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230 Ash
Submitting Company: GBD Architects
Location: Portland
Cost: Confidential
Owner/Developer: Downtown Development Group (3rd & Ash LLC)
Architect: GBD Architects
Engineers: Glumac, KPFF Consulting Engineers, RWDI USA, The Façade Group, TM Rippey Consulting Engineers
Other Associates/Consultants: ABD Engineering & Design, Acoustics by Design, Code Unlimited, Lango Hansen Landscape Architects
General Contractor: Lease Crutcher Lewis
Subcontractors: Accurate Dorwin, Acme Scenic & Display, Acousti-Level Floor Systems, Advance Welding, Advanced Technology Group, Affordable Window Coverings, American Direct, Apply-A-Line, BASCO Appliances, Best Cabinets & Granite, Coast Crane, Columbia Drywall Systems, Cosco Fire Protection, D & R Masonry, Dallas Glass, Davidson’s Masonry, DeEl, Dero Bike, DeWitt Construction, Eagle Painting, Eagle Striping Services, Floor Solutions, Ford Engineering, Forest Roofing, Frontier Door & Cabinet, GE Appliances, Geotech Foundation Co – West, Hydro Rents NW, Interior Tech, Jacobs Heating, Kember Kreative, Kingsmen Contracting, Merit Electric, Metro Overhead Door, Paragon Tile & Stone, Pike Awning, Pioneer Waterproofing, Piper Mechanical, Primo Construction, Professional Pipe (Hoffman Southwest), Roger Langeliers, Safeguard Industries, Schindler Elevator, Skyline Sheet Metal, Temp-Air, Teufel Landscape, Third Generation Paint, Timberland, USI JB Insulation, VanLom Concrete, Wall to Wall Countertops, Wessco, West Coast Wire Rope, Zeeland Janitorial, Zochert Fence

The first development in the proposed Ankeny Blocks project, 230 Ash is a mixed-income apartment building in Portland’s Skidmore/Old Town Historic District. It predated Portland’s Inclusionary Housing requirement and provides 133 units of much-needed affordable housing.

The building, which replaced a surface parking lot, features ground-floor retail and below-grade parking. Surrounding 230 Ash are 12 buildings that were constructed more than a century ago, with eight of them designated as historic landmarks. It is within this context that 230 Ash was designed and constructed to be aesthetically compatible but clearly completed in contemporary times.

The design team took care implementing architectural characteristics through an eclectic mix of cast iron, brick and stone. The design includes a modern interpretation of cast iron columns in the retail space and several craft-oriented details within the brick façade, such as gently sloping brick pilasters, generous retail canopies and street signs.

The six-story building was designed to improve energy performance by 26 percent better than a baseline building. This is accomplished with high-quality HVAC systems, energy-efficient appliances and low-flow water fixtures. 230 Ash received LEED Platinum certification.

During the design process and into construction, numerous technical challenges were uncovered and required creative solutions. One difficulty involved the below-grade structure, where the team discovered the rubble stone foundation wall encroached over the property line underground by three feet. This required redesigning the building’s basement foundation wall about five feet from the property wall and underpinning the neighboring building’s basement foundation wall.

In addition, the water line ran very close to the property line along Southwest Ash Street and necessitated multiple iterations to coordinate the below-grade parking and the main electrical service. This required dozens of conversations with Portland General Electric that resulted in the unusual solution of a new electrical switch vault within Southwest Second Avenue.