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Both the developer and architect of a multifamily project in the South Waterfront District likened meeting Portland Bureau of Development Services requests to 鈥渕aking lemonade out of lemons.鈥�

Dan Neal and business partner Hank McCurdy in 2013 purchased land off of Southwest Boundary Street 鈥� the former site of the Rusty Pelican bar 鈥� for $2 million, with plans to build The Boathouse, a 133-unit apartment building with slightly fewer than 100 vehicle parking spaces.

Portland code doesn’t allow building facades longer than 200 feet 鈥� a fact Neal said he was aware of and had discussed with BDS staff because plans for The Boathouse overshot that length.

鈥淲e were told by the first planner we were working with that we could break up the facade by putting a notch in the building,鈥� Neal said. 鈥淲e confirmed the definition of facade with a series of emails and submitted our plans in January 2014.鈥�

In April 2014, Neal said he was contacted by BDS’ Rachel Whiteside, who had recently been assigned to oversee the project.

鈥淎fter they’d had the plans for four months we got communication from the new planner saying they’d concluded we’d been given wrong information,鈥� Neal said. 鈥淪o we had to go back for a redesign that conforms with their reinterpretation of the building codes.鈥�

Plans that started with one six-story building with 133 units now call for two six-story buildings. The larger building will be about 155,000 square feet and have 124 apartments, while the smaller building will be 21,057 square feet and have nine units.

鈥淚t took a few months to get our new plans together because splitting one building into two is complex, with lots of design and structural engineering implications,鈥� Neal said. 鈥淚t’s not something we ever want to do again, but we tried to make the best of it.鈥�

The units in the smaller, east building will be on the waterfront and offer views of Mount Hood. Neal said those nine units will be considered 鈥減remium鈥� spaces, and likely be considered by potential tenants as the most desirable.

Neal, who owns Eugene-based Paradigm Properties, said the process was frustrating and expensive. Paul Dustrud, owner of Eugene-based Dustrud Architecture, said the redesign process was challenging for his small architecture firm.

鈥淲e had to get creative to make both buildings separate, and I was surprised we were able to keep the same number of units,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t ended up costing some dough, but our office just looked at it as a challenge and it was all hands on deck while we figured it out.鈥�

Crews in September started doing excavation and soil remediation, Neal said. The approximately $19 million project should wrap up by early 2016.

鈥淚t was certainly frustrating, but I respect that these folks are trying to do the right thing,鈥� Neal said. 鈥淏ut I’ve been observing the Portland market closely and I’m really excited about this site.鈥�