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A 117-year-old vacant building in Old Town Chinatown may soon become creative office space.

A pre-application conference with the Portland Bureau of Development Services is on tap for a proposal to: renovate the existing five-story, 25,000-square-foot building at 403 N.W. Fifth Ave.; add a sixth story; demolish an existing two-story annex; and construct a six-story, 35,000-square-foot building in its place. The renovation and addition combined would cost approximately $9 million, according to information from BDS.

The building isn’t on the National Register of Historic Places yet, but property developer Brian McCarl said the project team is working with SERA Architects to ensure that work performed will allow the structure to be added to the register later.

鈥淲e’re trying to preserve as much character of the brick classic industrial style as possible,鈥� McCarl said. 鈥淭he addition will pick up some of that design scheme but will be more modern and light in its design.鈥�

The five-story building was constructed by Whidden & Lewis Architects in 1897, McCarl said. It sits at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Flanders Street, and is along TriMet bus and MAX routes. He said he hopes the new office space will create a 鈥渘ew hub of activity鈥� for that part of Old Town Chinatown.

Mike Menashe of Oregon Casket LLC bought the property 13 years ago, McCarl said, and plans to rename the finished product the Whidden & Lewis Building.

McCarl said continuity would be created between the existing building and the new one via a shared entrance and lobby as well as several connecting doorways at least 12 to 15 feet wide on the upper floors. The new building would have a sixth-floor penthouse that extends substantially over the existing building and has a large patio area.

鈥淲e’re hoping the penthouse would have a single tenant,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s designed with a floor-to-ceiling height of 15 feet, and we’re working now on adding full-height sliding glass doors to the deck area.鈥�

The lower five floors of both buildings would have ceiling heights between 14 and 17 feet and let in a lot of light, McCarl said. The design calls for open floor plans that would potentially attract certain types of tenants.

鈥淲e’re hoping to create a couple hundred family-wage jobs,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he people who are engaged in engineering, product design, advertising and marketing 鈥� those creative groups tend to grow the most.鈥�

Once finished, the rentable office spaces would total approximately 42,000 square feet, and McCarl said he envisions up to three tenants per floor. But he said he has learned of initial interest from prospective tenants interested in leasing an entire floor.

The connections between the two buildings would solve the problem of seismic upgrades altering old structures’ appearances, McCarl said.

鈥淥ften heavy timber post and beam construction gets carved up because of the seismic upgrades the building needs,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he new construction we’re building will be tremendously stout and strong and can tie in to the existing building to give tremendous support.鈥�

The pre-application conference is scheduled for Oct. 28 at 10:30 a.m. at BDS offices, 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave. It will be open to the public.