the feel of it," he said.
Last week, the city's urban renewal agency agreed to help Mercy Corps
rehab the Skidmore Fountain Building and build a new one next door on
land owned by the Bill Naito Co.
After UO and Mercy Corps, Old Town caught the buzz that fuels any neighborhood
revival.
That's when the Bill Naito Co. followed Mercy Corps.
Hope snowballs
UO and Mercy Corps' moves will bring students and workers to Old Town
and, they hope, push out crime. Their decisions made the Bill Naito
Co. feel safe sinking even more money into its Old Town real estate,
said Lou Elliott, who manages the company's properties.
By early 2009, the company hopes to rebuild a block on Naito Parkway
as the new home for Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects, the Oregon College
of Oriental Medicine and 55 high-end condos.
Following that, the Bill Naito Co. plans four other Old Town projects
over the next five years. In some projects, it hopes to restore a historic
alley system into something similar to Seattle's Post Alley.
From there, developer David Gold has plans for new creative offices in
blocks that border the Naito projects.
Some wring their hands about what progress means for the people who've
always called Old Town home.
Gentrification in other parts of town has pushed out the less fortunate.
But Harris of Central City Concern isn't worried.
Most of Old Town's social service groups hold the power because they
own their land.
"We're not leaving," Harris says.
Ryan Frank: 503-221-8519; ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com
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