N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7 5 5 young adults move to Portland each year. How would this change the labor force and economy?” Because Huffington Post financial writ- er Rebecca Lake helped conceptualize the 18-Hour City and legitimized it with her definition of the term in Investopedia, here’s how she breaks this “viable investment al- ternative” down: “An 18-Hour City is a sec- ond-tier city with above-average urban population growth that offers a lower cost of living and lower cost of doing business than first-tier cities.” Lake identifies the “big six” as first tier: “Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.” hat’s an 18-hour city, then? “Charlotte, Denver and Portland, for example, have become target for Millennials [the word emphasized in click-thru blue] whose goal is launching or advancing their career. Eighteen-hour cities are often characterized by the availability of recreation and enter- tainment opportunities that extend beyond what the typical suburban city affords.” Whoops, she means the ‘other’ Portland. Paradoxically, I feel Charlotte, Den- ver, and the ‘other’ Portland are so obvi- ously 18-hour cities that they aren’t really 18-hour cities anymore. Why would (I use Lake’s term) Millennials target these des- tinations if their older brothers and sis- ters have already tried them on and pushed them to the back of the closet (along with that velour hoodie you were sure would change everything)? Sorry, Portland, Oregon, but PDX is so 2011. PWM is the rising commodity. Just look at the Yahoo smackdown be- tween the two Portlands online. Port- landia is in its last season. That says it all. This is the year of PWM rising (we have much better sculptures at our airport than Denver). Oh, and by the way, the proper pronunciation of “Keep Portland Weird” is ‘WEE-ID.’ n Where can newbies claim their own slice of this up-and-coming 18-hour city? On the Market: New condo developments on the Portland peninsula have cropped up in the past few years, offering sleek modern 1-br and 2-br apartments and studios in the West end and newly gentrified neighbor- hoods like east bayside. Hiawatha, 667 Congress Street (1-br apartments from $1,560/month) 89 Anderson Street (1-br apartments from $1,200/month) 113 Newbury Street (1-br condos from $340,00) Munjoy Heights, 118 Congress Street West End Place, 72 Pine Street In the Works: According to Portland’s Plan- ning department, there are 16 major proj- ects currently under construction, amount- ing to a total of 690 proposed units. The estimated construction cost for these 16 projects is over $97 million. 101 York Street, 63 market-rate apartments under construction. 510 Cumberland Avenue, 82 affordable units proposed. 218-220 Washington Avenue, 45 units proposed. 383 Commercial Street, 272 luxury units proposed. 161 York Street, 11 luxury units proposed.