91视频

With experience gained in Portland’s early embrace of mass timber, some local firms are taking their knowledge of the material to other markets.

Hacker, for instance, is designing a six-story mixed-use office building with 310,000 square feet at San Francisco’s bustling Pier 70 historic site. The Portland firm prevailed in a competitive application process with Forest City, a developer that has since been acquired by Brookfield Properties.

The speculative office building will be only the second structure primarily built of cross-laminated timber in San Francisco, and it will be considerably larger than the first such building.

Part of the job for Hacker has been educating regulators. The city of San Francisco is contracted to review permitting for the project, which is planned for Port of San Francisco land.

鈥淭he jurisdiction currently is pretty unfamiliar with mass timber as a building technology,鈥� said Stefee Knudsen, a Hacker principal in charge of the Pier 70 project. 鈥淯ntil the new code cycle comes into play in California, and until the jurisdiction understands the building technology, they’re being very careful with the building material. It’s taking a little bit more effort for Brookfield to be one of the first out of the docket.鈥�

CLT was always being considered for the project.

鈥淥ne of the reasons the developer was interested in having us compete for the project 鈥� was because they were interested in mass timber from the beginning, but they weren’t entirely sure it would pencil,鈥� Knudsen said.

CLT remains slightly more expensive than traditional concrete and steel construction, Knudsen said. Budget projections showed CLT would cost about 3 percent more than the alternative, she added.

鈥淲e’re working on whittling that down,鈥� she said.

As so few CLT buildings have been sold, it’s unclear if they will command a premium from investors. So far, CLT buildings are not attracting higher rents than comparable concrete buildings, but they are showing better stability from tenants.

鈥淭here’s increased data that the (CLT) buildings are being leased faster (and) they’re staying leased longer,鈥� Knudsen said. 鈥淭here is a return on investment, even if there isn’t the simple bottom line you find on day one.鈥�

The design of the Pier 70 building pays homage to the district’s industrial past, including shipbuilding.

鈥淲e’re trying to play with that history 鈥� timber is kind of a new thing, but it’s really an old thing,鈥� Knudsen said.

Portland was one of the first American cities to embrace CLT, although the material’s popularity spread earlier in British Columbia, Canada, and some northern European nations. Now, CLT is gaining acceptance outside of the expensive West Coast markets, which can command higher rents.

In Milwaukee, a design has been approved for a 21-story CLT tower, and the developer is working to add two stories, . In Minneapolis, a seven-story, 220,000-square-foot mass-timber office building called T3 opened in 2016. European firms are continuing to build projects with CLT, including a concert hall planned in Nuremberg, Germany.

Hacker is working on another CLT design for Brookfield, in Reston, Virginia. That project, which is in an earlier design phase, would rise six stories with about 120,000 square feet.

The San Francisco building won’t be completely CLT. Concrete will be used for the subterranean level, and steel brace frames will be used for the lateral structure.

The building will have two ground-floor retail spaces; one is likely to be a restaurant.

鈥淭he ground floor is really designed so it can adjust over time,鈥� Knudsen said.

The project team is hoping to break ground in April. KPFF Consulting Engineers is also working on the project. Swinerton Builders is the general contractor, led by its San Francisco office. Swinerton’s Portland office is lending expertise with securing CLT supplies.

Design Beyond Borders is a 91视频 feature offering a look at the projects outside of Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact the 91视频 newsroom at 503-802-7222 or [email protected].