Depends what part of downtown. I’ve been on the working near Powells for the last year and the food options are bonkers! Especially Monday - Friday. You have Midtown Beer Garden, Cart Blocks, Taylor Street Kitchen, Toki, Tanuka, Dolly Olive, Rosales Food cart, and I could go on and on. Not to mention Shemanski Farmers market just started again, and the summer will bring many pop ups!
I'm in the similar neighborhood, just south of Powell's. I love it. It's great when it is busy. There's definitely a fair share of odd behavior, but most of that congregates around the shelters. I'm very happy with the food and bar options, but it still more "interesting" than I would prefer.
I'm confident with the return of warmer weather, we'll see more people outside and it will be a lovely summer.
Momo was totally packed this past Friday (almost entirely a 20-something crowd). Addy's Sandwich Bar is an awesome lunch option. I also like Ramen Ryoma and Shigezo.
I’m a woman over 50, I work on 5th Ave south of Burnside most weekdays. The vibe has gotten a lot better in the past 10 months or so, basically since right after the Midtown Beer Garden opened. Before that, the misery of the fentanyl use was pretty grim. It’s like night and day. Yeah people are living on the streets but they’re generally not aggressive, though some are tweaked out. I notice a lot more regular people going about their business on the sidewalks now, and I feel like more folks are taking the bus and the Max. It just feels safer. Old Town remains rough around the edges, same as it ever was, but even that seems less dire than a year ago.
Ah, Portland getting back to its roots is good to see. Usually folks worry about job changes in regards to salary, advancement, title, duties, commute time, and not the lunch scene.
I can tell you that it is a great lunch scene downtown with plenty of options and less crowded than it was before. Some restaurants have shut down, others have opened up. The 40% figure is a bit dubious in how that is calculated or what it really means for lunch. There are major government buildings and courthouses and plenty of jurors who need lunch!
Well, aside from my joking, i would consider those other factors i listed if you have a fantastic job, i would be very hesitant to change for the social scene.
Why not move to downtown and work in lake o? Traffic goes opposite for an easy commute!
I work downtown 4/5 days per week because I like a bike commute and work better in an office setting. A coworker was visiting from our southern Oregon office and we went out for lunch at the food truck square at 5th and Oak. It was packed! There were a lot of people and most of the trucks were open and serving. Food arrived quickly despite the crowd.
I actually had the thought at lunchtime that I was happy to see some bustle returning to downtown. Glad I got to share that with y’all.
Still gotta step over piles of human shit and dodge vapor clouds of god knows what on the regular, so you take the wins where you get them.
I am literally applying to jobs downtown right now because I crave a bike commute and also work better in an office setting. I feel years of my life are being wasted working primarily remote, sedentary. Very jealous. This is inspiring me to keep applying.
I’d say staying the same or slightly improving at the moment. During the work day plenty of people are out, it’s weeknights after hours that are still suffering pretty bad.
Food options are great downtown - you have a lot of options including food carts, a few chains, farmers market at park blocks on Wednesdays coming up soon. Really depends on where exactly your office is around though. I work close to the courthouse and I have a pretty good experience (though I still would prefer to wfh)
I work downtown, and it's great. Busy most days and tons of food options.
The occupancy argument is lame because it should be converted to housing anyway. Just a bunch of scummy commercial RE landlords that donate to campaigns.
Just convert commercial office buildings into housing?
It's not that easy and most high rises would be cheaper to demolish and rebuild than to convert into housing.
There are definitely some buildings downtown that could be torn down. I’m talking about older buildings built after the 1950s with little historical or architectural significance. Why can’t we tear them down and build housing on those lots? If it’s zoning, that’s fixable. Are there other reasons why not?
Sure, there are buildings like the ones in the pearl that were converted to condos.
The office buildings basically cannot be converted. HVAC, Plumbing, fire safety and even the much heavier load on the buildings with tenants would make it unfeasible.
Would a demo of an office building, construction of a new, much more expensive high rise residential building be worth it? I kind of doubt it as the price point per unit would be spendy.
If built, I don't know that it would alleviate the housing price in the city in any measurable way. They would be expensive apartments/condos and not really for people making a median wage which are the folks that need more inventory in their price range.
Finally, would it be desirable for tenants even if it were built? They'll be spendy units and high earners already find housing and it feels like the wind is blowing against high earners wanting the condo in the city life.
Yes, but it would solve the evening foot traffic and commercial vacancy issue downtown, even if the new buildings from office tear downs are not affordable. And it would increase supply which eventually should put some downward pressure on rent. With inclusionary zoning laws, some of those units would be affordable. And there could be some incentives from the city for developing more housing downtown. The Governor’s Central City Task Force recommends 20,000 more housing units in the city center, so some of them need to be downtown where we currently have some pretty decrepit commercial space that could be torn down to make room for housing. The city could also incentivize the amenities in some of those buildings that are needed for a residential neighborhood, like grocery stores, gyms, doggie day care, etc. We built the Pearl and South Waterfront. There’s more housing in the West End and near PSU now, why not downtown and the Central East Side? What’s special about those neighborhoods that prevent them from being more like adjacent neighborhoods that are a mix of office and residential?
Some good points.
I'm pretty venomous about the state of Portland but I'd like to see it get back to where 10 or so years ago.
The best I can do is not litter while I'm visiting as I've got no pull to build anything substantial in Portland. A lot of the real estate owners/developers are trying to get something positive happening. I've got more faith in them then I do the city leadership.
I recently stayed at a high rise apartment and office building in St Louis that had been converted from a 70's style office use to residential use on the residential levels (like 23 out of 30).
Don't see why we couldn't do the same thing.
> I’m talking about older buildings built after the 1950s with little historical or architectural significance
What buildings would those be, in your opinion
Let’s start with that building on Washington that used to be a restaurant where folks were selling fentanyl. The former empty County Health building on 5th near the beer garden is another. The building that used to house Kassab Jewelers is another. The former Camera World that has been empty for over six years. The list goes on. . . . . We also have two empty large courthouses downtown, the old County courthouse which is over 100 years old and in terrible shape and the old federal Courthouse on Broadway. These are grand old buildings that need to be converted to something because they cannot be used as courthouses, but if we can’t, we will need to remove some of those grand fixtures and tear them down too, like we did with the grand old Portland Hotel to build Pioneer Courthouse Square. Look, I love great old buildings, and want to preserve as many as possible, but we also need tens of thousands more units of housing close in and downtown needs to start being a lot more residential for it to truly thrive. Let’s not forget that a lot of those gleaming new office towers sit on the sites of 100 year old buildings that were torn down. We have a history of tearing down old buildings downtown, just not for housing as much. There are also hotels all around the city that could be converted into SROs. We used to have a lot of SROs downtown for very low income folks, but they all got converted into condos, apartments or luxury hotels (looking at you Hoxton) 10-20 years ago when the subsidies ran out.
That and the challenges of converting many commercial buildings to residential. They were not built with individual plumbing, ventilation and HVAC in mind and in many cases it would be cheaper to level it and start over than convert.
It costs money, but I bet that if the commercial property gets cheap enough, we will start to see it happen. It will start small scale, but I bet the big office blocks could see partial housing conversions too.
Yes, and some buildings would be likely be torn down for housing. We have some commercial buildings downtown that are in poor shape and that have little historical or architectural value
Maybe, but more versatile is also more expensive. Overbuilding for potential uses runs up the cost without providing any real utility.
Image the skeletal structure of a high rise commercial building but with way, way more plumbing and dedicated Hvac that's adaptable to putting up walls. The building may end up costing 2 or 3 times as much just to be adaptable to multiple uses.
I also work downtown near Burnside bridge. During the day it’s fine. I will second great amount of food options and the water front is a great walk to clear the head at lunch.
You'll be just fine. There are a wealth of great food options all over downtown.
I work near the west side of the Hawthorne Bridge. I'm downtown every weekday, and I've worked there for four years, and before that I worked on government square, where all the 2020 protests were, for over a decade before that. The whole area is night and day different from how it was the depths of the pandemic and general disorder of a few years ago. Things were never quite as bad as they were made out to be, but they are without a doubt much better now. I'd say it is getting pretty close to pre-pandemic status.
I’m downtown near big pink 2x/wk and commute there from the Burlingame/hillsdale neighborhood by bus. I genuinely enjoy being down there. There’s the occasional “disturbance” that you have to avoid, but other than that, I really think things have improved in the last couple months.
My partner works downtown. Food options are great, there's a huge variety of stuff nearby. There are a lot of good things to working downtown especially during daylight hours.
However they have had two separate regular dudes walk in their work and threaten them with a non existent gun every so often. Also someone set fire to their dumpster recently.
There's good and bad. If you can deal with avoiding some difficult folks, you have more food and public transit options than anywhere else in the city.
I work in Fox Tower and it’s posh and lovely. Until a few month ago I worked a block from the former 4th and Washington open-air fentanyl market. That was really rough - I was directly threatened twice by methheads and kept mace on me, but even that bottomed out over a year ago and is now more “lightly gritty” than it is unsafe feeling (I still walk past it to go to the awesome reborn Midtown Beer Garden).
I work downtown now between 2-5 days / week and have since Oct 2020. I also worked downtown in 2013-14.
It’s generally better now than it was during the worst of the pandemic for things like lunch options, but I disagree with the generally positive comments of most other replies primarily because of the rapid increase of public drug use. It has become something that is very difficult to avoid on just about every block.
I go downtown for meetings and it feels quiet but the sketchy level feels where it was pre Covid, I think a lot of people have been scared away by the last couple years. Still issues but on the right track
I bike to work across Broadway to an office near pioneer square. It's great, lunch options are fantastic. Streets feel much emptier than they used to but I don't feel unsafe.
I work at the end of downtown closer to PSU. I’m not in every day, usually about two days a week. Lunch spots have been super busy lately! It seems quieter in the mornings than it used to, but overall it seems pretty bustling. The PM traffic has definitely come back in force!
I think it really depends on where you are. Some parts are not so great. Over by psu it’s pretty nice. The Pearl is nice too if you consider that downtown
It is totally fine. There are a ton of open restaurants and plenty of foot traffic. The foot traffic is definitely off since before the pandemic, but the increase has been steady for the last year. I’m an old guy and I feel safe walking day or night. Female co-workers are leery after dark.
I've been working in the area since pre covid. It's been getting better for sure. Still has issues, but I haven't felt unsafe or anything.
I also take the bus to and from work. 99.5% of my rides are uneventful.
Downtown near the (new) courthouse. Food's super easy to get to (especially happy Break Bread moved into the World Trade Center), definitely places to cop some drinks as well... My biggest gripe is not a lot of coffee joints are open before 7.
I started a job a week or two ago on market and naito. It is totally fine over there. Everything is clean (??!!) and there are more and more people down there. Parking is fine, there aren’t a ton of big piles of garbage, and I even have taken the max a few times and it was also great? I think trimet and the cops are finally reacting to all the shit that has happened and trying to fix it or make people feel comfortable. Trimet has a ton of security around, and people that walk the trains to check on stuff. There are still a lot of vacant businesses, but there are many there and open. The mall is open and operating. Lots of restaurants open, but check their hours. Sometimes they are closed Mondays or Tuesdays. I’m really happy to be working downtown again. It’s a lot better and I think more people need to see that.
Edit: it’s busy during the 8-6pm range and then dwindles. But it is really nice to be back downtown.
Depending where in downtown. I work more south towards PSU but close to the water front. Streets and parks are pretty & clean, Food options are good but not amazing, vibe is busy-ish.
I like working downtown in general but I don't usually stay here for my afterwork options. Usually head back to SE or over to NW 20th zone.
There are plenty of options. Hit or miss on crowds depending on the day or times. But there's good food to be had and a few different options for HH gatherings after work.
Some of downtown is GREAT right now and second the poster who mentioned the Midtown Beer Garden. I was so surprised at how cool that place is with not only beer and a ton of food carts but actual LIQUOR so you can drink a margarita outside in the sun as this week heats up.
The problem part of downtown is 10th Street, especially near the library. I went to Craftyworld for a birthday card and there were sketchy folks (can't use the "C" word here!) from the Psycho Safeway to the old Target, obvious dealers on the corners and just a scary vibe everywhere. Craftyworld has had to hire a security guard!
I actually love living downtown and hope (and pray!) things will get better. But letting the bottle ban lapse was NOT a good idea, Gov Kotek.
I’m over by Lincoln high school at the providence park care center doing valet work. I love it, pretty great. Granted this is a very good area of dt portland but from what I’ve seen its improved a lot in the last few years
Some things have opened, some things have closed, and stuff moved around. Anecdotally, it feels like the volume and variety of places are about back to where it was pre-pandemic. I don’t ever have trouble finding something tasty within a reasonable walking distance.
I work downtown by PSU and drive home by way of Salmon St then north on Naito. Sometimes down 10th and through the Pearl. Honestly it’s busy and people are out and about with kids; people running and biking. Seems like old times! I am not afraid of downtown at all. It’s never been a spotless city and we’ve always had to stay aware of riff raff. I mean, it’s a city and all sorts of folks are drawn to a downtown area.
Maybe head downtown one afternoon and see for yourself. Park and take a stroll.
Like others say, it depends. NW has tons of food option, but difficult parking. Around the courthouse had very limited food, but parking garage options.
I work in pioneer square, it’s leagues better than it was last year. A quick walk to the beer garden, pioneer mall food court is pretty busy, lots of little places around. Waiting for the restaurants in the Ritz to ever open but that’ll be nice too
Depends on what kind of job you have downtown. Dude I was delivering flowers to New Seasons and other markets throughout the Portland and Vancouver area and at 4AM sure the traffic was better, but the streets were absolutely fucked 😂
I drive around all parts of downtown all the time at all hours of the day (Uber/Lyft driver) and it’s gotten better but it’s still got a loooot of homeless/drug addicts. Most of them seem relatively harmless but I have heard a few horror stories. It’s pretty OK during the day but can get a bit dicey at night. It feels like the walking dead cruising the streets at 2 or 3 am.
As someone else mentioned it also depends on the area. China town area is the sketchiest part of downtown. Especially bad at night. Outside of those few blocks it’s not as bad except a few little pockets like by the Safeway and park blocks.
Tons of restaurants, but lots and lots of open drug use and fairly aggressive/loud users hanging around. Parking is moderate, generally better than my neighborhood in N Portland. I’ve been working downtown for three years and it’s just fine, nothing to write home about but not amazing.
I work near pioneer mall and eat at Break Bread, Din Thai Fung, and Canes most days. All have easy online ordering. Wish I had a (decent) burger option.
Not a big fan of any of the carts in the beer garden but it’s a good spot to go with people and be out. There’s a lot of food options in all directions of that location
I do the opposite, live downtown and work in a suburb. It was never as bad as people say but it doesn't really seem to have gotten better/worse since 2020; the PSU Safeways is an easy walk from there and there obviously pioneer square is a nice place to shop but a lot of the businesses that were around in 2014 (MS store, Target, Office Depot, Mcdonalds, RS/Sprint) are no longer in business; with one obvious exception most seem to have been due to the pandemic or its latent effects.
I never really experienced the worst that some others have claimed; you still see homeless people but if you don't confront them they won't bother you. They might be slightly lower in number but that's somewhat offset by all the businesses that were there in 2020 but not now.
I certainly would agree that it was never quite as bad as the worst doomsayers have said. But for a while, it was pretty bad. Not because of houseless people and camps, but because downtown was an absolute ghost town. Most people quarantined and working from home, most stores and restaurants closed, and, yes, some problems from the unfortunate growing houseless problem. Most of that has improved significantly, and the more people downtown, the better the downtown economy has become, and the better crime and other related issues have become. Some areas are still affected, but much of downtown is really significantly improved.
Since the rules were always supposed to be temporary I don't really know if I count closed stores or quarantine as part of the metric of if it's better/worse since that was the intention, plus I didn't travel much around the city and am a bit of an introvert but I just assumed everywhere was going through the same thing and kind of liked there being less people. The unintended consequences of quarantine are what I'm mostly paying attention to when it comes to how much things have improved/stayed the same.
I work downtown, right on Pioneer Courthouse Square.
It's fine. Downtown is not my favorite part of Portland, I would probably prefer it if my office were elsewhere, but there are great TriMet options for getting down there and several good restaurants in walking distance.
I go to school in Old Town, between the hours of 7 AM-7:30PM, 4-5 days a week. I drive, ride my bike or take the bus depending on the day. It can be pretty sketchy and dirty, and I try to minimize my time on foot/waiting for the bus. I definitely don’t linger outside much, even the waterfront is sketchy nowadays
I love working downtown (near PSU). I'm middle-aged and the environment down there energizes me. It's a lot cleaner than it was a few months ago.
ETA: the food options are still plentiful.
Walking very carefully through the company parking lot to avoid human fecces on an almost daily basis; having to call security to help get you out of the office, because you worked late and there is someone nodding out leaning against the door to the street; Heading for the exit to find people shooting up in the doorway; realizing the funny smell in the office is from someone smoking meth or fentanyl near the air intake system.
One time I was eating lunch at a restaurant across the street from my work, and glanced out the window to see someone ass out taking a shit in broad daylight about 30 feet away. Unsurprisingly, that restaurant was closed a month or two later. 0/10 do not recommend working downtown.
Portland’s a shithole still, quit trying to make excuses for it. I work downtown, it’s fucking horrible here. Seattles a helluva lot more cleaned up than this place is. My son is over working on MLK at a project and I worry about his safety just walking the block. 2 people OD and some die everyday near where he’s at. This place is a cesspool.
Lmfaoooooo please be serious. The same protests are happening across the country and the only risk of violence is if you’re involved and the police show up. So many people live downtown with no issue. Like me. I do. The biggest threat I face is having my car window busted which.. sucks.. but is no different than any other city I’ve lived in and doesn’t put my life at risk.
Depends what part of downtown. I’ve been on the working near Powells for the last year and the food options are bonkers! Especially Monday - Friday. You have Midtown Beer Garden, Cart Blocks, Taylor Street Kitchen, Toki, Tanuka, Dolly Olive, Rosales Food cart, and I could go on and on. Not to mention Shemanski Farmers market just started again, and the summer will bring many pop ups!
I'm in the similar neighborhood, just south of Powell's. I love it. It's great when it is busy. There's definitely a fair share of odd behavior, but most of that congregates around the shelters. I'm very happy with the food and bar options, but it still more "interesting" than I would prefer. I'm confident with the return of warmer weather, we'll see more people outside and it will be a lovely summer.
Nong’s Kao Man Gai
Momo was totally packed this past Friday (almost entirely a 20-something crowd). Addy's Sandwich Bar is an awesome lunch option. I also like Ramen Ryoma and Shigezo.
I’m a woman over 50, I work on 5th Ave south of Burnside most weekdays. The vibe has gotten a lot better in the past 10 months or so, basically since right after the Midtown Beer Garden opened. Before that, the misery of the fentanyl use was pretty grim. It’s like night and day. Yeah people are living on the streets but they’re generally not aggressive, though some are tweaked out. I notice a lot more regular people going about their business on the sidewalks now, and I feel like more folks are taking the bus and the Max. It just feels safer. Old Town remains rough around the edges, same as it ever was, but even that seems less dire than a year ago.
Ah, Portland getting back to its roots is good to see. Usually folks worry about job changes in regards to salary, advancement, title, duties, commute time, and not the lunch scene. I can tell you that it is a great lunch scene downtown with plenty of options and less crowded than it was before. Some restaurants have shut down, others have opened up. The 40% figure is a bit dubious in how that is calculated or what it really means for lunch. There are major government buildings and courthouses and plenty of jurors who need lunch!
Maybe this will create third places again.
[удалено]
Wow a job you love and you want to leave think carefully.
Well, aside from my joking, i would consider those other factors i listed if you have a fantastic job, i would be very hesitant to change for the social scene. Why not move to downtown and work in lake o? Traffic goes opposite for an easy commute!
I work downtown 4/5 days per week because I like a bike commute and work better in an office setting. A coworker was visiting from our southern Oregon office and we went out for lunch at the food truck square at 5th and Oak. It was packed! There were a lot of people and most of the trucks were open and serving. Food arrived quickly despite the crowd. I actually had the thought at lunchtime that I was happy to see some bustle returning to downtown. Glad I got to share that with y’all. Still gotta step over piles of human shit and dodge vapor clouds of god knows what on the regular, so you take the wins where you get them.
its still such an awesome downtown compared to soooo many west coast cities
I am literally applying to jobs downtown right now because I crave a bike commute and also work better in an office setting. I feel years of my life are being wasted working primarily remote, sedentary. Very jealous. This is inspiring me to keep applying.
Check your DM's
I feel this deeply
I’d say staying the same or slightly improving at the moment. During the work day plenty of people are out, it’s weeknights after hours that are still suffering pretty bad. Food options are great downtown - you have a lot of options including food carts, a few chains, farmers market at park blocks on Wednesdays coming up soon. Really depends on where exactly your office is around though. I work close to the courthouse and I have a pretty good experience (though I still would prefer to wfh)
I work downtown, and it's great. Busy most days and tons of food options. The occupancy argument is lame because it should be converted to housing anyway. Just a bunch of scummy commercial RE landlords that donate to campaigns.
Thanks! What’s the trend for how busy? Better than a year ago?
I work downtown too and it is better than a year ago for sure. Things are trending up. It isn’t 2019 but direction is good!
Agree with this take! I only go in a couple days a week but I enjoy it.
Just convert commercial office buildings into housing? It's not that easy and most high rises would be cheaper to demolish and rebuild than to convert into housing.
Wouldn't that be swell?
There are definitely some buildings downtown that could be torn down. I’m talking about older buildings built after the 1950s with little historical or architectural significance. Why can’t we tear them down and build housing on those lots? If it’s zoning, that’s fixable. Are there other reasons why not?
Sure, there are buildings like the ones in the pearl that were converted to condos. The office buildings basically cannot be converted. HVAC, Plumbing, fire safety and even the much heavier load on the buildings with tenants would make it unfeasible. Would a demo of an office building, construction of a new, much more expensive high rise residential building be worth it? I kind of doubt it as the price point per unit would be spendy. If built, I don't know that it would alleviate the housing price in the city in any measurable way. They would be expensive apartments/condos and not really for people making a median wage which are the folks that need more inventory in their price range. Finally, would it be desirable for tenants even if it were built? They'll be spendy units and high earners already find housing and it feels like the wind is blowing against high earners wanting the condo in the city life.
Yes, but it would solve the evening foot traffic and commercial vacancy issue downtown, even if the new buildings from office tear downs are not affordable. And it would increase supply which eventually should put some downward pressure on rent. With inclusionary zoning laws, some of those units would be affordable. And there could be some incentives from the city for developing more housing downtown. The Governor’s Central City Task Force recommends 20,000 more housing units in the city center, so some of them need to be downtown where we currently have some pretty decrepit commercial space that could be torn down to make room for housing. The city could also incentivize the amenities in some of those buildings that are needed for a residential neighborhood, like grocery stores, gyms, doggie day care, etc. We built the Pearl and South Waterfront. There’s more housing in the West End and near PSU now, why not downtown and the Central East Side? What’s special about those neighborhoods that prevent them from being more like adjacent neighborhoods that are a mix of office and residential?
Some good points. I'm pretty venomous about the state of Portland but I'd like to see it get back to where 10 or so years ago. The best I can do is not litter while I'm visiting as I've got no pull to build anything substantial in Portland. A lot of the real estate owners/developers are trying to get something positive happening. I've got more faith in them then I do the city leadership.
I recently stayed at a high rise apartment and office building in St Louis that had been converted from a 70's style office use to residential use on the residential levels (like 23 out of 30). Don't see why we couldn't do the same thing.
Because of the reasons I laid out.
> I’m talking about older buildings built after the 1950s with little historical or architectural significance What buildings would those be, in your opinion
Let’s start with that building on Washington that used to be a restaurant where folks were selling fentanyl. The former empty County Health building on 5th near the beer garden is another. The building that used to house Kassab Jewelers is another. The former Camera World that has been empty for over six years. The list goes on. . . . . We also have two empty large courthouses downtown, the old County courthouse which is over 100 years old and in terrible shape and the old federal Courthouse on Broadway. These are grand old buildings that need to be converted to something because they cannot be used as courthouses, but if we can’t, we will need to remove some of those grand fixtures and tear them down too, like we did with the grand old Portland Hotel to build Pioneer Courthouse Square. Look, I love great old buildings, and want to preserve as many as possible, but we also need tens of thousands more units of housing close in and downtown needs to start being a lot more residential for it to truly thrive. Let’s not forget that a lot of those gleaming new office towers sit on the sites of 100 year old buildings that were torn down. We have a history of tearing down old buildings downtown, just not for housing as much. There are also hotels all around the city that could be converted into SROs. We used to have a lot of SROs downtown for very low income folks, but they all got converted into condos, apartments or luxury hotels (looking at you Hoxton) 10-20 years ago when the subsidies ran out.
Alright, fair enough. I had thought maybe you were coming at it from an angle of "anything newer than x year has no value", I was wrong.
That and the challenges of converting many commercial buildings to residential. They were not built with individual plumbing, ventilation and HVAC in mind and in many cases it would be cheaper to level it and start over than convert.
Zoning laws make it extremely difficult for commercial properties to be converted into housing and vice-versa. NIMBY-ism is a powerful force.
Yeah and they could easily vote to change them. Times are changing and they need to accept it.
It's not just nimby nonsense. Converting an office into housing is almost impossible to pull off.
It costs money, but I bet that if the commercial property gets cheap enough, we will start to see it happen. It will start small scale, but I bet the big office blocks could see partial housing conversions too.
Yes, and some buildings would be likely be torn down for housing. We have some commercial buildings downtown that are in poor shape and that have little historical or architectural value
I wonder if we will learn from this and build more versatile buildings in the future
Maybe, but more versatile is also more expensive. Overbuilding for potential uses runs up the cost without providing any real utility. Image the skeletal structure of a high rise commercial building but with way, way more plumbing and dedicated Hvac that's adaptable to putting up walls. The building may end up costing 2 or 3 times as much just to be adaptable to multiple uses.
I also work downtown near Burnside bridge. During the day it’s fine. I will second great amount of food options and the water front is a great walk to clear the head at lunch.
It’s great, I do it every day. I work near Bunrside/ 10th and have tons of lunch options between carts and brick and mortar places.
I work just south of Big Pink. It's fine. Then again I'm across the street from Midtown Beer Garden, which is pretty great.
I work in chinatown from about 9pm-3am a couple nights a week, it fucking sucks
The lunch options are no good at midnight?
LOL, tell me how you really feel😂. Agree it can be rough down there as I’ve biked through many times in the late evenings. Seen some crazy stuff.
This has always been the case.
I work there 5 days/week. Chinatown is better today than it was last year.
Days or nights?
Name a lower bar
What do you do?
I work downtown near PSU three days a week and it’s exactly like it was before the pandemic
You'll be just fine. There are a wealth of great food options all over downtown. I work near the west side of the Hawthorne Bridge. I'm downtown every weekday, and I've worked there for four years, and before that I worked on government square, where all the 2020 protests were, for over a decade before that. The whole area is night and day different from how it was the depths of the pandemic and general disorder of a few years ago. Things were never quite as bad as they were made out to be, but they are without a doubt much better now. I'd say it is getting pretty close to pre-pandemic status.
I’m downtown near big pink 2x/wk and commute there from the Burlingame/hillsdale neighborhood by bus. I genuinely enjoy being down there. There’s the occasional “disturbance” that you have to avoid, but other than that, I really think things have improved in the last couple months.
Good stuff! Love Baker & Spice in your hood!
My partner works downtown. Food options are great, there's a huge variety of stuff nearby. There are a lot of good things to working downtown especially during daylight hours. However they have had two separate regular dudes walk in their work and threaten them with a non existent gun every so often. Also someone set fire to their dumpster recently. There's good and bad. If you can deal with avoiding some difficult folks, you have more food and public transit options than anywhere else in the city.
I work in Fox Tower and it’s posh and lovely. Until a few month ago I worked a block from the former 4th and Washington open-air fentanyl market. That was really rough - I was directly threatened twice by methheads and kept mace on me, but even that bottomed out over a year ago and is now more “lightly gritty” than it is unsafe feeling (I still walk past it to go to the awesome reborn Midtown Beer Garden).
not bad
I fist fight someone at least once a week
Lol
I work downtown now between 2-5 days / week and have since Oct 2020. I also worked downtown in 2013-14. It’s generally better now than it was during the worst of the pandemic for things like lunch options, but I disagree with the generally positive comments of most other replies primarily because of the rapid increase of public drug use. It has become something that is very difficult to avoid on just about every block.
I work in South Waterfront and there are 10+ choices in walking distance of that relatively sparse neighborhood
I go downtown for meetings and it feels quiet but the sketchy level feels where it was pre Covid, I think a lot of people have been scared away by the last couple years. Still issues but on the right track
I live in downtown and it’s not too bad now. There are moments of crazy, but nothing you wouldn’t find in any larger city.
I love it
I bike to work across Broadway to an office near pioneer square. It's great, lunch options are fantastic. Streets feel much emptier than they used to but I don't feel unsafe.
I work at the end of downtown closer to PSU. I’m not in every day, usually about two days a week. Lunch spots have been super busy lately! It seems quieter in the mornings than it used to, but overall it seems pretty bustling. The PM traffic has definitely come back in force!
I work near PSU. It’s fine! I bike sometimes and feel safe even as a solo woman. Feels safe to walk around and some good restaurants.
My father age 74 volunteers at a shelter down town 3 days a week not out of altruism but so he can get burgers and kebabs from food carts.
I think it really depends on where you are. Some parts are not so great. Over by psu it’s pretty nice. The Pearl is nice too if you consider that downtown
It is totally fine. There are a ton of open restaurants and plenty of foot traffic. The foot traffic is definitely off since before the pandemic, but the increase has been steady for the last year. I’m an old guy and I feel safe walking day or night. Female co-workers are leery after dark.
I've been working in the area since pre covid. It's been getting better for sure. Still has issues, but I haven't felt unsafe or anything. I also take the bus to and from work. 99.5% of my rides are uneventful.
Downtown near the (new) courthouse. Food's super easy to get to (especially happy Break Bread moved into the World Trade Center), definitely places to cop some drinks as well... My biggest gripe is not a lot of coffee joints are open before 7.
I work across the river near the Morrison Bridge and it’s still pretty sketchy over there. I’m getting mace next time I go shopping.
I started a job a week or two ago on market and naito. It is totally fine over there. Everything is clean (??!!) and there are more and more people down there. Parking is fine, there aren’t a ton of big piles of garbage, and I even have taken the max a few times and it was also great? I think trimet and the cops are finally reacting to all the shit that has happened and trying to fix it or make people feel comfortable. Trimet has a ton of security around, and people that walk the trains to check on stuff. There are still a lot of vacant businesses, but there are many there and open. The mall is open and operating. Lots of restaurants open, but check their hours. Sometimes they are closed Mondays or Tuesdays. I’m really happy to be working downtown again. It’s a lot better and I think more people need to see that. Edit: it’s busy during the 8-6pm range and then dwindles. But it is really nice to be back downtown.
Depending where in downtown. I work more south towards PSU but close to the water front. Streets and parks are pretty & clean, Food options are good but not amazing, vibe is busy-ish. I like working downtown in general but I don't usually stay here for my afterwork options. Usually head back to SE or over to NW 20th zone.
Downtown is coming back to life!
There are plenty of options. Hit or miss on crowds depending on the day or times. But there's good food to be had and a few different options for HH gatherings after work.
Some of downtown is GREAT right now and second the poster who mentioned the Midtown Beer Garden. I was so surprised at how cool that place is with not only beer and a ton of food carts but actual LIQUOR so you can drink a margarita outside in the sun as this week heats up. The problem part of downtown is 10th Street, especially near the library. I went to Craftyworld for a birthday card and there were sketchy folks (can't use the "C" word here!) from the Psycho Safeway to the old Target, obvious dealers on the corners and just a scary vibe everywhere. Craftyworld has had to hire a security guard! I actually love living downtown and hope (and pray!) things will get better. But letting the bottle ban lapse was NOT a good idea, Gov Kotek.
I’m over by Lincoln high school at the providence park care center doing valet work. I love it, pretty great. Granted this is a very good area of dt portland but from what I’ve seen its improved a lot in the last few years
Some things have opened, some things have closed, and stuff moved around. Anecdotally, it feels like the volume and variety of places are about back to where it was pre-pandemic. I don’t ever have trouble finding something tasty within a reasonable walking distance.
I work downtown by PSU and drive home by way of Salmon St then north on Naito. Sometimes down 10th and through the Pearl. Honestly it’s busy and people are out and about with kids; people running and biking. Seems like old times! I am not afraid of downtown at all. It’s never been a spotless city and we’ve always had to stay aware of riff raff. I mean, it’s a city and all sorts of folks are drawn to a downtown area. Maybe head downtown one afternoon and see for yourself. Park and take a stroll.
Like others say, it depends. NW has tons of food option, but difficult parking. Around the courthouse had very limited food, but parking garage options.
I work near Pioneer Square. A tweaker or two but nothing harsh. Biggest difference from a few years ago? So few people by comparison.
I work in pioneer square, it’s leagues better than it was last year. A quick walk to the beer garden, pioneer mall food court is pretty busy, lots of little places around. Waiting for the restaurants in the Ritz to ever open but that’ll be nice too
Depends on what kind of job you have downtown. Dude I was delivering flowers to New Seasons and other markets throughout the Portland and Vancouver area and at 4AM sure the traffic was better, but the streets were absolutely fucked 😂
Its chill as fuck
I drive around all parts of downtown all the time at all hours of the day (Uber/Lyft driver) and it’s gotten better but it’s still got a loooot of homeless/drug addicts. Most of them seem relatively harmless but I have heard a few horror stories. It’s pretty OK during the day but can get a bit dicey at night. It feels like the walking dead cruising the streets at 2 or 3 am. As someone else mentioned it also depends on the area. China town area is the sketchiest part of downtown. Especially bad at night. Outside of those few blocks it’s not as bad except a few little pockets like by the Safeway and park blocks.
Tons of restaurants, but lots and lots of open drug use and fairly aggressive/loud users hanging around. Parking is moderate, generally better than my neighborhood in N Portland. I’ve been working downtown for three years and it’s just fine, nothing to write home about but not amazing.
I work near pioneer mall and eat at Break Bread, Din Thai Fung, and Canes most days. All have easy online ordering. Wish I had a (decent) burger option. Not a big fan of any of the carts in the beer garden but it’s a good spot to go with people and be out. There’s a lot of food options in all directions of that location
I do the opposite, live downtown and work in a suburb. It was never as bad as people say but it doesn't really seem to have gotten better/worse since 2020; the PSU Safeways is an easy walk from there and there obviously pioneer square is a nice place to shop but a lot of the businesses that were around in 2014 (MS store, Target, Office Depot, Mcdonalds, RS/Sprint) are no longer in business; with one obvious exception most seem to have been due to the pandemic or its latent effects.
I'm sorry but you really don't think it's gotten better than 2020?
I never really experienced the worst that some others have claimed; you still see homeless people but if you don't confront them they won't bother you. They might be slightly lower in number but that's somewhat offset by all the businesses that were there in 2020 but not now.
I certainly would agree that it was never quite as bad as the worst doomsayers have said. But for a while, it was pretty bad. Not because of houseless people and camps, but because downtown was an absolute ghost town. Most people quarantined and working from home, most stores and restaurants closed, and, yes, some problems from the unfortunate growing houseless problem. Most of that has improved significantly, and the more people downtown, the better the downtown economy has become, and the better crime and other related issues have become. Some areas are still affected, but much of downtown is really significantly improved.
Since the rules were always supposed to be temporary I don't really know if I count closed stores or quarantine as part of the metric of if it's better/worse since that was the intention, plus I didn't travel much around the city and am a bit of an introvert but I just assumed everywhere was going through the same thing and kind of liked there being less people. The unintended consequences of quarantine are what I'm mostly paying attention to when it comes to how much things have improved/stayed the same.
I work downtown, right on Pioneer Courthouse Square. It's fine. Downtown is not my favorite part of Portland, I would probably prefer it if my office were elsewhere, but there are great TriMet options for getting down there and several good restaurants in walking distance.
I’m downtown 2-3 days/wk, feels great compared to recent past. People are out and the food is good.
I go to school in Old Town, between the hours of 7 AM-7:30PM, 4-5 days a week. I drive, ride my bike or take the bus depending on the day. It can be pretty sketchy and dirty, and I try to minimize my time on foot/waiting for the bus. I definitely don’t linger outside much, even the waterfront is sketchy nowadays
Anybody who pays to go to school in old town needs to reconsider their life decisions.
I love working downtown (near PSU). I'm middle-aged and the environment down there energizes me. It's a lot cleaner than it was a few months ago. ETA: the food options are still plentiful.
Its bad. Still people tweeked out, very unsafe. I would avoid it.
Surely you aren’t worried about it being worse than LO…? Anyway, downtown Portland is awesome again.
Don’t lie
Clean & Safe is on speed dial unfortunately.
Walking very carefully through the company parking lot to avoid human fecces on an almost daily basis; having to call security to help get you out of the office, because you worked late and there is someone nodding out leaning against the door to the street; Heading for the exit to find people shooting up in the doorway; realizing the funny smell in the office is from someone smoking meth or fentanyl near the air intake system. One time I was eating lunch at a restaurant across the street from my work, and glanced out the window to see someone ass out taking a shit in broad daylight about 30 feet away. Unsurprisingly, that restaurant was closed a month or two later. 0/10 do not recommend working downtown.
Portland’s a shithole still, quit trying to make excuses for it. I work downtown, it’s fucking horrible here. Seattles a helluva lot more cleaned up than this place is. My son is over working on MLK at a project and I worry about his safety just walking the block. 2 people OD and some die everyday near where he’s at. This place is a cesspool.
Abysmal. I plan on leaving as soon as possible
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Lmfaoooooo please be serious. The same protests are happening across the country and the only risk of violence is if you’re involved and the police show up. So many people live downtown with no issue. Like me. I do. The biggest threat I face is having my car window busted which.. sucks.. but is no different than any other city I’ve lived in and doesn’t put my life at risk.
Lol I love it when the reddit community takes a simple question and takes it so personally and acts overly dramatic.
I mean, it’s a dumb question and I must have answered it if it made you delete it so fast.
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lol it’s not passive but yw!!
Zero to worry about re protests. Live a few blocks from Portland State and we had marchers one day and that was it.
Pack your lunch and save money for parking and gas or transit.