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The first time developer Michael Tevis toured Southeast Portland’s Ford Building, it was 14 percent occupied, not including the pigeons that had taken up residence via some broken windows.

Today, it’s a bustling creative office building with a hip ground-floor caf茅.

Now Tevis, president of Intrinsic Ventures, which is in the process of moving from Menlo Park, California, to Oakland, plans a round of ground-up construction to add to Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District‘s growing tech-office scene.

Tevis has completed big projects in the Central Eastside Industrial District before. He redeveloped the Ford Building, an 82,124-square-foot former auto plant built in 1914, into offices. He also redeveloped the former 65,000-square-foot warehouse at a retired Darigold site into a creative office structure known as the Dairy Building.

Intrinsic Ventures’ two new project proposals would add more than 185,000 square feet of mixed-use space, mostly creative offices targeted at tech tenants, to the fast-changing Central Eastside. Tevis has commissioned preliminary designs, but has not requested an early application meeting with the Bureau of Development Services.

One development would rise on a vacant site formerly owned by TriMet along the orange light-rail line. The seven-story building would hold 115,600 square feet of occupied space, including 58,100 square feet of industrial offices, 47,500 square feet of manufacturing and production space, 5,000 square feet of traditional offices and another 5,000 square feet of retail space. The building at 2425-2445 S.E. Eighth Ave. would have 210 vehicle parking spaces and 30 bike stalls in two underground levels.

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, an architecture firm also known as BCJ, will design the building, Tevis said. The firm is well-known for contemporary projects that use glass, including Apple stores and the Square Inc. headquarters in San Francisco.

A second project, known as the Allan Building, would come to Southeast 11th Avenue and Division Street, at 2421-2455 S.E. 11th Ave. The site currently has a low-slung office building. Tevis plans to demolish the existing structure and construct a six-story building, plus a rooftop penthouse, totaling 70,845 square feet of occupied space. Two floors of underground parking are planned as well.

The Allan Building would have 119 auto parking spaces and 25 bike parking spaces. The project is being designed by LRS Architects.

鈥淚 like to mix up with different architects on different projects,鈥� Tevis said.

In both buildings, Tevis said he wants to celebrate the Southeast Portland neighborhood’s industrial character.

鈥淭o me, that means exposed timbers, exposed concrete and really tall ceiling heights,鈥� he said.

Tevis said he will not build either project on speculation without backing. He’s looking for either a financial partner or a tenant to commit to 50 percent of a building before he’ll kick off either project.

鈥淲e would do it if we got a partner who was like-minded and committed to long-term hold, or if we got 50 percent of it pre-leased,鈥� he said during an interview at Ford Food and Drink, a Ford Building tenant.

Tevis got started developing in Silicon Valley during the 1980s. After a succession of successful projects in California, he began developing in Portland around 2004.

鈥淚 wanted diversification out of the corporate risk from Silicon Valley,鈥� he said.

Tevis said he’s drawn to Portland’s lower costs and concentration of creative industries. Along with his wife, Tevis owns nine commercial properties in Portland. The Dairy Building is his only Portland project with additional partners who were brought on to help finance the renovation, which included a full seismic retrofit. Tevis and his wife even bought a house in the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood.

鈥淧ortland is a cross between San Francisco and the Midwest, where I grew up,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s affordable. It’s very creative. There’s a lot of small businesses. The Bay Area has become very corporate.鈥�

Both of Intrinsic Ventures’ new project proposals are shaped by Central Eastside Industrial District zoning that limits traditional office and retail space to 5,000 square feet per site. It prohibits residential uses.

Tevis said the zoning work in the Central Eastside has been 鈥渕asterful,鈥� but he also chafed at the restriction on building residential units.

鈥淚’d like to see more encouragement of residential density,鈥� he said.

During discussions for the Southeast Quadrant and Central City 2035 plans, city planners heard clearly calls to preserve the Central Eastside’s industrial character, said Tyler Bump, senior economic planner for the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

鈥淭here was a focus on job production and these industrial and industrial office types in the (general industrial) zone,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he intent of the zone is to reflect that flexibility with industrial office and industrial users being able to share the same building.鈥�

Brad Malsin, principal of Beam Development and president of the Central Eastside Industrial Council board of directors, said he sympathizes as a developer with the desire to build housing. But he said the zoning rules that preserve the Central Eastside for jobs and business development have 鈥渂enefited the Central Eastside in a huge way.鈥�

鈥淭he results of that speak for themselves,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’d have to be very shortsighted to be able to say that we should develop any significant area of the industrial sanctuary as residential.鈥�

Both proposed projects would be within a short walk of the MAX orange line, which has begun to spur a spate of redevelopment alongside. Nearby, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is planning a major redevelopment of its 18-acre campus.

Intrinsic Ventures’ projects, if they move forward, would add to an influx of creative office projects in the Central Eastside. Developers have snapped up older warehouses for office use or built ground-up contemporary projects. As multifamily development continues to stall in the face of competition and affordable housing rules, more developers are jumping into creative office space that is attractive to startups and tech tenants.

Tevis said he’s looking for rents of $32 per square foot on a triple-net basis at the former TriMet site. Intrinsic Ventures is seeking a major anchor tenant.

鈥淲e think it’s a corporate headquarters kind of location, and we’re going to pursue corporate headquarters users,鈥� he said.

Intrinsic Ventures looks for a mix of creative tenants. The Ford Building has 90 tenants 鈥� mostly small businesses. The firm’s Troy Laundry building at Southeast 11th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard has dozens more.

鈥淓ven if Amazon comes along and signs a big lease, they’re still going to be with these small businesses,鈥� Tevis said.

Keeping rents low helps encourage a good mix of creative tenants, Tevis said. He pointed to Ford Food and Drink, which hosts events including a monthly all-ages drag show.

鈥淲e’re in it to build a sense of community, a pool of tenants,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 like hanging out with actors and artists and musicians a lot more than boring real estate people.鈥�