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A full Pearl District block previously used by the Pacific Northwest College of Art may soon be redeveloped as apartments and retail space.

The property, at 1241 N.W. Johnson St., was purchased in 2013 by Seattle-based Security Properties for $11.75 million. The firm plans to demolish the existing 40,000-square-foot building and replace it with a residential high-rise and a five-story commercial building.

Seattle-based architecture firm Mithun in late September requested a design review hearing with the Portland Bureau of Development Services. The firm is seeking approval for a revised design of the two buildings, totaling 280,000 square feet, with underground parking for 222 vehicles.

鈥淚 don’t believe there has been a significant revision of the design,鈥� said Jeanne Muir, spokeswoman for Security Properties. 鈥淭hey will be seeking the height bonus on the residential building, making it 150 feet.鈥�

Muir said that because the site has a set floor area ratio (FAR), a height bonus would allow the developer to shift some of the FAR.

鈥淭hey’re trying to make two very different buildings,鈥� she said. 鈥淏y shifting the FAR to the taller building they can really keep the office building in the historic style.鈥�

Redevelopment plans call for a 15-story apartment tower with about 220 units and a five-story building with 15,000 square feet of retail space and 60,000 square feet of office space.

鈥淜eeping the office building low helps keep a vision corridor along 13th (Avenue),鈥� Muir said.

The buildings would be connected by a central courtyard running the length of the block, north to south, from Northwest Kearney to Johnson streets.

鈥淭he buildings are connected by a 50-foot-wide plaza,鈥� Muir said. 鈥淚t’s truly a public, at-grade space that has seating and brings in a lot of light.鈥�

When the firm went before the Portland Design Commission in July, Pearl District residents voiced concerns about the proposed height of the residential tower. Design commissioners said they didn’t have a problem with the height, saying that it’s necessary to keep up with demand for housing in the Pearl.

Ross Caron, spokesman for the BDS, said no hearing date has been set.

A call to Mithun was not returned by press time.