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The Nines Opens In Portland

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

A new luxury hotel has opened in Portland, Oregon. The Nines is part of the Starwood Hotels Luxury Collection and is located in the historic Meier & Frank building which was built in several phases starting n 1909. The rooms are above the downtown Macy's and the project was announced back in 2006.

The 331-room Nines includes a 419-piece art collection, and rooms are decorated in turquoise and a rich espresso brown. Rooms have modern amenities like 42-inch high-definition televisions but also have green features such as dual-flush toilets. The hotel has a fitness center, club lounge and two dining and bar options including the Asian-inspired rooftop Departure restaurant and the Urban Farmer. The hotel represents a new level of luxury in a town where most hotel rooms are under $200 a night. Rooms start at $249 a night which The Oregonian reports is nearly twice the downtown average.

Tags: oregon, portland, starwood, the nines

Rasheed Wallace in Portland, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping, Sports

Continuing my look at sports star homes lingering on the market, this week's WSJ Private Properties column also mentioned the home of Rasheed Wallace, a Detroit Pistons forward who played for eight years with the Portland Trail Blazers. Wallace bought his 1924 brick house in Portland, Oregon for around $3 million back in 2000. The Tudor-style home is on 2.16 acres that include a pool, sports court and guest house. The five-bedroom home has a red home theater, built-in saltwater fish tank, home office and more. The listing agent told the WSJ that Wallace and his wife Fatima spent more than $1 million on improvements. The couple briefly listed the house in 2006 for $5.5 million before relisting it last year, for $5.2 million and have now lowered the price to $4.895 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Gallery: Rasheed Wallace in Portland

Tags: celebrity real estate, CelebrityRealEstate, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, nba, oregon, prtland, rasheed wallace, RasheedWallace

Continue reading “Rasheed Wallace in Portland, Estate of the Day”

The Shire Faces Foreclosure

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Around two years ago I first brought you the story of The Shire, a Hobbit-themed development in Bend, Oregon. But two years ago there was no real estate crisis and now The Shire is facing foreclosure. The Bend Bulletin reports that the notice of default was recorded last week in the Deschutes County Clerk's Office on the 31-lot development. The original developr Ron Meyers sold his share in the development to Dr. Lynn B. McDonald and his wife Jan. They had taken full ownership in May but Dr. McDonald died July 7 and Jan McDonald is trying to sell off the 14 developed lots before the public auction of the six-acre property on December 2. The default notice says the family owes Umpqua Bank $3.4 million on the project.

The project includes stonework, artificial thatched roofs, and a network of gardens and streams with a pathway leading to a central courtyard. It as gotten plenty of media attention but just one home has sold for $650,000 since the project broke ground in fall 2006. Another, the Butterfly Cottage shown above, is listed at $899,000. It overlooks an amphitheater and has modern touches including bamboo flooring, a Japanese soaking tub and granite countertops. There is also a "hobbit hole" in the backyard for storing garden supplies.

The project seems to have gotten plenty of people stopping by to look but not many people buying. It's unclear what will happen to the Tolkeinesque theme of the development when new investors take over.

[via Gawker]

Tags: bend, foreclosure, oregon, the shire, TheShire

Grand Cru Estates, Make Your Own Pinot Noir In Oregon

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Yesterday I mentioned Crushpad but they aren't the only ones in the make your own wine business. Another make-your-own wine business has launched, this one in Oregon. Grand Cru Estates is a 13,000 square-foot winemaking facility breaking ground this month in the Yamhill Carlton AVA. Partners Domaine Danielle Laurent and Bailey Estate Vineyards have created Grand Cru Estates as an exclusive winemaking club that lets members create a barrel (25 cases) of their own premium Pinot Noir. Each membership offers interaction with the winemaking team both in the vineyard and in the winery and includes winemaking seminars, winemaking dinners, a biodynamic garden for member use and personal access to the winery for private events and personal concierge.

Club membership is available immediately beginning with the 2008 fall harvest with an initial membership fee of $5,000 for the first 30 founding members, along with a $20,000 fee for each member barrel.

Tags: oregon, pinot noir, PinotNoir, wine

Columbia Cliff Villas

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

The Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, Oregon impressed a developer so much that he built a nearby condo project, Columbia Cliff Villas, that mimics the look of the classic hotel with a stucco exterior and red tile roofs while creating a new modern interior. The project has 29 condos ranging from 550 to 2,450 square feet. There are also four-bedroom townhouses up to 3,800 square feet. The penthouses and two-bedroom units have views of Mount Adams and the Columbia River while other units overlook gardens and Wah Gwin Gwin Falls. The condo also has a relationship with the hotel so that owners can use the hotel spa and dining services or arrange to rent out their units through the hotel. Prices start at $395,000 and a three-bedroom suite is listed for sale at $1.15 million. The other five identical units have already sold.

[via Oregon Live]

Gallery: Columbia Cliff Villas

Tags: columbia river, condominium, condos, oregon

A Night In The Treetops

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Camping doesn't usually light my fire but the chance to experience an calm night while suspended from a grand old growth Douglas fir tree in Oregon sounds pretty delightful. The Pacific Tree Climbing Institute offers overnight excursions that include a day of tree climbing and an overnight in a canvas Treeboat, a heavy-duty canvas hammock with a 2" thick air mattress. The Institute offers rope training with your guide in a specially designed tree climbing harness, an organic lunch, organic dinner, and a night under the stars. In the morning a hot peppermint towel and a light organic breakfast with coffee is served in your Treeboat. This adventure costs $500.

Tags: adventure travel, oregon

Pronghorn Club

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Pronghorn is a large golf-based community being created in Bend, Oregon. The community includes side-by-side Jack Nicklaus Signature and Tom Fazio Championship golf courses and the Jack Nicklaus Academy of Golf at Pronghorn which offers golf instruction as well as the Pronghorn 360: a customized holistic wellness approach to total game improvement. The development is anchored by a huge 55,000-square-foot clubhouse. The development is 640 acres total and is surrounded by 20,000 acres of protected federal land. The community offers homesites, homes like the one above which top at just under $3.5 million, and fractional ownership options that start under $200,000.

Tags: bend, oregon, pronghorn, real estate development

Winderlea Vineyard and Winery

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Another fine winery has opened up a tasting room in Oregon. Winderlea Vineyard & Winery, a luxury boutique winery specializing in limited production Oregon Pinot noir has opened their new tasting room on Worden Hill Road in Dundee. Owners Donna Morris and Bill Sweat retired from the business world and moved from Boston to Oregon in 2006, purchased the Goldschmidt Vineyard in the heart of the Dundee Hills and devoted themselves to creating fine Pinot noir. The inaugural 2006 vintage consists of three bottlings: 2006 Winderlea Goldschmidt Pinot noir -- a single vineyard designate from their estate vineyard, the 2006 Winderlea ANA Pinot noir -- a single vineyard designate from the highly regarded ANA vineyard adjacent to Winderlea, and the 2006 Winderlea Inaugural Reserve Pinot noir made up of fruit sourced from the neighboring ANA and Weber vineyards. Winemaker Robert Brittan formerly of Stags Leap Winery makes Winderlea wines.

Winderlea's new sustainably built 4000-square-foot tasting room includes a commercial kitchen and has solar hot water heaters and Day4 Energy photovoltaic modules to meet its energy needs. . The east and south sides of the building are made up entirely of glass and aluminum providing dramatic views over the Oregon countryside. The tasting room will be open Memorial Day through Thanksgiving on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11AM to 4PM. All proceeds from the winery's $10 tasting fee will be donated to !Salud!, an alliance between Oregon winemakers, Tuality Healthcare and medical professionals to provide education and access to healthcare services for Oregon's seasonal vineyard workers and their families.

Tags: oregon, pinot noir, red wine, winderlea, wine

Condo Meets Commune in Portland, Oregon

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Green, Real Estate Developments

I'm inspired by those who grow their own vegetables and raise their own chickens but I'm not cut out for farm life. For those like me who might want to stick a toe into the sustainable life without opting for their own farm, a new condo in Northeast Portland, Oregon might be a way to start. The Columbia Ecovillage is part of the Portland Permaculture Institute which offers classes on sustainable living. A former apartment complex is being turned into 37 condos next to a 1912 farmhouse which will be a common building for the condos. This complex will be more of a community, residents will cultivate some of their own food and share some meals in the farmhouse. It will be a co-housing community. The prices are pretty low: studios to three bedrooms, will run $145,500 to $329,500. Reservations will be taken starting in May with move-in scheduled for the end of this year.

Is this part of a trend? Bankrate recently had an interesting piece on the new-found popularity of commune-like situations. As the Baby Boomers age they are looking for a sense of community and communes are one possible answer, offering both shared resources and shared experience.

[via The Oregonian]

Tags: condo, oregon, portland, sustainable

Gold Beach, Oregon, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

The coast of Oregon is often overlooked when it comes to seaside homes. Sure, it's chilly and you'll face your fair share of winter storms, but the land here is beautiful and the air is clean. Today's home was built in the early 1990s and has eight bedrooms and over 10,000 square feet on a 45-acre plot of land that includes a horse barn and a separate apartment area. It definitely seems to be a home built to the owner's taste and specifications but it does make good use of the ocean views and it has a casual charm. But the finishes seem a bit too generic for me. I've never quite understood why someone would create in a multimillion dollar home and then skimp on the interior. This place could use more furniture, and some upgrades in order to help it reach its full potential. But that office perched on top of a tower for the best possible ocean views, is a stunner. It is listed at $5.9 million.

Gallery: Gold Beach, Oregon

Tags: estate of the day, gold beach, luxury real estate, oregon

Continue reading “Gold Beach, Oregon, Estate of the Day”

Record-setting Truffle Makes One Pricey Meal

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Auctions

It may not be the prettiest food we've ever seen but the 750-gram (26-ounce) white truffle shown above, is one pricey delicacy. The "Queen Tartufo" Alba ttruffle recently was auctioned off for $208,000 and will be served at a banquet in Hong Kong. The truffle had been shipped from Alba in Italy's Piedmont region to Hong Kong for the charity auction which benefits Mother's Choice, a charity that provides care for pregnant women.

It's an expensive year for the truffle market. A bad truffle season in Alba has driven prices up to an average of $4,000 a pound with small truffles less than an inch in diameter sells for around $50. Luckily you don't need a lot of truffle to make an impact. A few thin shavings over pasta or an omelette can make a simple meal luxurious. Black truffles from Italy are a cheaper alternative at $500 a pound. Or you can always go American, Oregon white truffles can be found for $40 for three ounces. They aren't held in quite as high regard as Italian truffles but they are gaining in popularity and there is even an Oregon Truffle festival held in January.

Tags: alba, auction, hong kong, italy, oregon, piedmont, spending, truffles

Lake Oswego, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Today's estate is a quirky home perched on a hillside in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The lakefront home is on a private on-acre lot. The compound includes a guest annex and a separate guest house. The home is a real art house with detailed like colorful fused glass stairs and doors that with sculptural reliefs. The home also has an elevator to help cope with all of the up down and all around. This home is listed at $5.95 million.

Gallery: Lake Oswego

Tags: estate of the day, lake oswego, LakeOswego, oregon, portland

Continue reading “Lake Oswego, Estate of the Day”

Springbrook, Oregon's New Development Breaks Ground

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Wineries are popping up all over Oregon, and now the influx of wine tourism and real estate development is on the rise. This week saw a groundbreaking ceremony for Springbrook, a new development in the the Willamette Valley's Pinot Noir wine region that will include an inn, spa, restaurant and conference center. Future plans include 1,200 homes and a retail village which will be built over the next decade.

At the groundbreaking, businesswoman Joan Austin, her daughter, Loni Austin Parrish, son Ken Austin III and daughter-in-law Celia Austin turned a few shovels full of earth to signify the beginning of construction on the 450-acre Springbrook Properties site, which is one of the largest new developments in the state. The development will have 50 acres of green spaces that includes a small vineyard and recreation spaces.

The inn will be called The Allison, named after the 300-square-mile lake that briefly covered the entire Willamette Valley during the last ice age. Lake Allison was named for the late Ira Allison, an Oregon State University geologist whose work helped prove the existence of the lake. The inn will have a rustic and homey feel centered by a great room with a two-sided stone fireplace and an adjoining 15-seat bar. The 85 guest rooms will range in size from 500 to 600 square feet, to three 900- square-foot suites and one two-bedroom, ultra-deluxe suite with 1,600 square feet. The hotel will open in late spring 2009. A bigger picture of the development plans can be found in the gallery below.

Gallery: Springbrook

Tags: newberg, oregon, springbrook, wine, wine tourism

555 Second Street

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Today's condo development takes us to Lake Oswego, Oregon, an affluent suburb of Portland. 555 Second Street is an Arts and Crafts style condo complex that is home to 26 two-bedroom units and four penthouses. The units all feature high-end fixtures. The exterior is made of Oregon stone and cedar and there is gated underground parking. Unit sizes range from 1,120 to 2,360 square feet. The most expensive condo in the development is a two-bedroom penthouse for $1,475,000.

Tags: condo, condominium, development, lake oswego, LakeOswego, oregon

Rivertide Suites

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Luxury Travel & Hotels

The small resort town of Seaside on the northern Oregon coast, will soon be home to a new upscale condo-hotel. Rivertide Suites is set to open on August 21. The hotel offers studios and one and two-bedroom suites which are located three blocks from the Pacific Ocean. The suites all have private balconies, full kitchens, cable HDTV with DVD player and fireplaces. Hotel amenities include complimentary breakfast, fitness center, indoor pool and a "Crow's Nest" for roof top viewing of the ocean and mountains.

The less expensive suites have mountain views while the more expensive ones face the river. The units sell from $189,000 for a mountain-facing studio to $439,000 for a two-bedroom with river views. All of the suites can also be put into the hotel's rental program. The listing of units available for sale can be found on the Rivertide real estate website. A two-bedroom suite on the river rents for around $225 per night which seems ambitious for the area currently.

[via Beach Connection]

Tags: condominium, conod hotel, hotel, oregon, rivertide suites, RivertideSuites, seaside, vacation

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