91视频

Despite changing architects, gaining a recommendation for approval from city staff and engaging in more than two hours of debate, the North 18 project team failed to gain the Portland Design Commission‘s OK on Thursday.

Most of the design commissioners believe the design 鈥� a combination of early ideas by YBA Architects and later ones by GBD Architects 鈥� lacks coherency.

鈥淭he project was brought to us about a month ago to wrap it up,鈥� GBD Architects principal Agustin Enriquez said. 鈥淭he bulk of the work, I’d say well over 90 percent, was produced by YBA. We spent the last month really revising the ground floor.鈥�

The project, which is owned and being developed by Hirschberger Family LLC, has gone through several iterations since its first design advice hearing in January 2016. The commission has provided advice for both a six-story and an 11-story version mixed-use building.

The design that the owners settled on for Thursday’s hearing was a u-shaped, six-story, half-block structure that would sit at 1126-1134 N.W. 18th Ave. The building would stand 75 feet tall and include 107 market-rate apartments and five townhomes. It also would include 2,220 square feet of retail space and 50 ground-level parking stalls. The floor area ratio would be 4.97:1.

The problem, according to most design commissioners, is that the upper floors wouldn’t tie in well with the ground level.

鈥淭he upper stories lack coherency for me,鈥� Commission Vice Chairman Tad Savinar said. 鈥淭he first floor is actually quite good. I am concerned about the lack of balconies. I don’t think the vertical breaks do enough to reduce the sense of the overpowering quality of this (building).鈥�

The owners decided to eliminate balconies for financial reasons, Enriquez said. The commissioners suggested using juliet balconies instead, and said they would like to see in another hearing what effect that would have on the design.

Concerns also were expressed that a ground floor dominated by townhomes would not leave enough space for active uses. Current market conditions, according to Enriquez, would not support more retail space than the amount proposed for the corner of Northwest 18th Avenue and Northrup Street and a single live-work unit on the corner of Northwest 17th Avenue and Northrup Street.

Commissioners said they believe the building needs to be designed by accounting for the updated Central City 2035 plan. To that end, they suggested the townhomes could become live-work units.

鈥淪o much of the testimony we hear is about ground-floor retail and how the ground floor performs,鈥� Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said. 鈥淲e are trying to create those streets for 20, 25, 50 years from now. A blanket acceptance that the retail conditions are what they are and that’s what we respond to does not move forward.鈥�

Commissioners also suggested swapping a bike storage currently on Northwest 17th Avenue with a townhome currently on Northwest 18th Avenue as a way to bring more people onto the latter street.

鈥淭he key point is accessibility to the street,鈥� Commissioner David Wark said.

The project is scheduled to return before the Design Commission on Oct. 5.