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A new building proposed for the southeast side of the Burnside bridgehead will be gateway to the city and must somehow complement two other nearby buildings that will look nothing alike.

This was the first design advice hearing before the Portland Design Commission for the Gerding Edlen project at 5 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. that will have an L-shaped 12-foot tower atop a five-story plinth. The design is by GREC Architects of Chicago.

The building is located across the bridge from the 21-story Yard building, which is currently under construction, and the future Fair-Haired Dumbbell, which is composed of two six-story cantilevered buildings covered with public art and joined by sky bridges.

A striking aspect of the Gerding Edlen building will be landscaping, designed by Place Studio, at the second through sixth levels, which will slope down toward the corner of Southeast Third Ave. and Southeast Ankeny Street. The area will resemble a northwest forested mountain slope once plantings reach their maturity, said Mauricio Villarreal of Place Studio.

鈥淚t will be incredible when you look up from the bridge below,鈥� Villarreal said. 鈥淚t will cover the entire south half at several different grades.鈥�

The project will have three levels of underground parking with space for 170 vehicles. The podium will reach up to 200 feet, the maximum allowed for the area, and will feature office and retail. The 12 levels of the tower will house 220 residential units, and a fitness area at the sixth level will be used by both office workers and residents. The building will also have a swimming pool on the roof.

Several commissioners said they felt the podium of the building was too massive.

鈥淚 would expect the plinth to be taller than it is,鈥� said Commissioner Julie Livingston. 鈥淭he mass of that base is not helping the tower to be elegant.鈥�

Commissioner Chair David Wark said he felt the compositions of the base and the tower did not complement each other in a pleasing way.

鈥淚t’s almost like two different songs: heavy metal and classical,鈥� he said.

Commissioner Don Vallaster added that the current design of the building appeared 鈥渧ery stiff and awkward.鈥�

Vallaster said the deep overhangs of the building were probably the best part of the design, but Livingston said because the overhangs will be two levels high, canopies at ground level would be desirable.

Vallaster also said he would like to see more connectivity to the other new buildings at the bridgehead.

鈥淚 want to see how these buildings connect to the cityscape and to each other,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ecause they don’t right now.鈥�

The project will come back for a second design advice review on Sept. 8.

In other business during the design commission meeting Thursday afternoon, the commission held a design review for a triangular-shaped, six-story mixed-use building at 2211 S.W. Fourth Ave. proposed as 108 apartments above ground-floor retail and surface parking for 23 vehicles.

The building will have interior second-level parking for 144 bicycles. The lobby will be accessed from Southwest Fourth Avenue and commercial entrances will face Southwest Grant Street.

The building, which has had several design advice hearings, showed great progress, Wark said.

鈥淲e all agree you’ve made great strides with this and we want to help you get on your way,鈥� he said.

The project, designed and developed by KOZ Development of Snohomish, Washington, will return for continued design review on Aug. 4.

The design commission also held a design advice hearing for a new six-story, 140-unit market-rate apartment building with one level of below-grade parking on a 23,000-square-foot parcel at 905 N.W. 17th Ave.

Kurt Schultz, principal at SERA Architects, said the building will have 3,000 square feet of ground floor retail facing Northwest 18th Avenue.

No date was set for the next design advice hearing for that project.