The dust hasn’t even settled over the big closing sale at Macy’s in Hillsboro, but that is not slowing down the future of the property. The City of Hillsboro received an application from Urbal Architecture to redevelop the entire footprint. Developer Alliance Residential Company, a Scottsdale (AZ)- based developer, has applied for a 308-unit, 71-foot-high housing community that will rise over commercial stores. The old Macy’s store will be scrapped to accomplish this task, and the new project will rise from the ground up. The existing parking garage will remain, as will the skybridge for connection.
Here is the narrative submitted by Urbal:
General
Broadstone Tanasbourne is a proposed 6-story, +/- 308 residential unit mixed use project providing
needed housing to east Hillsboro and +/- 5,386 SF of retail space. The project is a +/- 2.58 acre, +/-
112,210 SF (net acre = 2.37) parcel within the Streets of Tanasbourne retail center. The tax lot number is
1N225CD00101. Within the proposed parcel boundary there is approximately 16’ of grade change, with
the low point at the south corner sloping up to the highest point at the north corner. It is bounded by NE
Cornell Rd to the south, NE Amberglen Pkwy to the west, NE Allie Ave to the east (private road), and a
parking garage drive access and retail space to the north.
The site is currently a Macy’s department store and several smaller retail spaces (currently housing
Warhammer, Good Feet, Rush Bowl, and Harry Ritchies Jewelers). The proposal calls for the existing
commercial building(s) to be demolished, along with some existing footings as required.
The existing skybridge bridge between the parking garage to the second floor of the Macy’s building is to
remain. An extension will be provided to connect the new apartment building to the existing skybridge.
The existing garage will provide parking for the proposed resident and retail uses. No new parking is
proposed.
Vehicle access is on NE Allie Ave. into the adjacent parking garage or off NE Amberglen Pkwy at the
north end of the parking garage. A portion of the existing loading dock off the north side of the building
on NE Amberglen Pkwy will remain for resident move-ins and trash.
The Herald took a closer look at the details. The housing mix is heavily weighted toward Studios and one-bedroom apartments, which is to be expected given the area’s demographics. Some units are larger than we usually see, and many of the 2 BRs are almost 1,100 SF. The application did not clarify whether any units are workforce housing or rent-controlled. At this time, it certainly does not appear that way.
On another note, Senate Bill 1537 allows applicants to apply for an automatic height increase and an open space decrease. There are criteria for that, but they are not hard to meet. This will allow the project to achieve 71+ Feet in height and an additional floor of housing. So this is a big project. The reduction in open space is slight, and residents will live in a walkable shopping village with many paths and open areas. Imagine living in a very urban shopping village! You can walk across the street and have a Killer Burger, walk a few more feet and grab gear at REI or Zumiez, take a lesson at the newly opened Rumble Boxing, and grab wings and beers at Buffalo Wild Wings. You can hit Starbucks, two sushi bars, and shop at Whole Foods without getting into a car. Hillsboro’s housing is going vertical more than ever. So don’t be surprised to see Evergreen Cinema’s parking lot covered with housing projects sometime soon.
Here, we can see how the shops and main lobby will face the existing shopping mall. In addition, the developer plans a large internal courtyard open to the sky that will wisely give all residents an exterior view, either inside or outside. Undoubtedly, some of the views on the upper floors will be spectacular. The current sky bridge on the second floor will connect to the new project and provide direct, secure access. The project seems a good fit and well planned by Urbal and the ownership.
Is there a downside to projects like this? After all, we need housing. Well, yes, there is. Hillsboro’s housing stock has become more and more rental-based. As the community grows, housing costs increase, and our community has more than 50% rentals. Aspirations for homeownership are falling by the wayside with fewer people able to set down roots. That has long-term consequences, and not all of them are good. Hillsboro continues to become a more affluent community, and rents are rising. It would not be surprising if market rents in a community like this one start at $2,000 monthly and go up to $3,500 for a 3-bedroom. So, gentrification will continue to push more and more locals out of the community.
Overall, this is an attractive project and one that we believe will keep the stores and shops in that area vibrant and add to Hillboro’s ever-growing housing base. What’s your take? Sound off below in our comments section!
You have to make a perilous journey across Stucki and Cornell to shop at that Whole Foods (it’s a longer, but slightly more direct hike to Safeway or Trader Joe’s), but your point is otherwise taken.
The new development definitely looks like Scottsdale, but it’s hard to argue with density next to amenities: Especially if you’re a Kaiser patient. It feels as if that Regal on Evergreen is a when rather than an if: Compare the crowds to the Cinemark in Cedar Hills or even the Cornelius 6 and it’s pretty desperate and self-inflicted. That parking lot is one of the bigger wastes of space in this town, and I’m sure the Old Spaghetti Factory won’t mind the new neighbors.
The more I see full rooms at the Hollywood, Laurelhurst and PAM Cut’s tomorrow theater and barren lots outside Regals on Evergreen and TVH, the more I think your redevelopment prediction isn’t all that far off. We saw it happen with bowling alleys in Portland (though the shift to Target in some cases just delayed the inevitable), and I won’t be surprised to see it happen with lot-surrounded multiplexes here.
If you’re looking for ways to maximize housing within the growth boundary, building up on previously flat spaces is a great way to do it.
Hi Jason,
Your thoughtful analysis is always appreciated here. It is hard for many suburbanites to think about a city like Hillsboro, built on larger lots historically, as a place for Urban housing developments. But when we consider the need to preserve our high value farmlands, prevent endless sprawl, and improve on traffic and other impacts of it, this is a viable strategy. Orenco Station and the Platform District has worked. It has created a vibrant sub-district of our City and set a good marker for what can work. Downtown Hillsboro will likely see the old US Bank parking lot go this route. Some in City Hall and in planning circles see the potential for 10 stories to work although parking remains a conundrum. In time Hillsboro will be composed of a dozen districts where shopping and residential will exist in villages that create the fabric of a larger quilt. And there is room for all in that sort of approach. The next thing we really need is Condo reforms that encourage development of units people can own. Cohousing is another model that I hope takes hold. Keep up the comments and the contributions you make to our community!
I’d love to host a water balloon fight in that courtyard!
While I certainly understand the need for more housing, my first thought when looking at this proposal is that parking will become a nightmare for this area. 308 rental units? That will be at least 300+ cars that need a place to park. How many parking spaces are in that existing parking garage? Seems like that public parking garage will become this apartment complex’s own personal parking structure. Not to mention the rest of the mall’s parking will likely also be taken over by the future residents. As a shopper, the Streets of Tanasbourne does not offer anything I couldn’t get somewhere else… somewhere I don’t have to fight for parking. Again, totally agree that more housing is needed in our area, but why aren’t builders required to account for resident parking & the impact that the lack of parking will have on the surrounding area? I also find it pretty frustrating that everything being built is either overpriced apartments or million dollar homes on micro lots. (Look at North Bethany area, it’s ridiculous). Just my 2 cents. I don’t hate this idea, but I don’t love it either. I would much rather see someone turn this Macy’s into something cool, like a roller skating rink!
How can I apply for a 2bd 2ba here?
My stomach is getting tighter and tighter, as I see this, our previously less urbane, now more transient and isolated society, focused on screens and keyboards, rather than things, fences, sheds, gardens, mom n pop businesses, dirt clod fights fought by kids who go to school down the street, rather than by car commute and playdates . . . I feel such a luddite, but I remember being able to be someone, who everyone knew, good or bad . .
God help us, but I cannot believe this urban racking and stacking won’t lead to dysfunction . . . I am hoping this electronic life might bring opportunity to learn and explore to every child’s bedroom, but I fear this urbanization and attraction to retail trappings of wealth will ONLY bring isolation, loneliness, and mass expansion of Dr Calhoun’s dystopian experiments with rats, and social collapse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOFveSUmh9U
What Dr. Calhoun learned was that there is an inverse relationship between how close we are to our neighbors, and having genuine, leisurely, meaningful relationships with our loved ones, our neighbors, our community members, and nation . . . . . .
WHERE are the folks who are going to work in these retail sites, catering to these wealthy young urbanites, going to live . . Hong Kong puts ’em up in plywood cubicles and communal bathrooms . . that’s an efficient use of space too, but at what emotional cost??? Just sayin . . .
What about affordable single family homes? The priority is clear. Eliminate the middle class.
So, will this bring the rates down for the older apartments in Tanasbourne? Please.
Rents are too high for middle class seniors. The young people who double and triple up are the only ones who can afford rent here anymore. And the older units have no A/C.
So, will this bring the rates down for the older apartments in Tanasbourne? Please.
Rents are too high for middle class seniors. The young people who double and triple up, sharing the rents are the only ones who can afford rent here anymore. And the older units have no A/C. We need some form of rent control.
We don’t need more housing. What we need is housing prices to be slashed. There’s already houses sitting empty because rental companies buy them up and sit on them forever, or the prices are just too high for the working class to afford. To say that this is “good for the community” is like saying cancer is good for the body.
Soviet style block housing with consumer base! Double good!
All I see is people who wants to make more money out of rent, people who are struggling to get a place to live are not the ones that will pay 2,000 + for an apartment. Come on people, you don care about people you care about how much more money will get in to your packets.
I personally would love to see Ikea in that location. That would draw me in to spend more time at the streets of T. It also seems senseless to tear down a perfectly good and beautiful building to put in a 6 story rental building in what is supposed to be a shopping / eating area for the public. Housing is an issue, but more expensive rentals is not the solution.
I might be in the minority here, but I don’t think that space should be used for housing. That area is congested as it is and putting housing there is going to make it worse. That parking garage is going to be overtaken by the residents there along with all of the other available open spots for parking, leaving almost no parking spots for shoppers of Streets at Tanasbourne. The other issue about parking is that the apartments already in that area and the Orenco Station area, have numerous car break ins and high crime is rising. ( check Nextdoor for these areas and neighbors are constantly posting about cars being broken into, drugs like meth being used openly in the apartments, gang activity, guns being fired off at all times of night and the list goes on ) As someone who eats at the restaurants at Shops of Tanasbourne, I don’t want to see the crime spill out into that area making it dangerous to come by and get dinner with my family. It’s inevitable if housing is put into the old Macy’s space.
I’d loike to know the contact number to the new property owner… so maybe I can make a decision of renting their new apartment complex.
$2000 month??? We need adorable housing. What a ridiculous build!