Welcome to feature:, a monthly look at what’s happening right now with PDC projects and services. You’ll find quick highlights ofmany of the key efforts under way to build healthy neighborhoods, a vibrant central city and business competitiveness– all corecomponents of Portland’s goal to build the most sustainable economy in the world. Looking for details on a project? Visit featureonline at www.pdc.us/feature, where you’ll find links to more in-depth information. And consistent with our commitment to sus-tainable practices, you can also opt out of receiving the print version of feature:. Just email feature@pdc.us to receive anelectronic link to the latest publication when it’s posted to the PDC website.

Sunny day in February brings out shovels and saplings

Last summer, PDC began looking for ways to connect TIF-eligible sustainability projects with high-risk youth in-terested in green jobs. This gave rise to the Green Youth Leadership Corps, a tree planting work experienceproject for 16 young people. The Corps is a part of a Natural Resources Career Pathway developed by Port-land OIC for PDC’s Economic Opportunity Initiative in partnership with Worksystems, Inc. Funding for the proj-ect comes from the Lents, Gateway and Airport Way urban renewal areas, which benefit from accelerated andexpanded tree-planting along the I-205 multi-use path, in Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area (URA) resi-

dential areas and at some sites in the Airport Way URA.

On Saturday February 20, community volunteers joined with the Green Youth Leadership Corps to enjoy the rare sunshineand plant trees along the I-205 multi-use path. Kicking off the tree planting party were speakers representing the partner-

ships that built the multi-use path: Oregon Department of Transporta-tion, METRO, Friends of Trees and Lents URA Chair Cora Potter. TheGreen Youth Leadership Corps expects to plant as many as 1,000trees by the end of the project in late March.

Tradeswomen use green practices to completeGarfield Studios project

PDC’s Development Opportunity Services grant, Storefront Improve-ment grant and the Commercial Property Redevelopment loan programall helped finance the conversion of a single-family residence into sixlive/work units at 4732 N.E. Garfield in the Interstate Corridor URA.The property is located one block off of N.E. Martin Luther King Jr.Blvd. and two blocks south of the Vanport project. Neighboring proper-ties are residential or commer-cial, and the new commercialuse of the property is a goodfit. PDC was attracted to thisproject because of the location,the female construction crewand the green construction.

Amy James Neel, of the general contracting firm Left Bank Construction LLC, is aninstructor for Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. Neel hired two women graduates of thepre-apprentice program for the project construction, Virginia Krakowiak and CaitlinEcklund. She incorporated many green options into the project, including EnergyStar appliances, water-saving faucets, use of low VOC (volatile organic com-pounds) paint and native plants in the landscaping, re-used materials and recycledmaterials. The project is nearly complete, and three of the units are rented.

feature:

Tree planting andgreen construction

PPOORRTTLLAANNDDD E V E L O P M E N T C O M M I S S I O N

Neighborhoods

Photos left to right:PDC partnered with the Portland

Bureau of Transportation and TriMet to apply for and be awarded a major federal transportation grant for the

South Waterfront (see Special Projects).A Storefront Improvement grant helpedcomplete the Garfield Studios project.Mercy Corps’ Action Center gift shop

sale proceeds support their work throughout the world.

Tree planters put in more than 150trees in the Lents Town Center URA.

Milestone event held for activewear industry

More than 100 people attended a reception on February 22 at Ziba Design World Headquarters (relatedstory follows) in the Pearl District, tocelebrate completion of the business

plan for the proposed Materials Re-source Library, a central element of thecity’s economic development strategy tosupport the activewear cluster. Mayor SamAdams welcomed and thanked the friendsof the project before turning the programover to the business planning team for acloser look at the proposed plan. Next

steps include a related website which is indevelopment and scheduled to launch inApril; and the formation of a nonprofit totake on the fundraising and managementof the library.

PDC steps up entrepreneurial support

PDC has taken several steps forward re-cently to establish its emerging entrepre-neurial development initiatives, called outin the city’s five-year plan for economic development.

Led by the Business & Industry team, we’velaunched a series of sponsorships and pro-grams designed to address job and revenue

growth by emphasizing theretention and expansion ofpromising firms and improv-ing the environment for busi-ness start-ups. The workincludes sponsorship of Port-land 10, a 12-week bootcamp for tech founders in-tended to help ten Portlandstart-up companies reach $1 million in revenue by October 2010; sponsorshipof Pivotal Leaders, a commu-nity-nominated and peer-selected network of topprospective clean technologybusiness leaders in theNorthwest, which Portlandventure capital firm PivotalInvestments launched onFebruary 23; and PDC par-ticipation in Angel Oregon as a parallel in-vestor, investing money in the samecompanies on the same terms as the angelfund but as debt rather than as a purchaseof stock in the company. PDC’s participationin Angel Oregon leverages an existing poolof private capital to expand funds for earlystage companies. In addition, participationby PDC sends a strong message to both theentrepreneurial and investment communi-ties that PDC and the city are committed toimprove the environment for locally growncompanies with the potential for significantjob creation potential.

PDC Business & Industry staff membersare also working to establish the PortlandStart-Up Fund, a seed fund to invest up to$250,000 to start-ups at the ear-liest stage of development. ThePortland Start-Up Fund will fil lthe most critical gap in fundingfor growing companies, increas-ing the job creation prospectsfor start-up technology firms andthe pipeline of viable companies for laterstage investors. The fund will be an inde-pendent private entity managed by an ex-perienced management team. PDCanticipates issuing Request for Proposals(RFP) in April 2010 for firms interested inmanaging the fund, and expects the fund tomake its first investments by June 2010.

Ziba world headquarters earns LEEDGold Certification

Ziba Design’s new headquarters buildingin the Pearl District, built with assistancefrom PDC, recently received Leadership inEnergy and Environmental Design (LEED)Gold certification. Designed by local firmHolst Architecture and built on a formerbrownfield site near the Union Station railyards, the three-story, 76,000 square footbuilding used reclaimed wood and fea-

tures concrete floors, large windows fornatural light and a rooftop vegetable garden. Work spaces at Ziba encourageco-mingling; purposeful “blocks” and long“alleys” allow groups to gather for workon a specific project. The building has a15,000 sq. ft. ground floor retail space, a pocket gallery open to the public, andan amphitheater that seats 200, availablefor both employee and community events,panel discussions and screenings.

Ziba celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2009,and enjoys an international reputation for itsbroad range of innovative services which include design of consumer products, brandidentities and experiences.

New URA evaluation continues

The Potential Central City Urban RenewalArea Evaluation Committee has beenmeeting monthly, most recently debriefingpresentations made to them from four ge-ographic areas, including representativeneighborhood associations and major in-terests including Portland State University,Portland Business Alliance, Portland PublicSchools and the Con-Way Corporation. Thecommittee is currently considering evalua-tion criteria, and has agreed to reviewstraw proposals from Mayor Adams. Thestraw proposal will help the committeemake a recommendation to the PDC boardas to whether a new Central City UrbanRenewal Area should be created and if so, where.This process continues to unfold in close coordina-

Business & Industryfeature:

Cluster development and a boost for start-ups

Photos – Ziba hosted the February kick-off meeting for the

planned Materials Resource Library.The graph below exhibits PDC loans andgrants awarded to industry clusters for the first half of fiscal year 2009-2010.

feature: Major projects

offer great possibilities

Central City

For more information on industry clusters go to:www.pdxeconomicdevelopment.com/industries.html.

Ziba Design’s entry on NW 9th Avenue.

tion with other Future of Urban Renewal Areaefforts, including the North/Northeast Eco-nomic Development study, Rose Quarter de-velopment project and adjustments in theAirport Way URA.

Go to www.pdc.us/four for more informationand a meeting calendar.

Three concepts make Memorial Coliseum shortlist

On February 23, the StakeholderAdvisory Committee (SAC) for the

Rose Quarter Development Project de-cided to recommend to the City Coun-cil that the following three concept

teams complete full RFPs:Veterans Memorial Arts andAthletic Center; MemorialAthletic Recreation Center;and Trail Blazers and Win-terhawks Concept. The SACalso recommended as alternatesRose Quarter Community Cross-roads and Portland ActionSports Complex. An alternatewill only be eligible to re-

spond to the RFP if one of the three se-lected concept proposers elects not tocontinue with the process by March19th. Responses will be due in April.City Council expects to select the win-ning proposal in late May 2010.

Concept descriptions and detailed in-formation about the Rose Quarter De-velopment Project are posted at:www.rosequarterdevelopment.org.

A letter from Mercy Corps

Paul Dudley Hart of Mercy Corpswrote the following letter to theproject team for Mercy Corps’new headquar te rs bu i ld ing inOld Town. I t i s excerpted hereas a power fu l tes t imonia l tothe ef fec t that PDC ass i s tancecan have, not jus t on bu i ld ings,but on peop le and the i r work.

Photos – Top, the Con-Way site would be eligible for

redevelopment if the Northwest studyarea becomes the new Central City URA.A capacity crowd (132+) filled PDC’s Commission Conference room for the

Memorial Coliseum presentations, above.Below, The Action Center Museumexhibit “How the Other 90% Live”

presents the tools and utensils used bypeople in other countries for their

everyday living.

Printed on 100% recycled stock (50% post consumer),Processed Chlorine Free and a FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified paper and Anchient Forest Friendly.

Printed using soy-based inks.

Dear All:I thought it worth mentioning to all of you that in the [organization’sboard materials] one theme keeps re-emerging, the transformative effect

the new building is having on us and how we work.Some of the most notable ways:• The ground f loor has become what we hoped and more...our connectingtissue with the greater Portland community. One notable fact: Some35% of the $12.7 million we raised for Haiti came from Oregon, a farhigher proportion than ever before. The visibility and the catalyst that

the building represents is undoubtedly a principal factor.• Almost every day the ground f loor is filled with kids who then tour the

building and ask smart irreverent questions. Energy rubs off from them.

• We get together more. We are a closer community, still idiosyncraticand petty at times as are all workplaces, but we are so much more 'together'.

• We never responded to a crisis more effectively, smoothly and success-

fully as we did Haiti. Being together in one place, being able to accom-modate enough volunteers, one part of the agency being able to seeother parts go into action transparently was a wonderful, powerfuland new experience for us all. It was so easy to see the sum ratherthan just the couple of parts that we could see before.• Lastly, this building has given us a lot of pride without arrogance, just as the building is beauty without embellishment.From concept, through thousands of myriad decisions, to the quality of

the end product, you all got it so totally right. Thank you from all of us who have benefited so much from you all really

knowing how to get things right.Pa u lPaul Dudley Hart, Senior Vice PresidentMercy Corpswww.mercycorps.org

Fair trade items from around the world are available at the Mercy Corps ActionCenter gift shop. Most are handmade andfrom businesses made possible throughmicro-loan programs. Sale proceeds support Mercy Corps’ work throughoutthe world.

www.pdc.us/four

Mercy Corps was

originally founded as

“Save the Refugees

Fund” in 1979 to aid

Cambodian refugees

fleeing the “Killing

Fields.”

City and PDC win $23 million transportation grant

On February 17, the U.S. Departmentof Transportation announced that a part-nership led by the City of Portland Bu-reau of Transportation and PDC hadbeen awarded a federal TIGER (Trans-

portation Investment Generating EconomicRecovery) grant of $23,203,988 to enhancetransportation connections in Portland’s Innova-tion Quadrant. Portland's unique applicationfaced incredible competition; a total of 1400

applications worth morethan $60 billion contended for the $1.5billion in federal grantmoney awarded acrossthe country.

The $23 million grant willbe directed to the SWMoody Avenue reconstruc-tion project in the SouthWaterfront district, whichthe TIGER application part-ners identified as a toppriority. SW Moody will be

reconstructed as a green street, with facilitiesto manage storm water and improve waterquality and enhance our watershed health.Construction on the project will begin in thefall of 2010 and is anticipated to generatemore than 3,100 construction, design and en-gineering jobs -- 1,000 directly funded by the

TIGER grant and 2,100 jobsnext year for construction ofOHSU's Life Sciences Com-plex. In addition the projectwill facilitate long-term jobcreation by unlockingparcels, which are adja-cent to the project, forfuture development.

The TIGER grant willhelp reconstruct SWMoody Avenue fromSW River Parkway toSW Gibbs Street. The reconstructed avenue will include three traffic lanes, dual streetcartracks, and a two-way cycle-track and pedes-trian facilities. The roadway will be elevatedwith an additional 14 feet of fill, allowing re-developers of adjacent brownfields to offer“tuck-under parking” without disturbing cappedcontaminated areas. The elevated street alsointegrates mixed-use developments with street-level transit facilities, encouraging transit rider-ship and reducing auto trips. The cycle trackand pedestrian connections are essential ele-ments of this project. In addition, improve-ments supporting bike and pedestrian trafficwill provide safe access to the future transitbridge to the east side and connect the districtto the employment center of downtown.

The Innovation Quadrant spans four central citydistricts, bringing together the leaders of aca-demic and research institutions, emerging

sustainable industries, work-force development providers, private sectorcompanies, governmental partners and culturalinstitutions. The area represents a combined regional economic impact of more than $4 bil-lion, with the potential for the creation of thousands of family wage jobs. The four districts that comprise the Quadrant are theUniversity District around Portland State University; the South Waterfront; the CentralEastside Industrial District around the OregonMuseum of Science and Industry; OregonHealth and Science University Marquam HillCampus.

For more information on the InnovationQuadrant, the TIGER Grant and the compo-nent project details, visit: www.pdxinnovation.com.

PDC was created by a vote of Port-land citizens in 1958 to serve as thecity’s urban renewal agency. In 2008,PDC celebrated its 50th anniversary. Throughout the years, PDC has

played a key role in keeping Portlandone of America’s most livable cities.Our mission is to achieve Portland’s vision of a diverse, sustainable community with healthy neighbor-

hoods, a vibrant central city, a strongregional economy and quality jobs

and housing for all. Today, PDC is internationally recognized asa model for urban renewal success

and sustainable practices.

222 Northwest 5th AvenuePortland, Oregon 97209

www.pdc.us

Special Projectsfeature:

Strong collaborationsecures federal

investment

Rendering shows the improvements thatwill be made to the Moody Street corridor.

youtube.com/pdxdevelop

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com

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spotlight: PDC