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The 4th & Montgomery project led by Portland State University has shrunk in response to escalating construction costs.

Conceived as a nine-story building, the downtown proposal has shrunk to seven stories. It’s now 174,000 square feet, down from approximately 200,000 square feet.

That makes for increasingly tight quarters for PSU and its project partners 鈥� the city of Portland, Oregon Health and Science University and Portland Community College.

The four parties are moving forward with the $102.5 million project. The City Council will consider a development agreement Wednesday, and the project team is scheduled to go before the Design Commission on Aug. 2 for a type III design review.

鈥淚n PSU and OHSU‘s case, we each had a set amount of funds for the project,鈥� said Dan Zalkow, PSU’s associate vice president for planning, construction and real estate. 鈥淭he size decreased due to some higher-than-expected cost escalations.鈥�

Private developers say competition for contractors, skilled labor shortages and increasing materials costs are making projects unaffordable.

As a result, instructional space has been cut, from nine classrooms to four. Office space for PSU’s Graduate School of Education and its School of Public Health has been reduced too.

The design is from SRG Partnership. Andersen Construction is on board as general contractor. Bora Architects conducted an initial programming study.

At one point, the project team considered using mass timber in the building. That proved impracticable, Zalkow said.

鈥淚t was considered and it was evaluated as an option, but it was determined not to work well economically or programmatically for this project,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t had some limitations to how the space was laid out that were challenging for us to work with.鈥�

Instead, the building will feature concrete and steel.

The building will devote approximately 50,000 square feet to the joint OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. Another 30,000 square feet will be city of Portland offices. PCC will have 30,000 square feet for a dental clinic. PSU will also own approximately 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, and the ground floor will have some common lobby space.

The property is bounded by Southwest Fourth and Fifth avenues and Montgomery and Harrison streets, near PSU’s main campus.

The building should have space for five or six retailers on Fourth and Fifth avenues and Montgomery Street, Zalkow said. The building’s Harrison Street side will have a loading area.

The retail spaces could include casual restaurants offering lunch fare in the college neighborhood. But other uses would be welcome, Zalkow said.

鈥淲e hope to have a mix that includes more than just places for lunch,鈥� he said.

The city and PSU laid the groundwork for the 4th & Montgomery project in 2015, when the Portland Development Commission (now Prosper Portland) agreed to convey the property to PSU for the project. The city has also referred to the project as the 鈥�Jasmine Block,鈥� a name dating to when the PDC owned the property.

If design review goes smoothly, the project team hopes to break ground in early December, Zalkow said. Completion is slated for Oct. 31, 2020.