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It didn’t take long for the Portland Design Commission to give final approval for the design of the Knight Cancer Research Building at Oregon Health & Science University’s campus in the South Waterfront District.

At the project’s first design review hearing last month, city planner Tim Heron outlined several problem areas; however, on Thursday the commission seemed satisfied that all the conditions had been met, said Brian Newman, OHSU‘s associate vice president of campus planning, development and real estate.

鈥淭hey decided pretty quick,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think we resolved everything they asked us to do and we were out of there in about 40 minutes.鈥�

Newman said SRG Partnership‘s design changes included adding glazing to the Meade Street frontage area and increasing retail space. He said the exterior materials were made more coherent and the curb cut for the garage entrance was decreased from 32 feet to 23 feet.

鈥淲e also addressed the design of the penthouse by adding a lot more glazing on the west side,鈥� he said. 鈥淥n the Moody Street side we increased glazing by 70 percent and on the Meade Street side we increased it by 50 percent. So we went from a punched opening window system to a curtain wall of glass.鈥�

The darkest gray exterior colors were eliminated, Newman said, and the rest were lightened.

Ground will be broken on the new building on June 16, he said.

鈥淎fter that you will start seeing a lot of activity and cranes in the air,鈥� he said. 鈥淚’m thrilled with the outcome and happy the Design Commission strongly endorsed the project.鈥�

Plans for the $160 million project include a seven-story, 332,000-square-foot building with two levels of below-grade parking, a conference center, a research laboratory space, a lounge and a kitchen for employees, research support space, administrative offices, ground-level retail space and a plaza area.

At the previous design review, commissioners expressed concerns about the appearance of the sixth and seventh floors because they appeared 鈥渁dded on.鈥�

That was mitigated, Phil Lopez of SRG told commissioners, by lightening the color palette, using taller vertical proportions, increasing the amount of glazing and 鈥渦sing a more elegant metal panel and adding a frame eyebrow element.鈥�

Reducing the garage door opening to 23 feet to extend active retail space on Meade Avenue by 17 percent will also increase active use, Lopez said.

鈥淲e replaced the concrete surround with spandrel glass and flushed the garage door with the building perimeter,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e eliminated some service area doors and added a display window and increased east elevation active use space.鈥�

At the end of the meeting, even though the design was approved, several commissioners lamented that it wasn’t pushed further.

鈥淚 do feel the Meade Street elevation has fallen pretty far short of guidelines for a vibrant streetscape,鈥� Commissioner Julie Livingston said. 鈥淭he fact that the (main) entry remains where it is and that there are still conflicts with deliveries and pedestrians really troubles me.鈥�

Commissioner Don Vallaster also had reservations about the improvements.

鈥淚 had hoped the building would sing, but it doesn’t quite get there mostly because of the sixth and seventh floors,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s still a piece sitting on top of the building.鈥�

Commissioner David Wark added that he believes the exterior design fell short of potential.

鈥淕iven the mission and the world-changing events inside it was just begging from my standpoint,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith each submittal I wanted a breakthrough or some more of something I could get my head around and really get excited about.鈥�

Wark abstained from the vote without giving a reason. Commissioners Jeff Simpson, Andrew Clarke, Jessica Molinar, Livingston and Vallaster voted for approval.

Multifamily projects receive attention

Also on Thursday, the design of a new five-story, market-rate apartment building didn’t gain approval, but the developer feels that it’s getting close.

Jessica Greenlee, a representative of developer Affinity Property Management, said the advice given by the Portland Design Commission to the Ankrom Moisan Architects team is useful. She expects approval for the East Burnside Apartments to come at the next design review meeting, set for June 2.

鈥淲e didn’t get approved and they asked us to come back with minor revisions,鈥� Greenlee said. 鈥淭hey asked us to put in an 8-foot fence and revise the composition of the front facing on Burnside (Street), and we’re working through those elements.鈥�

Plans call for a 52-unit structure at 10506 E. Burnside St., with a common room and 15 spaces of tuck-under parking. Four units will be at ground level. Originally, cast-in-place concrete was proposed for the ground-floor exterior, with ribbed and flat metal panel systems for the upper floors.

The fence Greenlee referred to, originally planned at 6 feet, will be made of wood and wrap around the west side, south side and a portion of the east side to help screen the tuck-under parking. Tall landscaping, including possible preservation of an existing large Douglas fir tree, is expected to contribute to that effort.

The Design Commission also held a design advice hearing for a new 12-story apartment building at Northwest 14th Avenue and Raleigh Street. Preliminary plans call for 93 affordable units, 18 motor vehicle parking spaces and 26 long-term bike parking spaces on the quarter-block site.

The city staff report on the project, designed by Salazar Architect and LRS Architects, states that plans do not yet provide enough flexible spaces at the sidewalk level to support a variety of uses. Staffers also asked for clarification on a large assembly of louvers proposed along Northwest 14th Avenue to ensure that the exhaust routing systems do not detract from the pedestrian environment. The ground floor was also described by staffers as 鈥渢ight to the frontage,鈥� providing little relief along sidewalks and not providing 鈥減laces where people can stop, view, socialize and rest.鈥�

In addition, the staff report noted that no canopies are proposed and that the main entrance should be better acknowledged.

This was the second design advice hearing for the project; no date has been set for a future meeting before the Design Commission, city planner Grace Jeffreys said. The commission endorsed the staff report, she added.