Meanwhile down in Hollywood

With the permit for Wally Remmers's proposed project at 4419-4439 NE Fremont still undergoing "value added revisions" ranging from zoning clarifications to plumbing changes, let's check on another of his family's projects in Hollywood, a neighborhood just south of Beaumont-Wilshire.

Now showing in Hollywood: The Building that Tried to Eat a Neighborhood Landmark. A couple of blocks away, a similarly oversize project offers units from $1,125 to $1,750/month, with a map to neighborhood parking included.

Two buildings went up recently in Hollywood, both big on the number of units and low on amenities. At one of the two, the building across from the library at Northeast 41st and Tillamook, a tour comes with this handy map to all the street parking in the vicinity.

Would-be tenants taking a tour of the new building receive a map to neighborhood parking for vehicles, but nothing on nearby transit or bike facilities.

At the numerous city hearings dedicated to discussing amendments that would put a stop to no-parking buildings of a certain size (like those just opened in Hollywood), many activists in favor of affordable housing and car-free living spoke up in support of this kind of development. They argued that this was precisely the type of housing Portland needed.

Color-coding shows how long to leave a car.

Now the buildings are leasing up. Two-bedroom units at the 41st and Tillamook building run from $1,550 to $1,750, and one-bedrooms are $1,125 to $1,425. Developers enjoyed the support of those activists but the results fall short of expectation—expensive and, for the neighborhood, exploitive.

That is, if Hollywood residents and businesses have no friends or customers.

Here in Beaumont-Wilshire, we hope for better. As the city and developer continue to work on the permit for the troubled, much-delayed development on Northeast Fremont, hopefully they also fix the scale and size of the project and further improve the investment in the neighborhood.