91视频

Adidas‘ plans for three new buildings on its North Portland campus met with a generally positive reception from the Portland Design Commission on Thursday, but neighbors showed up in force to critique the proposed expansion.

The shoe and apparel manufacturer is pushing forward with a major expansion to accommodate 1,000 new employees at the North Portland site and another at Montgomery Park. Portland is the North American headquarters for the German company.

Neighbors said the campus fits uneasily in the Overlook neighborhood among single-family homes. Neighborhood relations with Adidas have had ups and downs in recent years, with concerns focused on parking, smokers in the surrounding neighborhood and Adidas’ employees having views into homes and yards.

The expansion involves three proposed buildings, referred to as the North building, the South building and a loading building.

The North building would reach five stories and also have five stories of underground parking. The South building would add three stories atop a 1.5-story parking garage, effectively making a 4.5-story structure. The one-story loading facility would be built on the northwest corner of an existing surface parking lot west of North Greeley Avenue.

The three buildings total 191,586 square feet, and the project is valued at $143.5 million.

The project is large enough that Bureau of Development Services staff split the design advice hearing into two meetings. The first, on Thursday, covered the site and massing. A second design advice meeting scheduled for May 24 will cover architecture and landscaping. The project will be subject to a staff decision in a Type II land use review, unless it is appealed to the Design Commission.

Design commissioners noted Adidas has proposed to build far less than the site could hold legally. The buildings in total make for a 0.9-to-1 floor-area ratio; up to 3-to-1 is allowable under city code.

鈥淚 think where the new square footage is located is appropriate,鈥� Design Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said. 鈥淚 very much appreciate that Adidas is not building as much as it could on this site. Considering the development capacity of this site, this seems very considerate.鈥�

Lever Architecture is designing the project. Seattle landscape architecture firm Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, also known as GGN, is on board too.

Commissioner Andrew Clarke raised the possibility of several smaller buildings to create more of a 鈥渧illage feel.鈥� But when asked by Lever Architecture principal Thomas Robinson to clarify, Clarke said the designers should not 鈥渢hrow the baby out with the bathwater.鈥�

鈥淥ur key is to create a mass that works as a work space but also as a good neighbor,鈥� Robinson said.

The designers have conducted shadow studies to ensure the buildings won’t block neighbors’ sunlight at certain times of year.

Some neighbors said the campus plans are out of character with the surrounding neighborhood.

鈥淭he scale of that building, it’s just too close,鈥� said Scott Ringsage, who lives at the corner of North Webster Street and Delaware Avenue and would be a neighbor of the South building.

Already, Ringsage said he feels he can’t garden in his yard without being watched by Adidas employees.

鈥淚 can’t go anywhere in my garden and not be looked at,鈥� he said.

Commissioner Tad Savinar said Lever and the rest of the design team have strong track records before the Design Commission.

鈥淚 want to tell the neighbors that these firms are really good firms and they tend to get through design review with flying colors where other firms get held back because they’re not doing a good job,鈥� he said.