Urban Revitalization - Creating Spaces That Inspire

The Hollywood Town Center and Sandy Boulevard project was developed in close collaboration with the Portland Planning staff to establish a plan for redevelopment of one of Portland’s major historic corridors, and streetcar town centers. The project, which won an award from the American Planning Association, set the vision for the redevelopment of numerous underutilized properties around the newly built light rail transit station at the edge of the Banfield Freeway. The plan established clear code-supported standards to create street-oriented, mixed-use buildings, and pedestrian links between the rail station and the community core along Sandy Boulevard.

Sandy Boulevard, cutting diagonally through the city grid, both borders and unites a string of adjacent neighborhoods. The Town Center Plan was established concurrently with the corridor plan for Sandy Boulevard, a historic diagonal through the city. Street design changes have helped establish safer pedestrian/bike integration, which in turn slows traffic and supports newer and more valuable street-oriented building development.

The original planning Charrette was conducted in 2000, while Laurence followed up with other projects in the study area such as the Hollywood Home Depot and in 2010 a proposal for a Holly Square to face south across Sandy Boulevard at the heart of Hollywood.