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The award-winning Blackburn Center opened in east Portland on Tuesday, offering the public glimpses inside the building featuring both transitional housing units and clinic space.

The six-story structure, at 12121 E. Burnside St., is intended to serve as a model of holistic care. The top three stories hold 175 apartments, while the bottom three stories have space for health care, addiction treatment, mental health services, employment assistance and other counseling. A ground-floor space facing the corner of Burnside Street and 122nd Avenue will be occupied by a retail tenant.

Central City Concern, the project’s developer and owner, will manage the building and provide comprehensive case management. Officials expect to be able to serve approximately 3,000 patients annually; new residents were accepted beginning last month.

Ankrom Moisan Architects designed the $52 million Blackburn Center, and Walsh Construction served as the general contractor. The project is a rarity, Ankrom Moisan Architects managing principal Mariah Kiersey said, because the final result is even better than anticipated.

鈥淚t’s pretty amazing,鈥� said Kiersey, who managed the project for Ankrom Moisan. 鈥淲e talked about some of those renders we had at the very beginning, and now being able to stand there and see that vision realized 鈥� You have this vision and what it should look like, but when you really see it, it’s just been awesome.鈥�

The building features five stories of wood framing atop a post-tensioned concrete podium. There is extensive use of fiber cement panels simulating a natural wood finish. A gable end design gives units on the east side views of Mount Hood and east Portland.

On the inside, an open staircase with natural light from south-facing windows connects clinic reception areas on the first and second floors. This is one of the building’s defining touches, Kiersey said.

鈥淚 really love the double-height stair coming in and connecting those two spaces,鈥� she said. 鈥淏eing able to get that light to pour through and make those two stories feel connected was important, because those two clinics are connected even though they have very different functions on two floors.鈥�

On the edges and corners of the building are unique 鈥淪ky Armor鈥� panels custom-designed and fabricated by subcontractor Skyline Sheet Metal. The panels are intended to provide an aesthetically-pleasing and effective weather seal.

鈥淭hey created that solution for us and now they can market it,鈥� Kiersey said.

The project team also is pursuing Earth Advantage gold certification, with a rooftop photovoltaic array expected to deliver up to 120 kilowatts of electricity at peak output.

Before the Blackburn Center was built, it garnered Ankrom Moisan a 2018 Healthcare Design Award (in the unbuilt category) from the American Institute of Architects. Now that the building has been delivered, Kiersey said, the firm intends to pursue additional awards.

鈥淲e’re now excited, now that it’s done, to submit (entries) for the (completed building),鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re just really proud of it and we’re glad we had the partners there to build it. That’s really where you get that success from.鈥�