South Waterfront: Suburb in the Sky

The redevelopment of the old Macadam industrial area into the South Waterfront district with its Vancouverist condominium towers has long been a controversial subject in the public realm. Critics of modern Portland regional planning goals have cited it as an example of everything that is wrong with the region, even noting (with barely repressed glee) that some of the towers there are leaning, and that they are now being foreclosed upon by debtors. My take is far less negative — I believe the kind of land use South Waterfront represents is critical to the region’s future — but I do have some very serious concerns about the area. Despite grid streets, quality developments, and the extension of the Portland Streetcar, South Waterfront has a dirty secret nobody wants to talk about: it is auto dependent.

Since the conversion of the area into a largely residential zone began in the early part of this century, hundreds upon hundreds of housing units have been created in South Waterfront. The pre-eminent residential tower, the John Ross, stands at 31 stories high, making it the tallest residential building in Portland as well as one of the ten tallest buildings in the city.

The John Ross tower, center, is a prime example of the Vancouver B.C. style redevelopment occurring in Portland’s South Waterfront area.

Despite the rapid growth of the district, however, a visitor is immediately struck by how much of a ghost town it is. There is almost no street life. There are few retail establishments, and those that are there never seem particularly busy. It all feels more like a movie set or a computer generated city than a real place anybody lives. It is, in short, a bedroom community, with few basic cultural amenities, it is a place people come to to sleep but not to live life.

It is, in short, a vertical suburb.

What makes neighborhoods magic is always hard to define, but a few key elements always stick out. There needs to be life at the street level. There need to be places to spend time, be they small stores or local cafes or what have you. There need to be the community anchors, too, places like grocery stores, parks, schools, and the like places where nearly every day the community at large spends a considerable time visiting. South Waterfront has almost none of these.

To see if this was more than simply perception, I ran a brief test. Using Walkscore, I ran the numbers for the John Ross tower. The score for South Waterfront was actually pretty decent, a 77 out of 100, what Walkscore calls “very walkable.” (Walkscore also noted that 40% of Portlanders had a higher walk score.) To compare, I ran the numbers for what must be one of the least dense, least well designed suburban neighborhoods, Aloha, out on TV Highway. Few places could less conjure up the words “pedestrian friendly,” and yet Aloha managed to eke out a score of 83. Less surprising, though still notable, the intersection of Canyon Road and Hall Boulevard in central Beaverton scored 95, a so-called “walker’s paradise.”

The numbers for South Waterfront decline even further when you look a the details of its 77 score. In grocery stores, for example, only two — New Seasons and Cash n’ Carry — are full service, and both are located over a mile away on the other side of the river, with the nearest safe walking route being via the Hawthorne Bridge over a mile north. Or, ya know, by car. Of the vest-pocket and convenience stores that Walkscore also counts as grocery outlets, one is a mile north at Riverplace, one is a mile east on the other side of the river, and three are on the other side of Interstate 5, hardly walkable. One, just one, a convenience store, is located within the South Waterfront district itself. The same basic story can be told about schools, libraries, theaters… the list goes on. In short, when you take into account the barriers of Interstate 5 and the Willamette River, the area’s Walkscore becomes obviously overinflated. If it were not for the streetcar, the situation for a pedestrian would likely be intolerable.

What of Aloha or Beaverton? If Walkscore isn’t taking into consideration significant geographic barriers, then perhaps these scores are equally inflated? In Aloha, most of the grocers are small ethnic stores — not a minus in my book though it might be to some — and one Cash ‘n Carry. There are, however, no freeways or rivers to contend with. Certainly, crossing TV Highway is not pleasant, but there are crosswalks and stoplights in the middle of Aloha, so the task is not difficult. Theatres and libraries, however, are thin on the ground, but bars, restaurants, and parks are all numerous. Beaverton’s case is even stronger, with nearly every desirable amenity — including four full service grocers — all within easy walking distance, and almost all of it west of the 217 freeway.

The point of this exercise is not, however, to argue that living in Aloha or Beaverton is preferable to living in South Waterfront. It is, however, to illustrate that the latter has a long way to go, and is seriously lacking a number of key ingredients to make it a vibrant, desirable neighborhood. As Portland looks towards this district’s future and contemplates future development, it should be less and less interested in more housing towers, and more interested in some of the amenities that are lacking. A full service grocer, an anchoring retail development, improved parks, entertainment venues, and so forth should all be topping the list. Until they do, South Waterfront will remain no more than a suburb in the sky.