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Portland design commissioners expressed numerous reservations about the proposed design of a 35-story tower that would be built in downtown on the famed food-cart block surrounded by Southwest Ninth and 10th avenues and Washington and Alder streets. The project would be one of Portland’s tallest and largest buildings, a signature of its era and a dominant element of the fast-developing West End.

On Thursday, the project team met the Design Commission for a second design advice meeting. Commissioners made clear the project will not sail through without significant revisions.

鈥淚t might be the most important project that we’ll ever review,鈥� Commissioner Tad Savinar said.

Commissioners’ tough questions and critical comments came as a deflating turn of events for the development team, which is looking to break ground as quickly as possible while a hotel operator is interested in the building.

Here’s a look at the project, the design issues and the regulatory hurdles it must overcome before it joins the downtown Portland skyline.

The proposal

The 35-story tower would reach 455 feet, 7 inches, just below the 460-foot maximum bonus height allowed on the block. It would include approximately 801,500 square feet of commercial and residential space. The program would include a luxury hotel with rooms on floors 9-18 and hotel uses on the ground floor and second floor. Approximately 10,400 square feet of retail space is proposed on the ground floor. The 138 residential units would be located on floors 21-35. Office space would be on the ground floor and on floors 3-8, opening onto roof terraces. Four floors of structured parking would be built underground.

The design pairs a tower on the west end of the block with a terraced podium on the east side.

The project team

Developer: Walter Bowen, BPM Real Estate Group (in February, Bowen formed BDC/Washington Street LLC, a project-specific entity).

Developer’s representative: Brian Owendoff, principal and CEO, BMO Commercial Real Estate.

Architects: Phil Beyl, director of GBD Architects, principal Kyle Andersen and senior associate Jesse Emory.

Landscape architect: Charles Brucker, principal, PLACE Studio.

Landowner: Downtown Development Group.

The site

A full block encompassing 40,000 square feet and bounded by Southwest Ninth and 10th avenues and Alder and Washington streets. The block is home to parking spaces and more than 50 food carts.

Project valuation

$235 million, according to a Bureau of Development Services estimate.

The hotel deal

The development team has executed a letter of intent with a hotel group that wants to operate a luxury hotel in the building, Beyl said Thursday.

鈥淭here is continued great momentum to make this project happen on behalf of the developer,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat that means is we are working with great urgency to move the project forward.鈥�

Beyl declined to identify the hotel brand, but said he would do so at a later date.

The hotel deal comes amid a rush of hotel development in Portland, including the 11-story, 220-room Moxy project from Graves Hospitality across 10th Avenue.

Design concerns

Several commissioners said they were dissatisfied with the design presented Thursday. It included too many architectural 鈥渕oves,鈥� too much space devoted to accommodating vehicles and too little consideration of the context of stately older buildings including the Galleria building, the Stevens building and the Pittock Block, they said. (Disclosure: The Daily Journal of Commerce is a Pittock Block tenant).

鈥淭here’s too much going on here that looks like I’ll move this here, stack it here and put a fold here,鈥� Savinar said. 鈥淚’m looking for the logic and the reason. It feels a little flitty.鈥�

Designers returned Thursday with much the same scheme as they presented at a previous design advice request. Savinar made clear it’s not good enough.

鈥淚 feel that this project has a very long way to go,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 thought we said that last time, but not in strong enough terms. The dozens of moves, flips and carves 鈥� I just don’t understand it and I don’t see the reason for it.鈥�

Chairwoman Julie Livingston read aloud the city’s guidelines for design coherency. Savinar later asked his fellow commissioners whether they’re 鈥渉aving trouble with design coherency.鈥� Commissioner Don Vallaster replied, 鈥淵eah, we all are.鈥�

The Green Loop and the food hall

The project team is asking the Design Commission to waive a new requirement for buildings constructed along the Green Loop to carve out a 12-foot setback along 75 percent of the property line. The setback requirement is meant to provide space for trees, landscaping and other elements of the six-mile route through the Central City.

The Block 216 project is the first test case of a project facing the Green Loop, and design commissioners said they were concerned about setting a precedent by waiving the setback requirement.

Andersen said the food hall concept facing Ninth Avenue is in keeping with the spirit of the Green Loop, featuring a high degree of activation, including outdoor, structural benches, and the 鈥減orosity of the fa莽ade鈥� that would face the street.

Beyl said the food vendors would be arranged in a food hall orientation similar to Pine Street Market and other food halls around the nation. The Ninth Avenue fa莽ade is designed with flexibility in mind so it could be a 鈥渞eally good retail space鈥� in the future. Beyl said keeping the square footage intact is critical to the project.

Vallaster said he had concerns that a food hall would lack the grittiness that Portlanders love about the current food cart block.

Design commissioners also wrestled with street parking on Ninth Avenue. Savinar pressed Kurt Krueger, development review manager for the Bureau of Transportation, to remove street parking spots along the western curb.

鈥淲hy are we not pulling out all of the parking?鈥� Savinar said. 鈥淵ou’re nickel and diming that edge of the sidewalk. If you want to make a special place, just do it.鈥�

Krueger replied that he was 鈥渨illing to entertain taking parking off,鈥� but had concerns about setting a precedent for future Green Loop projects.

The stretch of Ninth Avenue may not have a dedicated bike lane. Instead, it would be a shared, European-style woonerf. City officials said it could be well lit and closed to vehicle traffic at times for special events.

Vehicle drop-off

The design includes a 50-foot-wide 鈥渓uxury drop-off鈥� area for valet services for hotel customers arriving on Washington Street. Commissioners said that conflicts with pedestrian and public realm guidelines.

鈥淔ifty feet of auto activity on Washington is just not meeting guidelines,鈥� Livingston said.

Krueger also indicated the hotel’s drop-off area may not pass muster.

鈥淚t’s not an appropriate amount of driveway space on a small block,鈥� he said.

Krueger said cities around the nation are struggling with how to organize curb zones, particularly with the advent of Uber and Lyft drivers dropping off customers. 鈥淚t is becoming really precious space and we have no idea what the demands are going to be 10 years from now, five years from now,鈥� he said.

What’s next

The project team will return for a meeting Thursday that will focus on the Green Loop and Ninth Avenue frontage. Yet another design advice meeting to work through other elements of the project will be set for a later date. A design review application that has already been submitted to BDS will have to be revised, Beyl said.

Savinar told the designers to 鈥渢ake enough time to really address this.鈥�

Beyl replied, 鈥淲e will. Heard you loud and clear.鈥�