Two projects start green trend on North Mississippi Avenue in

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), May 21, 2008 by Libby Tucker

Two large mixed-use buildings could help put Portland's Mississippi Avenue on the map as a national model for sustainable small business districts.

The Mississippi Avenue Lofts condominiums and Trammell Crow Residential's 188-unit apartment complex, under construction on Mississippi Avenue within three blocks of each other, are both striving to be green building "firsts."

The projects will also bring some of the first upscale condos and rental units to the area, which has become a magnet for young, creative professionals.

Upstart developers Peter Wilcox, David Yoho and Bill Jackson are hoping their Lofts will be the first low-rise condominium project in the nation to achieve a platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Portland's Pearl District last month claimed the first high-rise platinum condo tower, The Casey.

Unlike typical residential buildings, the Lofts' 32 live-work condos will contain energy-sharing units that allow air to circulate throughout, cutting energy use and costs. The building will also hold a host of other green features, including solar PV panels, energy-efficient appliances and natural finishes. And the Lofts are built to last with 350,000 pounds of post-consumer steel rebar embedded in 3 million pounds of concrete.

Trammell Crow Residential is also pursuing its second green building project with the $25 million, mixed-use apartment complex at North Beech Street and Mississippi Avenue. The developer is striving for a LEED gold rating.

"The neighborhood has changed a lot," Tom DiChiara, a managing director for Trammell Crow, said. "There's a lot of young entrepreneurs and a lot of focus on sustainability."

The five-block area between North Fremont and Skidmore Streets on Mississippi Avenue is already at the front of the city's green movement. Anchored on the south end by the ReBuilding Center, which offers used building materials, the district is chock full of locally-owned boutiques and cafes interlaced with access to bus service and the Interstate-MAX light-rail line.

Together, the developers hope to convince other builders, new business owners and homeowners in the neighborhood to follow suit in taking Mississippi Avenue to a new level of sustainability. In cooperation with the neighborhood association and the Portland Office of Sustainable Development, the builders hope to set a goal of reaching LEED certification on every new project on the street.

"This is all about setting a precedent," said Wilcox, an architect and former member of the Sustainable Development Commission. "We want to build the greenest business district in the country."

Mississippi Avenue Lofts is scheduled for completion in September. Trammell Crow will wrap up construction on its yet-to-be- named apartment complex in June 2009.