Record-Breaking Towers Didn’t Make the Short List for the Post Office Site. Here’s Who Did.

Post office site includes major developers from Denver and New York City. Local architect with the fanciful notion of record-breaking towers not in the running.

Prosper Portland's Lisa Abuaf and Kimberly Branam look out over the future Broadway Corridor development site at the central U.S. Post Office. (Thomas Teal)
By Rachel Monahan

Portland's economic development agency has named three finalists to develop the old Post Office site, one of the largest and most eagerly anticipated real-estate projects remaining in the central city.

Not among the finalists selected by Prosper Portland: the fanciful notion by a Portland-based architect for two towers that would rise higher than Big Pink.

Instead, the three finalists were named on the basis of their experience to develop a massive project that will include both affordable housing and commercial space in the 32-acre site, which is officially called the Broadway corridor.

Related: Sick of Portland changing? Too bad. Here are seven places where the city could go big.

The finalists are:

— International developer the Related Companies, responsible for New York City's Hudson Yards project. Related is partnering with Portland-based Central City Concern, a local developer of affordable housing.

— The Denver-based Continuum Partners, which cites as its experience the $500 million redevelopment of Denver's Union Station and its surrounding neighborhood.

— McWhinney, also based in Denver, whose plans include space for the James Beard Public Market. An exectutive summary of their proposal says their ideas include "space for the TEDxPortland headquarters, and a serious emphasis on all things food related." They also mention sustainability as part of the project, including the use of cross-laminated timber—the new construction material that replaces steel and concrete with high-tech lumber.

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