Corbett Crescent/Bancroft Condominiums •
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Corbett Crescent/Bancroft Condominiums Portland, Oregon Project Type: Mixed Residential Volume 37 Number 13 July–September 2007 Case Number: C037013 PROJECT TYPE Located on a sloping hillside in a neighborhood that is highly protective of its historic architecture, Corbett Crescent/Bancroft Condominiums is a 53-unit development consisting of 31 townhouses and a four-story building containing 22 condos. The townhouses are arranged in a crescent-shaped layout that was inspired by the Royal Crescent, built in 1775 in Bath, England. The layout was designed to create community space, preserve views, and resolve topography challenges. The 2.25-acre (0.91-hectare), $21.3 million project was developed through a joint venture between Rifer Development and the previous owner/user, Wy’east Color. LOCATION Other Central City SITE SIZE 2.25 acres/0.91 hectare LAND USES Townhomes, Condominiums, Open Space KEYWORDS/SPECIAL FEATURES Zero-Lot-Line Housing Hillside Development Infill Development WEB SITE www.corbettcrescent.com PROJECT ADDRESS 4200 SW Corbett Avenue Portland, Oregon DEVELOPER Vernon L. Rifer, operating as Corbett Townhomes LLC Portland, Oregon 503-517-2100 www.corbettcresent.com ARCHITECT (Townhouses) Tom Johnson Architects Portland, Oregon 503-226-3709 PLANNER (Townhouses) SERA Architects (site plan and schematic design) Portland, Oregon 503-445-7372 www.serapdx.com INTERIOR DESIGNER Czopek & Erdenberger Portland, Oregon 503-242-0956 www.czopek.com LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Larry Cavender Portland, Oregon 971-219-6283 GENERAL CONTRACTOR (Townhouses) Derek Brown & Associates Lake Oswego, Oregon 971-233-0075 GENERAL DESCRIPTION The site on which Corbett Crescent/Bancroft Condominiums is located was formerly a commercial and industrial property in a historic residential neighborhood. The project architect sited the 31 townhouses around a landscaped commons and a crescent drive using as inspiration the Royal Crescent, a late-1700s housing project in Bath, England. Next to the townhomes sits the contemporary-styled, four-story Bancroft condominium building, which comprises two- and three-bedroom units. The project was developed through a partnership between Vernon “Vern” Rifer and Wy’east Color, a local printing business. The sole proprietor of Rifer Development, Rifer has over 20 years of development experience in the Pacific Northwest. He has developed several office, retail, apartment, and for-sale housing projects in both Portland, Oregon, and Washington State, and his practice is focused on the development of mixed-use projects, transit-oriented development, infill housing, and urban redevelopment. SITE AND BACKGROUND Adjacent to downtown Portland, the Corbett/Lair Hill neighborhood was one of the earliest land claim developments in the area. First platted during the mid-1800s, it provided early housing sites for the growing city. Its hillside lots offered expansive views of the Willamette River, the mountains, and the city. However, the steep terrain limited any meaningful commercial development. By the 1950s, the combination of suburban sprawl, significant highway construction through the neighborhood, and the deterioration of the early housing stock resulted in a general decline in neighborhood residential values. Many older residences were divided into rental units. But by the mid- 1990s, Portland began to experience a surge in urban redevelopment and the owners of the remaining historic homes fought to preserve their values and their neighborhood from inappropriate development. Today, Corbett/Lair Hill is in the center of a major expansion of the central city and of the adjacent medical school, Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU). Over several years, the Corbett Crescent site was assembled by the owners of Wy’east Color for its commercial advertising printing business. Although the site was zoned for high-density residential, the existing commercial building was on a 20-year conditional use permit that was set to expire in 2006. The roughly rectangular site measures about 110,000 square feet (10,219 square meters) and slopes steeply to the east (about 70 feet/21.3 meters) from its Corbett Street frontage. A number of single- and multifamily homes surround the site. A coffee shop sits across from the main Corbett Avenue frontage. Prior to development, the site included a commercial structure, extensive surface parking lots, and some large landscape trees. Little natural vegetation remained. Soils were composed of dense clay and gravel, which was sufficient for the townhouse foundations, but the four-story condominium building required soil reinforcements. A significant cleanup of contaminated soil caused by an abandoned home heating oil tank was necessary. The neighborhood has a citywide reputation for resisting almost any change and using its political and legal power to preserve its historic character. Neighbors of the project had resisted previous development efforts and wanted the site converted to a municipal park. A large regional developer tried unsuccessfully for two years to develop the site. However, the proposal for Corbett Crescent won unanimous support and, upon completion, has received praise from the immediate neighbors and neighborhood association. The members of the design and development team believe this is due to the project’s melding with the historic neighborhood’s scale and architecture. In addition to the aforementioned commercial/industrial structure that was demolished, the Corbett Crescent site contained two houses and a chapel that were built in the early 20th century and needed to be moved. One of the houses, a Victorian structure from the 1910s, was moved next to another historic house and then renovated. Together, these two houses were intended to present a historic face to the street, with the townhouses wrapped behind them and hidden off-street. The chapel was relocated across town and converted into a piano recital hall. The remaining older home was moved onto a barge and converted into a houseboat. The respect shown for these original structures was well received by the neighbors and helped foster goodwill between the development team and the neighborhood. DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The Portland housing market experienced significant condominium development starting during the late 1990s. Many large condo towers were built on the north and south sides of the central business district. They were primarily constructed on abandoned industrial sites. In addition, many urban neighborhoods saw significant housing redevelopment—namely, teardowns of existing homes and construction of new townhouses. The Corbett Crescent property was one of the few large sites near downtown in an established residential area. The zoning required a minimum density of one residential unit per 1,000 square feet (92.9 square meters) of the site. Even though a portion of the site was so steep it was unbuildable, the code called for a minimum of 110 units. A large regional developer worked with the landowner for two years to get a 110-unit project to work. They laid out condos, apartments, and affordable housing, but all proved physically or economically infeasible because the plan would have required expensive multilevel underground parking and six- to eight-story elevator buildings. Detailed market studies supported the development of for-sale units, but the construction cost would have been too high for the projected sales prices. Rifer had previously discussed development of the site with the landowner. He felt that the site and market could only support a density of about half the city minimum. He advised them that at 110 units the construction costs would be exorbitant, the neighbors would revolt with appeals, or the market would reject buildings so out of scale with the neighborhood. After the previous developer abandoned its efforts, Rifer approached the city about securing a waiver of the minimum density under a “best efforts” exception clause in the code. His 53-unit plan was approved, which allowed development of the site in a manner consistent with the market expectation. APPROVALS There were three significant aspects of the public approval process. Of greatest importance was the city waiver of the minimum density and approval of one unit per 2,000 square feet (185.8 square meters). This was approved under a “best efforts” clause for single-family homes located in high-density housing zones. Under RH zoning, the owner of a home and 10,000-square-foot (929-square-meter) lot who wanted to add a “granny flat” would be required to have a total of ten units. This clause allowed the owner to make a best effort to achieve the minimum density as judged by the city. In essence, Rifer argued that the site was a single-family home with a 110,000- square-foot (10,219-square-meter) backyard. Secondly, Rifer’s design approach did not require any discretionary city approvals, thus eliminating the ability of the neighborhood association to appeal these rulings. (This association has appealed almost all proposals brought before it over the past 20 years.) Thirdly, Rifer’s decision to move and reuse the existing houses and chapel was important from a timing perspective. The most significant encumbrance was the minimum density requirement described above. This constraint had kept the previous proposals from going ahead and would have done the same for Corbett Crescent had it not been addressed by the development team. During the site plan approval process, the neighborhood association wrote the city attorney that the property