91ÊÓƵ

Despite revisions, GBD Architects‘ design for a six-story mixed-use building planned in the South Waterfront District still needs work to gain city approval.

City planners, design commissioners and South Waterfront residents at a Portland Design Commission hearing Thursday expressed lingering concerns about Mack Urban‘s $36 million project for Block 37, near the intersection of Southwest Gaines Street and River Parkway.

GBD Architects, which previously proposed a design for approval in May, revealed its latest for the 278-unit building, which would include 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 225 parking spaces. Commissioners on Thursday did not vote whether to issue approval, but instead scheduled a hearing for Aug. 21 to allow project designers time to make additional revisions.

The building needs a more engaging facade with balconies or bays, commissioners said. They added that it could be better integrated into the surrounding neighborhood and that the parking garage entrance should be relocated.

However, commissioners appreciated that in the new design the building steps back slightly from a nearby riverfront bicycle and pedestrian path, and an added ground-floor retail/patio space faces the Willamette River.

GBD Architects principal Katherine Schultz said the design team made a concerted effort to respond to neighbors’ and design commissioners’ concerns that the building would crowd the Willamette River Greenway trail. Designers also worked to smooth the transition between the private development and public path.

“We went through the design guidelines,” she said. “We didn’t just do one of them; we did every single example in the design guidelines. We feel like it’s a graceful transition and addresses the design guidelines.”

Neighborhood residents who testified at Thursday’s hearing reiterated concerns expressed during the one in May. These included the building’s proximity to the trail and that it would block Southwest Portland residents’ views of the Willamette River and Ross Island. South Waterfront residents also suggested that the building have an eco-roof instead of a rooftop rock garden and that the parking garage entrance be relocated farther west of the cul-de-sac on Gaines Street to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.

“The location (of the garage entry) is a pinch point of the cul-de-sac and greenway. It’s a high pedestrian and bike area,” South Waterfront resident William Savery said. “I think it’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

South Waterfront resident Robert Nunn said neighbors would like to see additional articulation on the building’s north face.

“As you look at the elevation, there is not a lot of variation,” he said. “It is significant massing that we think could be softened with the right design.”

Design commissioners agreed.

“I think what would be more successful would be the integration of more balconies,” Commissioner David Wark said. “It would activate the facade.”

Schultz said it would be tricky to add balconies, but that the design team would investigate the possibility.

“I will say it will cause dramatic changes in the floor plans of our units,” she said. “My gut is it’s going to be a very hard thing to accomplish.”

Moving the garage entrance closer to River Parkway would be more convenient to building residents because they would spend less time traveling on Gaines Street, Commissioner Jeff Simpson said.

“If I live there, or I was a visitor, I would prefer that resident traffic getting off the street early,” he said.

Commissioner Tad Savinar said he is still worried about how the building responds to the context of the neighborhood.

The design is very conscious of nearby buildings, GBD Architects designer Craig Mendenhall said.

“It’s about creating a contemporary building,” he said. “The South Waterfront is full of contemporary buildings. It’s really contemporary in style with a connection to nature. That’s been the theme.”

South Waterfront Block 37

Location: 3700 S.W. River Parkway, Portland

Cost: $36 million

Planned construction start date: October 2014

Developer: Mack Urban

Architect: GBD Architects

General contractor: Andersen Construction