91ÊÓƵ

The Goat Blocks project, a superblock redevelopment consisting of seven mixed-use buildings in Southeast Portland, is designed to evoke the simplistic, utilitarian feel of the nearby warehouses and other structures in the Central Eastside Industrial District.

“It’s a collage of different scales of buildings,” Ankrom Moisan Architects principal Jason Roberts said. “I think that’s an enduring quality of that overall feeling of the neighborhood.”

Portland Design Commission member David Wark, however, didn’t see that when he got a look last week at Ankrom Moisan’s revised plans for the Killian Pacific development.

“What’s the story behind these (buildings)? What’s the connective tissue?” he asked. “It’s so disassociated as a collage. I don’t see a unifying concept. Is it a modern interpretation of what’s there now? It just doesn’t coalesce.”

Wark wasn’t the only commissioner with reservations about the most recent iteration of the design. Many concerns centered around accessibility to an open-air market on a raised platform over below-grade parking on the corner of Southeast Belmont Street and 10th Avenue. This led to worries that the 133,000-square-foot superblock development, bound by Southeast Belmont and Taylor streets and 10th and 11th avenues, wouldn’t adequately engage passersby.

“There’s very little retail experience on the sidewalk,” commissioner Jane Hansen said. “It’s Belmont. Belmont is really important, and it’s dead.”

Killian Pacific Vice President Noel Johnson said the Vancouver, Wash.-based developer this week plans to submit an application seeking design review approval with the hopes of a hearing before the Design Commission in late April. Ground could be broken on the development, named for the goats that long wandered the site, as soon as this fall, he said.

The design of the Goat Blocks has gone through a number of iterations since the process started in summer 2012 to incorporate input from neighbors, Johnson said. The design also has changed since Ankrom Moisan first sought design advice from the Design Commission in January, he added. For instance, the number of stories of apartments for the main building was reduced from six to four, and the total number of units was reduced from 257 to 240.

Johnson told the Design Commission that flexibility exists to change the design, but the development must include two large ground-floor spaces for anchor tenants, including a grocery store facing Southeast 11th Avenue and Belmont Street.

“I think the best thing we can do is go back to see what we can do and what we can’t do,” he said. “Some of the site planning comments we simply can’t accommodate … If we come back and we haven’t made a move, it’s not because we haven’t tried.”

The revised design features a prominent set of stairs on the corner of 10th and Belmont that would provide pedestrian access to a raised market walk with small retail spaces and a terrace gathering spot, Ankrom Moisan principal Jeff Hamilton told the commission.

“This is an evolving process that we’re working on,” he said. “We’re actively trying to make stairs that are not just daytime stairs, but lit in some way.”

Wark said he didn’t like the stairs being the primary entrance to the market space.

“Is there any way to minimize those ups and downs?” he asked. “If you’re ambulatory challenged, you have to go to an elevator to get to the market level. It just doesn’t flow.”

Commissioner David Keltner, however, said he appreciated the effort to connect the development to the neighborhood.

“It does have a scale thing going on that I think is very unique to Southeast,” he said. “They really nailed it. It has that eclectic goofy mix, which I think for this kind of neighborhood works.”

The development should not only respect the neighborhood, but also elevate it, commissioner Tad Savinar said.

“I feel like they’re taking a little piece of every little thing in the Central Eastside … They’re trying to jam everything into this place, rather than allowing it to be proud,” he said. “You don’t need to bring everything in. This is a real opportunity to create a place within a place. What this district doesn’t have is a go-to place. This can be that go-to place.”