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With approval from the Portland Design Commission, the $45 million renovation and expansion of Portland State University‘s Peter W. Stott Center can at last proceed.

Planning for the upgrade of the center at 930 S.W. Hall St. has dragged on for a decade, said Dan Zalkow, PSU associated vice president for planning and construction.

At a previous design review hearing, Zalkow called the existing center one of 鈥渢he ugliest buildings on campus,鈥� but the improvements are expected to change such opinions. The building’s west side will gain extensive maintenance, while the east portion will be reconstructed to hold a new multipurpose arena, Viking Pavilion, with 3,400 seats.

The project is being designed by Woofter Architecture and Denver-based Sink Combs Dethlefs Architects. When construction is complete, the Stott Center will include a caf茅, a student lounge, classrooms with athletic uses and bike parking.

In the past, the building 鈥渢urned its back鈥� on the Park Blocks, architect Miles Woofter said, but the new design will include a small terrace below the glass-walled entrance that will be open and welcoming to the pedestrian green space.

But it was the terrace that elicited the most discussion at Thursday’s meeting. The terrace sits on a 7 percent grade, and the design includes a series of steps that descend parallel to the building with a brass railing on the outside.

Jane Hansen of Lango Hansen Landscape Architects told commissioners that in the terrace area, seating would be better than small shrubs. Seating is scattered throughout the terrace and along a long wall about 40 inches high slightly below the entrance. Hansen suggested having ivy climb the wall, but commissioners preferred the wall feature artwork or patterned brick.

鈥淚 like more patterned expressive brick if you could do it architecturally without any landscaping,鈥� Commission Chairman David Wark said.

Commissioner Tad Savinar said the entrance should impress alumni.

鈥淭his doesn’t make people want to write checks,鈥� he said of the design.

But commissioners agreed that art on the wall could make a big difference.

鈥淭his is a great space to sit and be outside, and a masonry wall with art would be lovely,鈥� Commissioner Julie Livingston said.

Woofter said PSU has $300,000 allocated for art. He is working with the Oregon Arts Commission to that end.

Commissioner Don Vallaster said he would like to see adjustments to the railing because it presented a barrier, and Woofter said the railing could be shifted to the center of the stairs.

This was the third formal design review for the project. The latest design features more glass at the building’s corners, expanded student area and Viking green-colored spandrels.

The design was approved unanimously with conditions that designers work with city staff to determine how the masonry wall on the terrace would be treated, with either art or patterned brick.