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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday put forth a number of suggestions to improve a proposal for a new mixed-use building in the Eliot neighborhood, a few months after Bureau of Development Services staff denied the project team’s bid for approval.

VC Fargo, designed by Seattle firm Jackson | Main Architecture, is slated to be a 90-foot-tall, seven-story mixed-use building with 100 apartments (either studios or one-bedroom units) and ground-floor restaurant space. The building, expected to cost approximately $13 million, would rise at 25 N. Fargo St., between North Williams and Vancouver avenues.

After city staff provided advice on two occasions in 2018, the project was denied earlier this year. The designers appealed and are working with the commissioners to address their concerns, which focus on a large red box planned in the structure, a fabric awning that would wrap around a corner at ground level, and a planter box that would sit near the building entrance.

鈥淔rom my standpoint it isn’t working,鈥� Commissioner Don Vallaster said of the red box. 鈥淚t wasn’t working then and it isn’t working now.鈥�

Vallaster and other commissioners were in agreement that the problem with the red box is how it would relate to the rest of the building mass, which would be gray. They suggested that an extension of the red portion to further wrap around the entire structure would better integrate it with the full design.

The planter box near the entrance was proposed in response to criticism issued previously about plans to put it on the roof. This time commissioners took issue with the placement because the box would leave a narrow entrance space, which is also occupied by a bike rack.

There was also an issue of the plants themselves, which Commissioner Zari Santner said have a short blooming period and would be dead for most of the year. She suggested a change to plants able to endure the area’s wet climate.

A fabric awning that would wrap around the building’s restaurant displeased commissioners, but they suggested a simple remedy: a change to metal awnings that are already present on most of the structure.

A final point of contention was the presence of two community bulletin boards that each would take up a concrete wall at opposite corners of the building. Commissioners were uncertain whether a bulletin board fit in with the overall design, but were adamant that the complex does not require two.

鈥淚t could be useful, but not on both sides,鈥� Santner said. 鈥淪omething needs to be done to make it more inviting.鈥�

Vallaster said he would like to see the walls pay homage to the surrounding area.

鈥淚t’d be nice to have sort of a richer contextual response to that wall,鈥� he said. 鈥淢aybe there’s something that can kind of allude to the history.鈥�

The design team will have a chance to make further modifications to its plan before appearing before the Design Commission at another appeal meeting, which has been scheduled for July 18.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the project was initially reviewed and denied by BDS staff.