91视频

They couldn’t figure out where to put the valet parking.

If valet parking for a 23-story hotel and apartment building in the Pearl District were placed on Northwest 12th Avenue, it could cause conflicts with residential buildings including The Casey and street traffic.

Yet if it were placed on Northwest Flanders Street, it would interfere with a plan to turn the street into a bikeway that would run from Waterfront Park to Flanders Crossing 鈥� a bridge over Interstate 405 that crews are slated to begin building this year.

The design problems for the Hyatt Place and Allison Residences were thorny. The project from a partnership of two out-of-state developers called for a dense building on a quarter-block property in a busy part of the Pearl District.

It was the first project in the south Pearl to take advantage of several provisions of the Central City 2035 plan, including a greater height limit of 250 feet, up from 175 feet. The building will have no parking 鈥� another change from old requirements that rankled some nearby residents.

Throughout the design process, the Pearl District Neighborhood Association was involved, prodding and pushing details to be more in keeping with the neighborhood and acceptable to residents. Leaders of the group’s Planning and Transportation Committee met at least three times with architects from Otak Inc., the local design firm engaged by developers Vibrant Cities of Seattle and The Sunray Companies聽of Madison, Mississippi. They wrote letters. They attended hourslong Portland Design Commission hearings, which culminated in the project’s approval on Jan. 16.

鈥淥ur whole focus is to make things better,鈥� said David Dysert, co-chairman of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association Planning and Transportation Committee. 鈥淲e have a very positive relationship with the city and with the Design Commission because they respect what we’re trying to do.鈥�

The city’s 94 officially recognized neighborhood associations are under scrutiny like never before, receiving blame from some parties for stalling projects that would bring needed housing. A code change proposed by the Office of Community and Civic Life threatened to reduce associations’ role in the city’s public process. For now, those changes have been shelved, with Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s office establishing a work group to consider the future of public involvement.

Dysert said the Pearl District Neighborhood Association is more diverse than detractors give it credit for, and does not seek to stop projects, but rather to shape them.

鈥淲e’re pro-development,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re pro-density.鈥�

The Hyatt Place and Allison Residences offer a case study in how neighborhood associations work with designers and the city’s Bureau of Development Services.

Otak’s Casey McKenna is the project manager for the Hyatt Place and Allison Residences. He worked closely with Pearl District representatives in finalizing the design.

鈥淚t was a very collaborative experience,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e presented to them three times. The third time, they were beginning to really feel like they were part of the process.鈥�

The neighborhood association representatives also went to Otak’s offices to puzzle over models. The group’s input helped inform the building’s massing and upper-floor step-backs, materials and ground-floor elements that will be part of the pedestrian experience, including a water feature evoking Tanner Creek that is required by design guidelines.

鈥淚t was a working meeting,鈥� McKenna said.

Early on, Otak made the decision to move the valet parking and loading to 12th Avenue. Having trucks backing onto the Northwest Flanders Bikeway could have been managed, but was best avoided, McKenna said.

鈥�(The Portland Bureau of Transportation) didn’t want it; the neighborhood didn’t want it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e moved the loading dock.鈥�

Conversations between Otak’s architects and the neighborhood association leaders required some give and take, McKenna said.

鈥淥verall, I think we would see it as a pretty positive experience,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here was some contention, certainly, in some of the earlier meetings. As an architect, sometimes you have to listen, and let them talk and listen to what they have to say.鈥�

At times, neighborhood association leaders had to be told certain design changes would be impossible under city codes, McKenna said.

鈥淭here are just so many competing elements with a complex project like this,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ften the public doesn’t understand why things are the way they need to be. There are times where you have to say, 鈥榶eah, the code doesn’t allow that to happen.’鈥�

Moving the dock and valet parking was eased by the building’s design, which places the main entrance at the corner. Some building systems could simply be swapped to the other side.

Otak also worked closely with Bureau of Development Services staffers Art Graves and Tim Heron.

Throughout, the project was challenged by another group of Pearl District residents: the Pearl Neighbors for Integrity in Design. The nonprofit group, led by Patricia Cliff as president, fought the project for months with the help of a land-use attorney.

At one early Design Commission meeting, Cliff called the project 鈥渧ertical sprawl,鈥� and the group paraded around the room with hand-drawn pictures of a maple tree at the corner of 12th Avenue and Flanders Street that will be axed to make way for the building.

The competing priorities of Cliff’s group and the city-recognized neighborhood association have led to much consternation in the Pearl District. Adding to the issues, Cliff also serves on the neighborhood association’s Planning and Transportation Committee led by Dysert and Reza Farhoodi as co-chairmen.

鈥淲e’re kind of dealing with it,鈥� Dysert said. 鈥淲e haven’t had this before where someone has built a separate organization that is in some way parallel to what we do.鈥�

Cliff could not be reached for comment Friday. But she said in the aftermath of the Jan. 16 approval that she still has concerns about the Hyatt Place and Allison Residences.

鈥淚t is not a user-friendly building, and it could be potentially very dangerous for pedestrians, drivers and bicyclists,鈥� Cliff said.

The project team hopes to break ground in the fourth quarter of 2020, McKenna said.

The building will have approximately 160 hotel rooms on floors two through 11, and 113 studio and one-bedroom apartments on floors 12 through 23. The developers have opted to satisfy Portland’s inclusionary housing requirements with affordable units on site, rather than pay a fee in lieu, McKenna said. The precise number of affordable units is still to be determined.

鈥淚t’s certainly something that we’re super proud of,鈥� McKenna said of the project. 鈥淲e’re blazing a new trail.鈥�