South Waterfront

Such a great community in downtown Portland. Easy freeway access and to public transportation as well. The community has its own huge field of grass well equipped with a play yard and an abundance of lavender adding more beauty to its surroundings. Local restaurants just a few steps from their home such as the phở place, subway and such.
We ended up here because we wanted to ride the Aerial Tram to get a view of Portland downtown. Little did we know, they were having their own farmers market around the waterfront on this amazing, sunny, and breezy Thursday afternoon. And what a great way to sample the local flavor from the neighborhood during farmers market!
From fresh fruits and veges to local eateries, they had it all. Even a live band playing some jazz. We tasted their pita chips at the Mediterranean stand and opt for some alpastor tacos and shrimp fajitas as well at the Mexican stand (totally forgot the name of the business). Yum. And yum.
Glad we were able to hangout here for a few hours and soaking in Portland=)

Beautiful area that looks like it’s own little contained city. The high rises are a bit majestic.
There are new pathways along the waterfront that will be opening soon, so that should be nice. The storefronts are filling up and there are 2 new buildings under construction.
Becoming quite the popular area.

Living in the South Waterfront area has a lot of advantageous and disadvantageous. It’s a nice crime-​free area to live in and all, but sometimes I feel like I’m stuck on an island looking out at Portland instead of actually living in Portland (sort of like how someone on Liberty Island is technically in New York, but not really in New York.) I think this is most evident in the lack of food delivery services to the area, almost as if the rest of Portland has decided to cast us out.
Do you know how many times I’ve tried ordering a pizza, only for them to tell me, «Sorry, you aren’t in our delivery area»? I just got off the phone with a pizza place and our conversation went something like this:
«Do you deliver to the South Waterfront area?»
«No.»
“But I’m only 1.9 miles from your store. It says here on your website that you deliver to areas that are 4 miles from your store, so why won’t you deliver to an area only 1.9 miles from your store?”
«It’s just our policy.»
«Can you make an exception?»
«No.»
And that’s just the way most places are. They have this weird arbitrary cut-​off point where the South Waterfront area is always on the «do not deliver to» side no matter how close it is.
Other negatives are the lack of real grocery stores in the area and the fact that pretty much everything closes at 9 P.M.
There are a lot of positives though, such as the amount of new stores opening up in the area, as well as a clean-​looking environment devoid of the annoying junkies that seem to plague every other Portland neighborhood. It’s a quiet, mostly peaceful area where you can go out walking at night without worrying about being harassed or mugged.
I’ve noticed a lot of older residents in the area and I think it’s a perfect living location for families, the elderly, and anyone who prefers a quiet night in over a night at the bar. I don’t hate living here, but I just wish those pesky pizza places would make an exception.

This «neighborhood» is not #PAF, not at all. It’s confusing as hell, too.
I feel like I’m walking amongst movie set facades on the boardwalk that runs in front of the hotels and pockets of shops that I think exist only for the hotel guests. I even poked a tree in front of one of the shops the other night, expecting it to tip right over. It did not, though. It was apparently rooted.
It seems like it’s a cool area… it seems like it should be working better… it seems like I would have more occasions to check it out. But it’s just… odd. There are great things about it, for sure. Cool views of our humble little harbor, dragonboat practices, the bridges. A couple of nice parks. The idea of the South Waterfront is great, but… what? Why am I here, again?
Visitors from out of town, if you’re seeing this… I don’t mean to deter you if you are staying at one of the several hotels in the area. It’s great to be right near the streetcar line that will take you to PSU, The Pearl District, and beyond, but please explore and know that this funny little development is still too new to have a soul.

I wasn’t very impressed by the views at South Waterfront. Though I can tell it’s a nice area of the city to live (with its high-​rise luxury buildings and nice little cafes and restaurants), it’s not the most touristy place to visit. I was expecting to see some nice views of the river, but instead everything was fenced off and there wasn’t much to see from there. If you want to see the Portland skyline, you have to be in a different part of the river entirely (the views from the East Bank Esplanade are truly great!)
Though I did have a nice drink at a café here, I wouldn’t recommend that out-​of-​state tourists visit this place. There isn’t really much to see.

Nice little part of downtown next to the river with a few little shops and restaurants. More stuff is going in every month. I love this area! It is a great place to live if you are a dog/​pet owner.

We love living down here. More restaurants are starting move in. The park is great. I love that we are close to downtown but not right in the middle of the traffic that downtown offers.

This area has improved quite a bit since my friend moved into one of the high rises a couple years ago. There is now a Subway, an all-​in-​one market and deli (Urbana), a Salon, Dentist, Bank, etc. and new business springing up all the time. The views are really awesome, and if you know where to look, there IS TRULY FREE parking. Pennoyer street, though not actually a through street has marked free parking areas that no one uses on the weekdays for some reason (the cobblestone hypnotizes some, I guess). Curry Street has free parking for guests of the Meriwether buildings, and the dog park is adjacent to it, so you can see the (daily) parking enforcement from a block away anyway. Worth it.
Oh, and one more thing to invalidate others’ negative sentiments on this area. The streetcar goes right through this area and directly downtown. How easy is that???

I really like the area, there are however a few downfalls. –1 star for metered street parking. It’s not downtown, give me a break. –1 start for no real grocery store. Other than that it’s got potential and seems to be getting busier.

We’ve been living here for a few months now and I love how close to downtown it is. Streetcar to get you around the town without all the parking hassle. And it’s easy to have friends visit because at least where we are at, lots of parking.

This area is a work in progress, but as it stands now it’s a 2-​star area. Where are the restaurants? Where is the retail? I didn’t even see a convenience store for crying out loud.
Once it’s built out, it definitely has potential to be a hot area, but it’s got a long way to go and a hard economy to travel that distance in.