Imagining a Pearl gateway...and a contemporary art museum?

Image courtesy Portland State University via Daily Journal of Commerce 

Nathalie Weinstein had an interesting report in Thursday's Daily Journal of Commerce about a proposal from a group of Portland State University graduate students to raze two small mixed-use buildings near the Brewery Blocks for two larger mixed-use projects to create what they call a Pearl District gateway (pictured above).

The grad students spent their winter term developing a proposal for the site, consisting of two parcels between West Burnside and Northwest Davis streets and Northwest 13th and 14th avenues. The class was advised by members of the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

The students propose demolishing the existing buildings on the site, which presently hold businesses like Everyday Music and Storables, and constructing two mixed-use buildings. One of the structures is proposed as 23 stories. 

Equally noteworthy, perhaps, is the proposed occupancy: a combination of workforce housing, a chain store as the anchor tenant, a boutique hotel, and possibly even an art museum based around the collection of leading local art patron Jordan Schnitzer, who is president of the company that owns the two parcels, Harsch Investment Properties.

Tom Heinicke, one of the grad students from PSU, told Weinstein that height is essential for the development to be a gateway presence. “If and when the Burnside-Couch couplet comes along, we want to emphasize the height of the development because a fair amount of traffic will be coming past there,” he said.

Harsch senior vice president Steve Roselli told Weinstein there should be a more prominent gateway leading from downtown Portland into the Pearl District. “We’ve looked at redevelopment conceptually and have had a number of developers inquire about it,” he said. “When we started to get semi-serious about it, the market cooled off. But it’s a fantastic site for mixed use, and any number of things could work there.”

Roselli admitted that Harsch has no serious plans to redevelop the property anytime soon, but that now is the time to dream big. Getting PSU students to do that dreaming, and to get press like the DJC and myself to write about it, also helps market the idea.

“We have to get beyond the fact that nobody is building now,” Heinicke added. “It’s smart to develop something big rather than go halfway with it because things are tough. Three to five years from now, there will be a return to growth.”

There is an aspect of this proposal that feels a bit too uncomfortably close to the 2000s-decade boom. Do we really see a 23-story tower as a necessity for this site? Isn't that just a tad unrealistic? At the same time, if the city (or the nation) is ever going to climb out of the Great Recession, it will take developers looking to capitalize even when the current times don't necessarily call for it.

It's also a little difficult to imagine a pair of blocks immediately to the north of Burnside acting as a "gateway" to the Pearl. A true gateway would be along Burnside Street, which is the dividing line between Northwest and Southwest Portland. It's true that a couplet on the West Side making Couch and Burnside both one-way streets would change that configuration, but this is also the reason I have always been against the idea of a West-side couplet. Burnside occupies a special role in the city as the only street touching NW, SW, SE and NE Portland. It needs to retain its role as the border, as the unifying street in the city.

To my eyes, the most intriguing aspect of this entire proposal is not the architecture but the notion of having a new contemporary art museum in Portland based around Jordan Schnitzer's art collection.

In a 2007 story about Jordan Schnitzer, DK Row of The Oregonian summed up his large role in the local art world:

Think of the words "Schnitzer" and "art," and you likely think about Arlene Schnitzer, the patron who founded one of the city's first serious commercial galleries, the Fountain Gallery, as well as being the Portland Art Museum's most important booster and donor of the past two decades.

But for years, Arlene Schnitzer's son, Jordan, has been creating a Schnitzer legacy of his own.

Aside from serving as president of the family's business -- Harsch Investment Properties, founded by his father, Harold J. Schnitzer -- Jordan Schnitzer also has served prominently on the boards of several arts organizations, including the University of Oregon's museum. The school even renamed the museum after the Oregon alumnus in 2004.

Above all, Schnitzer, like his mother, has been collecting art, particularly prints. Right now, he has more than 5,000 prints. One of the most comprehensive collections of its kind in the country, Schnitzer's trove is deep enough to produce major retrospectives on several significant artists, including Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Bruce Nauman.

If there were a Schnitzer Collection, would the top few floors of a Pearl District mixed use building be the right place? Honestly, I'd accept a contemporary art museum in a Parkrose basement if it meant Portland were finally getting such a venue. Having it stem from Jordan Schnitzer would make sense, too. I think of a great museum like the Menil Collection in Houston as an indicator of what a space organized around Schnitzer's collection could be: small compared to a major art institution like the Portland Art Museum or the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, but all the more focused and thrilling because of it.

Bruce Nauman, "Human/Need/Desire" (1983) 

In that same Oregonian interview, DK Row also asked Schnitzer more point-blank about what might someday happen to his collection:

Q. You are still young and have a lot of collecting yet to do. But you must be thinking about the disposition of the collection and where it will end up.

A. Certainly I'm building a public collection. Again, I collect to share. As to who will eventually share in that partnership, I don't know. The intent is to have the collection stay here in the Northwest, which has been my home and my family's home for a hundred years.

Q. Have you talked to the Portland Art Museum about your collection?

A. Not in regards to the long term, ultimate home for the work. But I do know that I want it to be . . . (pauses). An analogy would be this: What if someone wrote a book and you bought all of the copies and stored it in a warehouse? I guess if I were the author I'd be depressed. I'd want that book out there, to be read. Someone might say: "You sold the copies, though." But what's the point of selling them if no one sees them? So in terms of my work, I want it to be in a public collection.

Q. What it sounds like to me is that the museum has not reached out enough to ensure that this collection stays here.

A. I think that John and Lucy Buchanan (the museum's former executive and development directors) knew that I wasn't going anywhere. If they had stayed in Portland, we'd have had some discussions by now. Brian Ferriso (the new director) has already come in and asked questions. He's talked a lot about the fact that he sees this collection as a public resource, as are other collections in the public.

Were such a move to happen to take his collection public in an institution of its own rather than at PAM, I'd rather see a new Jordan Schnitzer museum get an architectural space befitting the mastery of the artists in the collection: a building designed by a world class architect. Would Harsch Investment Properties be willing to go the extra step and hire a Brad Cloepfil, for example, or another world class architect with museum experience from out of town like Renzo Piano, Rem Koolhaas or Tadao Ando? Except for maybe Cloepfil, it seems doubtful. It also seems doubtful that this museum would actually happen anytime soon.

But given how organizations like the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art have shied away from their role as visual art exhibitor, or how others like the Portland Art Center have shut down altogether, it's enticing to imagine, however unrealistically, a true contemporary art museum in Portland. That would be a greater "gateway" for the city than virtually anything made of brick and mortar or steel and glass.

Comments

[Aaron G]

"Burnside occupies a special role in the city as the only street touching NW, SW, SE and NE Portland."

I don't think Burnside is unique in that regard. Broadway includes N, NE, NW, SW.

[Aaron G]

Oh, but it doesn't hit SE. I wonder why I thought it worked.

[Bob R.]

It's quite a coincidence (for me) that you posted this today. I was just in the building at 13th & Burnside today, visiting a photography studio space on the 4th floor. (I was scouting a location for a client.)

I suppose change is inevitable, but I would like to point out that the current building is home to just about as close as you can get to the prototypical artist/studio lofts, with lots of raw open space and a gritty environment. And affordable. The sort of thing that attracted artists and galleries and creative types to the Pearl before it was even called the Pearl.

The new "gateway" developments from this informal proposal, or some other developer's proposal, may indeed prove worthwhile and viable, but the Pearl becomes just a bit less "oyster" and a little bit more "precious" with each shiny new tower.

Again, not knocking new development proposals. But I like the fact that the Pearl still includes a lot of adaptive reuse, and such a strategy may be a better "gateway" than complete redevelopment. There's plenty of room in South Waterfront, after all, for glass spires.

[Linder]

Would the top few floors of a Pearl District mixed use building be the right place for the Schnitzer Collection? No

Any museum benefits from being on the ground floor for the same reason retail benefits from being on the street level, accessibility to intended visitors and exposure to unintended visitors through street traffic, making the collection more “public” as Jordan desires.

I hope the Schnitzer Collection could be the core of a new museum, but the museum should have room to expand and collect work beyond the Schnitzer Collection. In addition, it would be great to have large spaces for performances and new exhibits and a sculpture garden.

[Daniel]

Brian, you're starting to sound like Nicolai Ouroussoff! There are thousands of incredibly talented designers all over the world. You don't have to drop the names of your favorites in this context, we all know those folks. Otherwise, thanks for this interesting post.

[arcto eric]

... or maybe the Schnitzer collection doesn't need one of those "world class" architects, or even a modern building. There's another gateway to the Pearl, from Old Town. And there sits the gorgeous old Custom House, which just happens to be going up for auction soon.

[Mo]

arcto eric - well said.

Jordan - man up!

[Douglas K.]

Yep. Custom House. From the outside, it looks like it should be a museum. Don't know about what it looks like inside, but this seems like a great way to keep it in public use, even if that means some interior renovation. Put together the Jordon Schnitzer collection, the large collection of contemporary art already owned by the City of Portland, and maybe some pieces on loan from the Portland Art Museum ... there's a building and a collection. Still needed: leadership and funding.

[Brian Libby]

A Jordan Schnitzer Collection in the Custom House sounds fabulous to me! If you all want to make that happen, I'd be happy to lead the organization. :)

[arcto eric]

Douglas K wrote:
> Don't know about what it looks like inside ...
The GSA website has photos:
www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/buildingView.do?pageTypeId=17109&bid=350&channelId=-25241&type=5&navSelect=5
I haven't been inside, but would like to. Perhaps a tour could be arranged?
> Still needed: leadership and funding.
Sound like Brian can help with the leadership part. Shall we talk about funding ideas?

[Douglas K.]

Thanks, arcto eric.

I find it hard to eyeball it .. are we looking at 10' ceilings in there? 12'? Is there a realistic possibility of gutting sections of the interior to create large galleries suitable for major exhibitions?

If so, I'm all for it.

Funding: funding will follow community support, particularly if some prominent people get involved. If Jordon Schnitzer likes the idea (and face it, it can't happen without the guy who would donate the collection), there may be some Schnitzer family seed money right up front to get things off the ground.

I think it would help to make it a public museum, owned by the City of Portland (or possibly Metro if they want to step up) and operated by a non-profit. Under 40 USC §§549 - 550, it should be possible for the GSA to "surplus" the building for "a museum attended by the public," allowing the City of Portland to acquire the building as a public museum/community art center. It would help if Congressmen Wu and Blumenauer were on board to make that happen.

If the City is able to acquire the building for public use, it might be possible to get federal funding -- even earmarks -- for seismic and energy efficiency renovations of a public building. Although the State of Oregon is dealing with a severe budget crunch next biennium, renovating the Custom House could be the sort of "economic development project" that qualifies for lottery funding.

With champions in public office as well as Jordon Schnitzer, this project would have the sort of profile that could attract public funding from corporations and foundations. Once the project is up and running, a "friends" group would form around it and probably generate some clever fund-raising ideas.

[Lyle]

The existing buildings in the block should remain (and be touched up where needed). I like the artist loft use for the main building. Is there a better way to support the seeds needed for creative Portland?
Besides the existing building provides a more fitting, in-scale gateway. There are plenty of other places for glass highrises. The Crystal Ballroom on one side and the loftstyle building on the other honors the historic nature of this area. These buildings are part of the historic flavor of the Pearl District and should be preserved.

[kristin b.]

nice bunch of comments for an interesting post, Brian. Thanks for reminding us that Burnside should stay special, and improving it won't happen by turning into an annoying couplet. Burnside is one of our few instinctively, logically, understandably different streets - we can keep those positive qualities while making it pedestrian friendly in ways that don't involve mangling it into a couplet.

and the custom House is wonderful inside, and Jordan Schnitzer's collection would be great for it! Love the idea.

[dennis]

It bothers me that anyone would have an issue even crossing Burnside...it isnt even that big of a street, so what if it has two way traffic and you might actually have to wait for the light rather than wondering out into the street like every other intersection in Portland.

As for the project, it is an interesting idea, it would be really interesting to see the PSU program extend this idea into another quarter of developing to see what comes from it because the 10 week schedule is never enough time to fully develop an idea, especially one this complicated.

[Sheesh.]

"It bothers me that anyone would have an issue even crossing Burnside..."

Spoken as someone who rarely has to cross it no doubt. I know... I know... this is where you reply and say you cross Burnside 75 times a day and truly understand the issues involved first hand. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

[eric cantona]

hmmmm... i cross burnside nearly every day and it's NOT A BIG DEAL. just wait for the light to change. simple. just like any street. many times i go to the crossing at Park, and then i don't have to wait at all. brilliant.

people who have a problem crossing burnside like sheeeesh confuse me. what do you want?

[Lyle]

My wife walks across Burnside twice every work day. Like Eric ... she says it's not a big deal.

[dennis]

Well Sheesh, I dont cross it 75 times a day, but I do cross it frequently seeing that I live downtown and I end up walking across may streets down here frequently.

I will say there are definitely problem spots on that road where there is either no light to cross or you can only cross on one side, yet people still try to cross on both spots, thus risking getting hit by a car, or people are bothered that you actually have to wait for the light to cross this one street downtown.

[HB]

The scale of Portland and the can't-get-any-bigger size of Burnside may be forcing a planning decision to the couplet but something is missing from the discussion so far: Building typology

If there is to be a gateway, perhaps a different type, that of the gatehouse, could be considered for Burnside standing in opposition to the existing fabric. That building height is necessary to a good gateway is a point well taken, however the towers are a homogeneous approach to start from. Density and porosity are important factors apart from building form and may give rise to a more creative approach.

The gallery/museum, though? Sounds simply fantastic as a program. Would be a great opportunity and resting point in the city.