Pearl District, Portland (1990s-2000s)
A rail yard and warehouse district west of downtown Portland sat largely empty for decades. In the 1990s, developers began converting the brick warehouses into lofts, galleries, and offices, with the city extending streetcar lines to support it.
The district became one of Portland's most desirable neighborhoods, with thousands of residents and office tenants.
It set the template for industrial-district repurposing across the Pacific Northwest.
The Ford Building sits in the same kind of former rail-and-industrial district; its renovation is a smaller-scale version of the Pearl District playbook.
