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Platform, a mixed-use building from Portland developer Project^ planned for the Central Eastside, enjoyed a rapturous reception from the Portland Design Commission on Thursday.

The eight-story building would occupy a half-block at聽1100-1300 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., between Taylor and Salmon streets.聽The ground floor would hold retail space, including a caf茅 or restaurant at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Taylor Street. The top seven floors would offer office space.

Platform would also have two floors of below-ground parking, with access provided in the middle of the block on Salmon Street.

Thursday’s hearing was for commissioners to provide device advice. The project will return for a Type III design review hearing.

Allied Works Architecture‘s design essentially cuts the building in two on the upper floors, allowing light to pass through. The building is replete with decks, which the architects said serve to connect the building to the street below. Plans call for a cascading stormwater management system, with planters on each floor handling water descending from the floor above.

The design extensively uses glass and a bronze-colored metal material that would have a patina. The metal material has not been selected, but it’s likely to be aluminum, Allied Works associate principal Brent Linden said.

Platform is planned as the first phase of a two-phase development. The same landowner 鈥� listed in public records as William Floberg and EMCF, a limited liability company 鈥� also owns the block to the north. The area is zoned 鈥淓Xd,鈥� for central employment with a design overlay. (Project^ did not return Thursday a message requesting comment on development plans).

Platform, if built, would serve as a gateway to drivers coming to or from the Morrison and Hawthorne bridges and the Oregon Route 99E couplet. The site currently holds a one-story auto shop.

A city staff report listed a $30 million valuation for the Platform project.

Design commissioners blanketed the proposal with praise.

Commissioner Don Vallaster: 鈥淭his is probably one of the best buildings we’ve ever had presented to us, at least in my tenure.鈥�

Commissioner Tad Savinar: 鈥淓xtraordinary. Could we have one of these (on) the west side? Yeah, I think it’s incredible.鈥�

Commissioner Sam Rodriguez: 鈥淚t’s a fantastic composition.鈥�

Chairwoman Julie Livingston: 鈥淚t’s just incredibly clear and thoughtful.鈥�

Linden said he appreciated the positive reception from the Design Commission.

鈥淚’m very excited about the comments,鈥� he said. 鈥淚’m glad you guys like it.鈥�

Platform is designed to connect well with other new construction in the burgeoning Central Eastside.

鈥淲e have a real passion for vibrant pedestrian neighborhoods and helping to create a more vibrant pedestrian neighborhood here in the Central Eastside,鈥� Linden said. 鈥淭here’s a lot of these disparate places on a pedestrian scale, but they’re somewhat disconnected.鈥�

Platform would be the latest in a bumper crop of office buildings in the Central Eastside Industrial District. Projects including the proposed Hammer & Hand, Tree Farm and 120 Clay buildings seek to fulfill office demand in the district.

Average direct asking rents in the close-in Eastside rose to $32.41 per square foot during the first quarter, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle report. That was up 6 percent from a year earlier.