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A new 10-story office building planned in downtown now has the Portland Design Commission‘s approval, but not without regrets that the existing building on the site cannot be saved.

Demolition is looming for the 124-year-old Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple at Southwest Third Avenue and Taylor Street. The building formerly was on the city’s Historic Resource Inventory, but was removed to allow development of the new tower designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects. The Design Commission approved the project with a 3-0 vote on Thursday.

Commissioner Tad Savinar stated before the vote that he intended to abstain and wished he had done more to save the old building.

鈥淭his is a hard job, and I failed when the project came in the first time,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think I could have done more in the interest of saving the Temple Building. If I had known then what I know now, I think we would have pushed harder. I feel that I let folks down.鈥�

Commission Chairman David Wark hinted that he had regrets as well.

鈥淚 don’t mean to admonish, but I hope in the future in the same situation we can find a new path 鈥� it’s a very good building,鈥� he said.

Ankrom Moisan Executive Vice President Murray Jenkins said he too was sad that the historic building couldn’t be saved, but explained that demolition is as much about risk of collapse as about the cost of a retrofit. The six-story structure is one of the tallest unreinforced masonry buildings in the city. It has multiple floor structures 鈥� some made of wood and some of steel.

鈥淭here’s a risk of actually doing construction to save it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’ve tried for a year to save it. We wanted to make sure it wouldn’t bring down the adjacent development.鈥�

The Temple Building was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style by Justus F. Krumbein, who was the architect of Oregon’s second state capitol building. Restore Oregon, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving historic places, led the charge to save the Temple Building.

Peggy Moretti, Restore Oregon’s executive director, testified before the Design Commission in August that the building is a 鈥減rominent resource鈥� and that the design of its replacement 鈥渄oes not accomplish the goal of creating a new landmark.鈥� Restore Oregon board member Matthew Davis repeated that message to the commission on Thursday.

鈥淚t is supposed to be replaced by a landmark, but I’m not seeing a future landmark in these latest designs,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are asking you to deny the project.鈥�

Downtown Neighborhood Association board member Grant Higginson agreed. He cited the restoration of the Brewery Blocks as an example of retaining historic character, and said the new office building design doesn’t meet that standard.

鈥淐ity guidelines say to preserve, and the current proposal preserves nothing,鈥� he said.

Although demolition of the Temple Building was a foregone conclusion, according to Jenkins, the design team plans to contact the Bosco-Milligan Foundation to determine which items can be salvaged. The plan is to create an inventory of reusable pieces.

Once discussion turned to the new building, it became clear that commissioners were pleased with the way the design team had responded to their suggestions.

Michael Great, managing principal at Ankrom Moisan, told commissioners he agreed with their previous comments that the first design had 鈥渢oo much architecture for a half-block.鈥� So, the team moved the loading zone and garage entrance from Southwest Third Avenue to Second Avenue, and recessed the northeast corner to direct more attention to the historic Auditorium Building next door.

鈥淲e want to let it be the star of Third Avenue,鈥� he said.

Frameless glass retail entries at the ground level will give emphasis to what’s happening on the inside, Great said. Instead of being offset, the two-story glazed main entrance will be centered in the middle of the block of Taylor Street, with a secondary entrance nearby leading to 100 bike spaces.

The new design also pushed back the 10th floor to make room for a rooftop terrace at the ninth level at the southeast corner.

Commissioners praised the updated design.

鈥淚 like the way it defers to the Auditorium Building, and the notch at the northeast corner is a nice move, and I like the way you moved the entrance,鈥� Commissioner Don Vallaster said.

Commissioner Andrew Clarke agreed and said he was glad the new design moved the loading docks.

鈥淭he (loss of) the Temple is a little disappointing, but I like the (new) building,鈥� he said.

Commissioner Julie Livingston said she liked the way terra cotta accents were pulled down to grade, and Commissioner Jessica Molinar said she appreciated that the new design now has canopies all the way around for pedestrians.

鈥淭hat’s great and I don’t find any issues that don’t comply with (city design) guidelines,鈥� Molinar said.

Clarke, Livingston and Molinar voted to approve the design, while Savinar and Wark abstained.

Also on Thursday, the Design Commission reviewed:

Headquarters hotel

The first request for design advice for a new, massive hotel near the Oregon Convention Center was issued two years ago. As such, Thursday’s hearing was expected to be 鈥渕ore like a design advice request hearing,鈥� city planner Tim Heron said in his report on the project.

Now, the design should have a better chance of gaining approval when it comes back before the commission in a few weeks, Heron said.

鈥淲e hope to have a really successful Oct. 20 hearing,鈥� he said.

The 14-story, 600-room hotel will be on a superblock, Heron said. On the block next to it, a six-story garage will hold more than 400 parking spaces.

Design commissioners and the applicant, ESG Architects of Minneapolis, spent two hours discussing staff concerns. Among them were unresolved issues involving architectural coherency in respect to the Lloyd District as well as activation of ground floors and corners.

Southwest 11th Avenue and Alder Street hotel

A 15-story, 220-room hotel is proposed for the corner of Southwest Alder and 11th Avenue in Portland’s West End. A design advice hearing had not been requested for this project, city planner Grace Jeffreys said, and Thursday’s hearing was its first design review.

The building is designed by SERA Architects to reach a height of 150 feet. City staffers have several concerns, Jeffreys said, about the design and quantity of canopies, the quantity of columns, other details such as ground-floor setbacks and accessibility of the hotel restaurant’s entrance to disabled individuals.

The project is scheduled to return for a second design review on Nov. 17.