Urban Skyline on Commercial St Looks Great! Nursing Home site for Sale

With the nice weather and the New Holman Hotel soon to open, last night was a good early evening for a walk to check on it.

I was also checking in on the two-wayification of Court Street, but that's not quite done yet.

Turning the corner from Court to Commercial southbound, the skyline formed by Pioneer Trust, the Nishioka Building, and the New Holman Hotel was really delightful. A proper urban procession, and so very cheering.

New Holman Hotel, Nishioka Building, Pioneer Trust
Looking south-ish on Commercial Street near State

New Holman Hotel, Nishioka Building, Pioneer Trust
Looking north-ish on Commercial Street at Ferry

In context the hotel looks great! This is the midrise downtown Salem needs.

(Hopefully some time a real architectural photographer will get not just the hotel but the whole group in good light and with perspective control.)

Front page today

And it turns out the hotel was already open! It was nice to see it on the front page. When the restaurant opens later this spring, it will be great to see the new sidewalk life.

• Previous notes here on the first Holman building, the Marion Car Park, and now the New Holman Hotel.

Just a couple blocks down it looks like the Nursing Home concept has been abandoned and the lot for sale. (See previously at the Planning Commission in April 2021.)

Nursing home lot at former Boise site for sale

This is old news, it turns out. Listings say it's been publicly for sale nearly 2/3 of a year already, and it's listed for $3.5 million.

The Nursing Home concept always seemed like a suboptimal use for the corner, and maybe now something with more public-facing elements, something to leverage the creek and proximity to Riverfront Park, something that might also enliven and complement the emptiness of the sculpture court, will be able to happen.

Nishioka Building Completes an Important Downtown Intersection

This is old news, the building having been dedicated last year. Still, it was very nice finally to see the new Nishioka building on State and Commercial from the sidewalk on a leisurely evening walk.

A major void filled!

The void in 2013

The corner is significant here as the first instance of Harry Scott's bicycle store was on the alley on State Street. World War I closed him up, and he reopened around the corner at the location we still know today.

City Council, August 12th - More on Salem Heights

Apart from the questions about bus stops and parking removal, the other item of real interest here on Council's agenda for Monday is the continuation of the appeal of a 34-lot development off of Salem Heights. (Previous notes here.)

Much of the protest and criticism of the development is a proxy for neighborhood dissatisfaction with speeding on the current "unimproved" state of Salem Heights as a rural-ish road without sidewalks and bike lanes.

In the rebuttal materials, the consulting traffic engineer talks about speed. And there is a real problem here. "Speed data alone is not evidence of a safety problem," they write. Because the crash rate here is below average, they conclude the corridor is "safe."

15% of drivers go well over the posted 25mph here

This is balderdash!

This is a structural blind spot in our traffic engineering. It ignores the number of people who choose not to walk or bike or even drive on the street because they feel unsafe. There is a subjective element that has been completely erased in our hydraulic autoism and the attempt to model traffic after fluid dynamics and physical sciences. People in cars feel safe enough to speed. The definition of safety has a strong autoist bias here.

The consulting engineer goes on to say,

...even if the existing speeds on Salem Heights Avenue S were deemed to constitute a documented traffic problem, the proposed subdivision would need to contribute to the traffic problem in order to trigger the need for a Traffic Impact Analysis.

They are right that the proposed development is too small to trigger the TIA, the north-south connections will be a benefit, and the neighbors are misdirecting their fire.

Still, there is a problem here, but it's not the development. Speeding on Salem Heights is a real problem, and the City should face this squarely. Slow the cars.

Additionally, the neighbors have proposed traffic diversion on one of the streets, allowing for walking and biking through, but denying car travel through it. City Staff seem to be very resistant. This is a concept we need to talk more about. Maybe here is not the right place for it exactly, but more generally, if we are going to start taming cars, we will need more diversion to prioritize non-auto travel. The City should take this suggestion more seriously.

Final pie chart from Our Salem: It's all about the cars

Also on the agenda is an "Intergovernmental Agreement with the State of Oregon, Office of the Fire Marshal for Regional Hazardous Materials Emergency Response."

City Council, March 25th - Tax Incentives for 260 State

Council meets on Monday and for our interests here it's a light agenda.

260 State Street birds eye view
(Marion Car Park on left, and Scott's Cycle in middle)

The most significant item is an application to participate in the City's Multiple Unit Housing Tax Incentive Program, a ten year property tax abatement, for the development at 260 State Street on the corner of Commercial and State Streets. (See previous notes here.)

From the Staff Report:

The Program provides for a tax exemption only for the City’s tax levy, estimated to be $41,267 in the first full year....if the District’s Board consents to the tax exemption for a project under the Program, the project will be exempt from all local property taxes for the period authorized, estimated to be $165,069 in the first full year. The project is within the Riverfront-Downtown Urban Renewal Area, and all tax revenue generated by the project above the current assessed value would go to the Urban Renewal Area, and would not go to the City and other taxing districts.

Since 1976, six properties have been approved by Council for this Program.

Since the site has been vacant for so long, without any new development actually breaking ground, it is not implausible to argue that this kind of subsidy is in fact necessary to make the project happen. The Staff Report does not, however, attempt to make that positive case, to argue that the incentive is necessary. Instead, the Staff Report takes the program as it is, and merely argues that the project meets the requirements technically and administratively.

Apartment Block at 260 State Looks to get Historic Design Approvals

260 State Street birds eye view
(Marion Car Park on left, and Scott's Cycle in middle)

On Thursday the 17th the Historic Landmarks Commission will consider the project planned for 260 State Street, the empty gravel lot at State and Commercial. (Staff Report here, full agenda here.)

When an earlier note was posted to FB, it immediately brought talk about parking: The project must have underground parking, there's not enough parking, it's impossible without more parking, etc.

Our mania for subsidized, free car storage is the dominant interpretive lens for anything downtown, and even dominates in residential areas.

We have to interrogate and end this!

If we demand that land and construction budget be allocated to car housing, how are we ever going to create affordable housing for humans?! This is a real trade-off that people don't want to take very seriously, or want to wave off as something that can magically be resolved. But car parking adds to the cost of housing, whether it's downtown or in a residential neighborhood. If we want to reduce the cost of housing, eliminating mandatory car parking is an important and direct step. It won't solve affordability problems by itself, but it's an essential ingredient. (See these discussions of the cost of housing and ways to reduce it for Portland and Seattle.)

18 spaces on the interior:
A very small parking area behind ground floor retail

And indeed, this project is oriented for car-free and car-lite living. There is a small parking lot of 18 stalls on the first floor, tucked in under a second floor courtyard. The project will require creativity and exceptions in our usual parking requirements. It is likely there will be a separate policy or agreement that utilizes stalls in the Liberty and/or Chemeketa Parkades. We should also be talking about ways to utilize Riverfront Park or other surface lots during the nighttime when demand is slack. There are efficiencies to be found in cooperative offset sharing agreements. We have tons of parking! (Materials do reference an additional 130 stalls off-site. This will be an important detail, but uncertainty on that should not itself be reason to halt or delay the project.)

New 260 State Street Building and Tree Preservation both at HLC Next Month

Hey, lookie here! It's the first public rendering of the proposed apartment building on the corner of State and Commercial, that empty gravel lot across from Ladd & Bush and Pioneer Trust.

The Historic Landmarks Commission will hold a formal Major Historic Design Review on January 17th. This is a nice note at the end of 2018 and for the start of 2019.

Proposal for 260 State Street

At a glance, the building looks to be one story taller than Pioneer Trust, but also to take strong cues from it, and that little cornice at the top of the 5th floor will echo the cornice on Pioneer Trusts' own 5th and top floor. On 3- and 4-window bay spacing there's nice articulation with the recess and contrasting brick. And the ground floor has a strong contrasting base with inviting storefront windows.

Nothing flashy, but a strong nod to the early 20th century streetcar era.

Cranking Marine Drive Back Up at WSRAB, 260 State at DAB

Two Urban Renewal Advisory Boards meet this week, and they'll be talking about a couple of important projects.

Tomorrow the 7th in West Salem, WSRAB will discuss renewing the push for Marine Drive, which the Congestion Relief Task Force lists among their recommendations.

Congestion Relief Task Force on Marine Drive

The agenda with Marine Drive

What that means exactly is not clear. There is still some $3.5M allotted to a project between Glen Creek and Cameo Streets, which is inside the Urban Growth Boundary, but the West Salem Neighborhood Association wanted a more northerly section, which is outside of the UGB.

The scope and sequencing here is still a little murky, but perhaps more will be clear after the meeting.

In the Neighborhoods: NEN, CANDO, Planning Commission

CANDO, NEN, and the Planning Commission all meet tomorrow the 21st, and they have several items of interest on their agenda.

CANDO

CANDO will discuss a "Motion to recommend City Council retain Winter Street SE between Ferry and Bellevue in the Pay to Park District." You might remember that Willamette University wants that stretch to remain free. (See notes here and some CANDO comment here on expectations for free parking.)

Last month they also heard from

Jayne Downing about the Center for Hope and Safety’s development of the old Greyhound Bus station next door, which will soon be raised [razed?] to make room for Hope Plaza, a three-story, mixed-use building intended to serve survivors of domestic violence and sexual exploitation no longer under safety threats. The project, which is set to begin construction in 2020, envisions first floor businesses offering services such as job training. The upper floors will consist of meeting rooms and 20 low-income apartments, with an interior courtyard.

It's a bit of a bummer that the mid-century storefronts and bus station can't be reused, but adding 20 apartments and the other components sounds like a winning package in total. It's hard to be too cranky about prospects for that demolition. There is a mural, however, on the wall of an old jazz club or something inside there, and some thought should be given to documenting that at least in photos. There's probably some interesting mid-century history to record.

Finally, movement on the empty lot! (from 2014)

Not on the agenda, but an important project downtown, and likely to be on a future agenda...the first permit applications are being submitted for redeveloping the gravel lot on State and Commercial! There will be more to say as the project gets farther along. One important piece is a reduction in the parking requirements, as most of the residences will be studios and explicitly aimed at car-free or car-lite living. This is likely to be contested by MOAR PARKING advocates, and the City could do a better job messaging about the trade-off: We can have more people housing at a lower cost; or, requirements for more car housing cause less people housing and at a higher cost per unit. Car housing raises the cost and space requirements of people housing.

SW Corner of State and Commercial Heating Up Again?

You might remember from a few years back a concept to redevelop the nearly quarter block lot on the southwest corner of State and Commercial.

Project concept, apparently discarded now,
 for State and Commercial
via Nathan Good Architects

Nothing has been said publicly about it, but it looks like that's off the table now.

A reader sent in an Oregon Business article from a few days ago that discusses a completely different concept:

Cathy Reines of Koz Development...whose Snohomish, Wash.-based company specializes in student housing and what are known as micro-housing units, zeroed in on an empty lot in Salem’s historic downtown for a 140-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail....

The location, at the corner of State and Commercial streets in downtown Salem, was ideal for Reines, who looks for places where there are large student populations or hospital workers, with access to outdoor amenities. Salem Hospital and Willamette University both fit her parameters, along with a walkable riverfront that gives people access to outdoor recreation....

Reines’ partner, Josh Scott, says that infill construction in a historic neighborhood has special considerations, including meeting the city’s design guidelines. Salem, unsurprisingly, didn’t want a flashy or modern “look-at-me” building as infill, Scott says.

His work started at street level, making sure there was a consistent main-floor height with other downtown buildings. Adjacent buildings and those across the street can offer good cues, he says.

“There’s a fine line you walk not trying to imitate, not trying to create that false historic feeling, using proportions and general forms that are found in historic neighborhoods, and letting the modern building be what they are,” says Scott. [link added]

The City doesn't show any new permits or land use applications for 260 State Street, which is the address previous projects have used, so perhaps this is still only in the "talk" stage and not yet a formal project. Maybe it's developer "vaporware"!

In any case, it's something now to watch. It would be great to have something built at this corner, especially housing.

Addendum

Oh yeah, some history...Here's the building that used to be on the corner:

Griswold-Murphy block, 1940 (Salem Library Historic Photos)

Same site today - streetview

And Harry Scott's first bike shop was around the corner and on the alley, on State Street.