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In six weeks, market-rate apartment tenants will move into the Yard tower 鈥� the jutting, angular embodiment of a new Central Eastside.

The 21-story mixed-use tower at the Burnside bridgehead has lived its share of controversy getting out of the ground. A large design change missed by plan examiners has led to questions about the city’s permitting process and the use of photo-realism in design renderings. It’s been assailed as cold and foreboding by critics.

The views from inside, though, are unassailably striking. Located near the geographic center of the city, Yard is currently the only high-rise across from downtown along the Willamette River.

鈥淚t’s a pretty important site in Portland,鈥� Skylab Architecture principal Jeff Kovel said on a tour this month. 鈥淵ou can see, it’s really the best position in the city.鈥�

Perhaps the biggest issue with the tower has been its glazing. The change missed by the city was involved a reduced number of vision glass panels 鈥� resulting in a darker facade. The city and developer Key Development of Hood River have agreed the city will provide the project an additional 67 panels of glass, though it’s not yet known whether they’ll be vision glass or spandrel glass.

Developing the site long known as Block 67 has been a long time coming. For more than a century, the Central Eastside served as the manufacturing and industrial counterpoint to downtown. The recession put an end to a plan to build a shorter project on Block 67, with a Lowe’s store as an anchor tenant.

The building replaces a parking lot that for years served the Burnside Skatepark, a handmade landmark and a worldwide tourist draw.

Kovel said in ways large and small the project is meant to honor the Eastside’s 鈥渕aker鈥� spirit, which he said today has more creative offerings than the area across the Willamette.

It chafes Kovel that people have overlooked the good things about his project 鈥� the inclusion of affordable workforce units, the fact that it isn’t a cookie cutter with a cramped fitness center and a terrace tossed on top. But he acknowledges it is striking to see a structure so big on that site.

鈥淚t’s the kind of thing you get used to over time,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t gets to be part of the fabric.鈥�