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A proposal for a seven-story building with 123 market-rate apartments at 306 S.E. Eighth Ave. was approved by the Portland Design Commission, via a 6-0 vote, on Thursday.

SERA Architects‘ flat iron design for Specht Properties includes 8,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space, a 55-space underground parking garage and two amenity decks. Four live-work units are also planned for the ground floor. The building has a floor area ratio of 5.7:1.

鈥淚 think this meets the guidelines quite well,鈥� Commissioner Samuel Rodriguez said. 鈥淚t’s simple without being simplistic.鈥�

The city staff report recommended attaching as a condition of approval that two vertical rows of balconies be added to the building’s south-facing walls. The commission agreed, and added a condition that the first floor of the building should include red brick.

One concern of the commission was the proposed locations of the live-work units. Three would be on Southeast Pine Street and one on Eighth Avenue.

鈥淲hoever takes that unit (on Eighth Avenue) is going to be a lonely person,鈥� Commissioner Julie Livingston said.

Commissioners debated whether modifying the building’s residential lobby, currently on the corner of Pine Street and Eighth Avenue, would allow designers to move one live-work unit from Pine Street to Eighth Avenue.

SERA Architects principal Kurt Schultz said the general concept was to design the live-work units with maximum flexibility, allowing them to be used exclusively as a business office if a tenant chose. The concept also allowed the units on Pine Street to be used for retail if the market dictated.

The other major concern for commissioners was the rooftop. They debated whether its current configuration made it look like a penthouse rather than an amenity for residents.

鈥淚t could be perceived as something that was a mechanical penthouse that was converted in some way,鈥� Commission Chairman David Wark said.

In general, commissioners felt the amenity was out of place.

鈥淚t’s wonderful to have this outdoor space at the top of the building, but this does read as if it is from a different architectural era from the rest of the building,鈥� Livingston said. 鈥淚t doesn’t seem to be consistent with the rest of the architecture.鈥�

In the end, the commissioners decided that better options weren’t available to address those concerns.

鈥淪ometimes you go all over the place and you end up right back where you started,鈥� Wark said.

The bottom line, the commission decided, is that with the conditions, the building met city design guidelines.

鈥淚n the terms of the overall building, it’s pretty good,鈥� Wark said. 鈥淲e are picking at it, but I don’t think it’s going to get better.鈥�