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A hearing before Portland’s Historic Landmarks Commission on the proposed redevelopment of the Grove Hotel has been extended to Nov. 9, according to Mark Vanderzanden, creative director of Surround Architecture, the project’s designer.

The hearing was held over from Oct. 12 because of a letter from retired history professor Jacqueline Peterson Loomis. She wrote on behalf of the Bosco-Milligan Foundation, which she serves as a board member.

Loomis wrote that the foundation objects to the location of the hotel entrance on Northwest Fourth Avenue and the size of the proposed electric sign. But mostly the group objects to the height of a proposed tower addition to the long-vacant three-story building on West Burnside Street.

鈥淭he proposed nine-story, 100-plus-foot hotel tower is clearly incompatible with the surrounding one- to three-story buildings of the New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District,鈥� Peterson-Loomis wrote. 鈥溾�� Approval of a building higher than 75 feet within one of Portland’s downtown national historic districts would be an unheard of and dangerous precedent.鈥�

Vanderzanden said that at the Oct. 12 meeting, commissioners seemed ready to approve the redevelopment project, and about 30 people expressed support. He said Loomis was the only person who raised an objection.

The property is being redeveloped by Naito Development in partnership with Eagle Point Hotel Partners of New York City and San Francisco-based Filament Hospitality. The group purchased the property for $630,000 after being selected by the Portland Development Commission in May 2014.

The team is planning a $30 million project to refurbish the 108-year-old ex-hotel building and add a nine-story tower to hold a boutique hotel. Retail shops, restaurants and bars are planned for the ground floor.

City planner Grace Jeffreys said she recommended that the Historic Landmarks Commission approve the project, but commissioners weren’t completely sold on the plans.

鈥淭hey still had some concerns about the treatment of the north elevation (and) the replacement storefront, and they were looking for more historic detailing on the transoms,鈥� she said.

Jeffreys said that despite those concerns, commissioners indicated that 鈥渢his could be a project they could support.鈥� The site is directly across the street from the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp, which the city is hoping to relocate to Southeast Portland.

鈥淚 know there’s been a lot of local support for this project, and the majority of opinions were that it will be a revitalizing development for the neighborhood,鈥� Jeffreys said. 鈥�AIA (American Institute of Architects) Portland supports it, as do a majority of the testifiers and people who submitted written testimony.鈥�