Perspectives - The Pearl District, Portland, USA - a sustainable cities collection

Making Inspiring Places of an Enduring Quality

a sustainable cities collection - game changers - a series

“The conventional wisdom (for city-making) used to be that creating a strong economy came first…The converse now seems more likely: creating a higher quality of life is the first step to attracting new residents and jobs.”

Jeff Speck

From a macro perspective the global market has been over supplied with commercial centers, while at a micro level innovative districts exceed performance expectations far beyond predictions of traditional market analysis. Hallmark districts world-wide, such as; Silicon Valley’s Santana Row, the Chelsea District, New York City, Xintiandi in Shanghai, and the Pearl District in Portland, have all significantly outperformed competition. They serve as beyond best practices for city-making, and are examples of transformative community and economic success. Whenever we visit these places we experience the same kind of feeling that encourages people to return again and again, as so well said by Jan Gehl, “A good city is like a good party. People don’t want to leave.” What we have observed is that there is a convergence of Whole Living principles in great cities and urban places.

The best examples of integrated city-making share in common the same key principles that make up a compelling experience for the user. They demonstrate that something unique in their insight and integration lead to an extraordinary human experience, and as a result, a superior economic performance, far beyond what supporting demographics, or supply and demand evaluations, would suggest. 

New global models for Whole Living provide an extraordinary window into creative solutions for our evolving cities, as a response to rapidly changing dynamics in societies’ expectations, largely due to technology. These examples offer exceptional guidance for revitalizing of our cities and city-making for the 21st century. These hallmark districts reveal that story, density, diversity, walkability, synergy, authenticity, connection, craft, and other key principles for integrated city-making are more than ever a superior response to our times and changing expectation of urban places. More than ever the effective implementation of these Whole Living principles are critically necessary for the health of our cities and those who inhabit them. Yet as successful as these hallmark urban districts are, both economically and socially, all four districts exist in over crowded commercial markets, in regions that are over supplied, and where there is a plethora of competition. The Pearl District offers a window into their essential elements for success.

Today the Pearl District is a historic downtown district recently transformed into a thriving high-energy and diverse mixed-use community. In the past, it was the location for manufacturers, railway yards and industrial warehouses. As increased automobile ownership shifted urban patterns away from the center of the city, the neighborhood decayed to the point that by the 1960’s it was a largely forgotten, leaving 120 city blocks of obsolete and abandoned buildings. Starting with Powell’s bookstore in 1971, the largest bookstore in the western USA, followed by a few artist pioneers, the district slowly began to attract a small band of entrepreneurs, so that in the late the 1980’s the city commissioned a study that culminated in a series of planning steps in 1990’s. New real estate developments, such as the Brewery Blocks, emerged and the district subsequently experienced a renaissance of revitalization, guided by an enlightened city government and development community, the district was reinvented block-by-block, utilizing Whole Living principles. The emphasis was on social interaction, integrated uses, density and diversity, and public expression through art and culture, restoration of historic buildings integrated with modern architecture, first-to-market brands, and sustainable practices. 

Like a well aged home and a long life, the Pearl District expresses a collective memory of place. The neighborhood reveals itself at every turn, a blend of new and old, at times well ordered, and other times chaotic and a little disheveled, puzzling artifacts left over from a time past, 21st century towers alongside 19th century warehouses. It’s the kind of place that inherently stimulates curiosity, surprise, and a desire to explore. Its traditional roots have been transformed in unconventional ways. In the lecture Cities, Place and Cyberspace, Paul Goldberger says that, “…the traditional city might appear to be antithetical to the way we live and the way we build and the way we think today, in a metaphorical sense it is absolutely of this moment, for I think of the city not as opposite to the Internet, but as absolutely like it. In a sense, it is the original Internet, the original hyperlink – since cities are places in which random connections, rather than linear order, often determines what will happen. Cities aren’t linear, even though they exist in real space. Random connections are what make them work, and surprise and a sense of infinite choice is what gives them their power.” The Pearl District is an ideal example of this kind of experience.

The Pearl District's transformation is exemplary of vision and talent. Today the district is highly livable and stimulating, diverse in use, family friendly and imbued with public amenities, such as park, schools, art, cultural events and performances. Most importantly, the Pearl District conveys a vitality and creativity that attracts people to want to live and experience the district over and over again, boosting its economic and social value to its community. Once a forgotten and undesirable part of the city, today the Pearl District has transformed into one of the most desirable places to be.

Whole Living© Series

Boulevard Properties LLC invites you to explore its guiding principles as part of the Whole Living© series. These principles have been formulated from years of practice and global observation of urban trends worldwide. You can receive the complete Whole Living© series copy by making a request, via email at: info@boulevardpropertiesllc.com.

Who We Are

We are thinkers, makers and doers. For over three decades we have endeavored to make a difference by creating meaningful places world-wide. As a real estate development company with a global perspective, we are committed to building teams, leading real estate development ventures, and implementing mega-scale projects throughout the world, as partners, alliances, or as advisors. It is our aim to positively impact the lives of people and create sustainable investments for shareholders. To better understand how to achieve this we have been careful observers and makers of highly complex, multi-purposed places, crafting our understanding of what makes meaningful places for people and sustainable economics throughout the world.

What sets us apart is the innovation, leadership and years of practice that we bring to our collaborations. We continue to explore trends globally and evolve our thinking to make our work more meaningful to the user, and thoroughly understand, that by taking care of our customer, you also take care of the investors.

Globally, we have witnessed tremendous change, due to technology, urban migration and shifting demographics. Today as a result, the way we live, work, learn, entertain and trade must be reimagined. Beginning with Santana Row, we have carefully deconstructed and evolved our thinking about city-making, in rapidly changing times and how best to provide sustainable returns to the investor. They are inseparable. We now know, more vividly today, that the right direction for change is by integrating uses that successfully achieve synergy. We call this Whole Living©.

Anthony Flanagan, 

CEO & Chairman


Boulevard Properties LLC

www.boulevardpropertiesllc.com

BUILD Award - Most Innovative Urban Real Estate Development Company

President William J. Clinton’s Foundation Climate Award - Global Model - Treasure Island

California Governor’s Environmental & Economic Leadership, Sustainable Communities Award - Treasure Island

Brookings Institute Award - National Model Community - The Shipyard & Candlestick

Project of the Decade Award - Santana Row