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The Hyatt Place at Cascade Station near Portland International Airport won鈥檛 look like a typical Hyatt hotel. The company tends to target business travelers, and usually employs a six-story, concrete-block and pre-cast plank-building design for its properties. But when poor soils were discovered at the building site, HAF Architects had to rethink the design. That鈥檚 because steel pilings would have been required to build such a tall structure on unstable ground, and that extra $1 million would have put the project over-budget.

鈥淭he typical Hyatt is six stories tall,鈥� HAF principal Mike Hoefler said. 鈥淲e lopped off a couple of floors to eliminate weight on a floating slab, which allowed us to not put pilings in. It鈥檚 not a prototypical footprint.鈥�

The 84,000-square-foot, stick-frame hotel is being constructed at 9750 N.E. Cascades Parkway. It will have 136 guest rooms, as well as amenity spaces. HAF worked with Portland鈥檚 design review committee, as well as Hyatt, to ensure the hotel would blend in with the existing urban design of Cascade Station.

鈥淭he buildings and architecture there were already nicely done,鈥� Hoefler said. 鈥淚t was a good challenge, and I think we came up with a building that is beautiful.鈥�

The project is currently being built by Stahl Construction. Twenty percent of the building materials came from within a 500-mile radius, and 94 percent of construction waste will be recycled. Large, energy-efficient windows provide ample daylighting, and the hotel is near bus routes and MAX light-rail tracks. The hotel is scheduled to open later this year.

Other project partners include Karges-Faulconbridge Inc., KPFF Consulting Engineers, WHPacific Inc. and GeoDesign.