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With the Portland Design Commission‘s conditional approval of a project to build a 20-story hotel at 930 S.W. Third Ave., there is no doubt that the 110-year-old Hotel Albion at the site will be demolished. However, parts of it could be saved.

One of the conditions for approval given at a hearing on Thursday is that any usable materials from the longtime home of the Lotus Cardroom and Caf茅 be salvaged for reuse.

Other conditions are that beveled bronze metal accents on the building be composite metal panels, and that city staffers approve any changes (such as elimination) to the planned green wall or green roof.

At the previous hearing for the project, commissioners were chiefly concerned with the color of the building; they believed that it would be too dark for Portland’s skyline. After brief discussion on Thursday, commissioners seemed satisfied with Ankrom Moisan principal Michael Great’s solution to use a light gray instead of dark gray or burgundy for the formed metal panels on the exterior.

The color will also be more variable since it will have a metal flake mica coating, Great said.

鈥淚t changes quite a bit with changes in lighting,鈥� he said.

Commissioners were also concerned previously with plans for dark-tinted windows, but Great said the glazing had been revised to 44 percent of reflectiveness and window glass will be clear as opposed to tinted. Spandrel glass will be used in window wells, he added.

Plans call for the green roof and a slanted green wall to connect the 225-room hotel to an adjoining three-story commercial building.

鈥淲e had another development with a green wall that’s half dead and raised some concerns,鈥� Commissioner Tad Savinar said.

Great said it would be hard to comment on a comparison without knowing specifics of the wall referenced by Savinar.

At the previous hearing, commissioners expressed concerns with the composition of the hotel tower and how it would relate to the historic Auditorium Building next to the site.

Great said the design had been 鈥渢weaked鈥� slightly, but that was not an issue at the meeting.

鈥淲e had questions last time about the composition of the tower, but I am content with the composition of the tower,鈥� Commissioner Julie Livingston said.

The vote was 3-0; Commission Chairman David Wark and Savinar abstained.

Design advice given for county courthouse

Also on Thursday, the Design Commission held a second design advice hearing for the new 17-story Multnomah County Courthouse planned at the west end of the Hawthorne Bridge.

At the previous hearing in early May, commissioners expressed concern about a lack of active use at the ground-floor level; changes needed to be made, they said.

But after testimony Thursday from Multnomah County Presiding Judge Nan Waller and Barbara Marcillle, trial court administrator, the commissioners agreed that security concerns outweighed the pedestrian experience.

鈥淭hey both testified in regard to operations and security concerns, that we are program driven from having a sally port and (prisoner) holding area on the ground floor,鈥� said J.D. Deschamps, the county’s senior project manager for the new courthouse.

Deschamps said a key part of the design is that all courtrooms, jury assembly rooms and even areas where people pay tickets will face windows with views of Mount Hood.

鈥淚 think we’re going in the right direction,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re hearing them and they’re hearing us and we’re making progress.鈥�

The first design review hearing for the project is scheduled for October.