Atlantica - 01.04.2006, Side 53

AT L A N T I CA 51
advantage of the cheap rent, moved into the area. Soon urbanites, bored of
the soulless Portland suburbs and tired of the never-ending trafficked com-
mutes to and from work, moved to the Pearl. Not far behind them came the
empty-nesters who had regained their lives after their kids packed up and left
for college.
“A few visionaries could see the untapped potential. With Portland’s eco-
nomic landscape booming in the late 90’s the time was right to revitalize the
area and soon a combination gold rush and Oklahoma land grab erupted,
transforming the area,” says Wilson.
One of those visionaries is Mark Edlen, a fast-talking entrepreneur respon-
sible for developing the Brewery Blocks, a five-block project in the southwest
corner of the Pearl that replaced the Blitz-Weinhard Brewery with roughly
1.7 million square feet of urban retail shops, office space and residential
housing.
Touring the offices of Gerding/Edlen Development, it’s apparent Edlen
is not your typical developer interested in the least-cost solution. He seems
to take more pride in the office cupboards made from recycled wheat-board
than the way his company revitalized the neighborhood.
But his hand in transforming the Pearl helped the neighborhood stay true
to its industrial heritage. Take the former brewery. It’s been detailed into one
of the city’s most popular bars, blending exposed redbrick walls and 24-foot
ceilings with flat-screen and plasma TVs. Henry’s 12th Street Tavern serves
over 100 beers, including my favorite, Fat Tire. Henry’s also has an extraordi-
nary restaurant with a menu ranging from grilled Pacific swordfish for $21.95
to the $3 happy hour burger topped with melted Tillamook cheese.
Instead of talking about these cultural improvements, Edlen would rather
brag about how his company recycled the concrete after the brewery was gut-
ted, and how they managed to restore the building’s eight-story smoke stack.
“There’s $750,000 of cement and rebar packed inside to keep it up. What’s the
economic incentive to do that? There is none. It’s psychological,” he says.
While most Portlanders are ecstatic about the cosmopolitan Pearl District,
some former neighborhood residents question whether the Pearl has
improved.
“It’s a vibrant neighborhood now, but I don’t know if it’s a better neigh-
borhood,” says Bradley Michaels, a Certified Financial Advisor. Having lived
here in the late 80s, Michaels misses the neighborhood’s grit. And like Wilson,
he misses the brewery train “pushing box cars up and down 12th Avenue at
4am.
“It’s been homogenized as of late. Now there are a lot of expensive res-
taurants that cater to the high-rise living population which spawned auxiliary
businesses providing furnishings, plants and pet babysitting, swanky doggie
day care, and high-end hair salons. The artists have long ago moved to lower
rent areas. It’s a natural progression experienced in any urban renewal area
worldwide.”
Development is inevitable in underutilized spaces. At least this post-indus-
trial neighborhood has grown in a sustainable manner. One of the Brewery
Blocks, “The Henry,” a 15-story, 124-unit condo, received a gold LEED rating
from the US Green Building Council, according to Architecture Week.
But for many, more satisfying than any “green rating” is that there are no
row houses or cookie-cutter condos in the Pearl. Edlen’s firm made sure
its project’s retail space opened up to the sidewalk, rather than trapping
shoppers inside mundane malls. “This ensured that there would always be
plenty of foot traffic outside, creating a vibrant, energetic neighborhood
atmosphere. What makes the neighborhood work is all the foot traffic,” says
Mark Edlen.
THE PEARL IS WALKABLE. Everything you need to fulfill your daily activi-
ties is within shouting distance. Walk to one of the city’s largest post offices
on Hoyt Street. Grab your yoga mat and scoot over to the gym on 12th and
Johnson. Take your poodle for a stroll. Spend your day conceiving the next
PHOTOS AMELIA ARMSTRONG
050-53PortlandAtl306.indd 51 23.4.2006 22:54:54