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The Hollywood Transit Center in Northeast Portland is being reimagined. The Portland Design Commission on Thursday unanimously approved plans for Hollywood HUB Housing, a new 12-story, 120-foot-tall building with 224 affordable units.

As part of the project, a new ramp for pedestrians and cyclists will be added to the end of the Interstate 84 pedestrian bridge. Also, a vacated portion of Northeast 42nd Avenue, bordering Halsey Street, between the building and businesses, will be turned into a 鈥減aseo鈥� with new landscaped walkways and seating areas. The designs of those public areas are being led by Mayer/Reed.

Hollywood HUB Housing is the first proposal under TriMet‘s Transit-Oriented Development Guidelines. The agency owns the site, but BRIDGE Housing is developing the building, which was designed by Holst Architecture. Some apartments will be for people who earn up to 30 percent of area median income (AMI) and the rest will be for people who earn up to 60 percent of AMI. Approximately 57 percent of units will have either two or three bedrooms.

Hollywood HUB Housing 鈥渨ill provide safe and high-quality housing for 鈥� low-income families who have historically been priced out of this highly amenitized urban area of Hollywood,鈥� said Sarah Schubert, director of real estate development for BRIDGE Housing.

Before gaining the Design Commission’s approval, the development team had to contend with a Difficult Development Area boundary that bisected the site and led to a less-than-ideal design in which the building was shoehorned in. That proposal, during a design advice hearing, drew strong criticism from commissioners who called it 鈥渦nsafe鈥� and liable to create a 鈥渉ostile鈥� pedestrian environment.

The problem for the development team was that it would lose an associated 30 percent boost in tax credits 鈥� about $10.2 million 鈥� if the design had to deviate from the confined site plan.

But prior to Thursday’s hearing, an agreement was reached between the Internal Revenue Service, Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that will allow the team to build on both sides of the DDA boundary and for the tax credit to carry over.

That was an unprecedented administrative interpretation to be granted, according to the American Bar Association, BRIDGE Housing Executive Vice President Kurt Creager said during Thursday’s hearing.

With the boundary dilemma solved, the design team was able to utilize the site properly, Holst Architecture senior associate Dustin Furseth said.

The 233,000-square-foot, irregularly shaped structure will stand out on all sides and feature a kinetic window pattern on the exterior, where every other level is the same, with accent panels in four shades of green lining the insides of the windows.

鈥淚 really like the form of building,鈥� Commissioner Chandra Robinson said. 鈥淚 think that it’s dynamic, and it needs to be 鈥� because the context of Hollywood in that area is really, very, very visible. You can see it at different speeds from different angles.鈥�

One modification was approved: a reduction of the minimum landscaped area from 15 percent to 8 percent. Near a building with such density (a floor area ratio of 7:1), a large amount of green space would be trampled because there wouldn’t be enough for so many people, Design Commission Chairman Brian McCarter said.

Mayer/Reed is providing landscape architecture as a member of Holst Architecture’s housing team and also providing landscape architecture, urban design and experiential graphic design as a member of David Evans and Associates’ team.

The Bureau of Development Services in March approved the design of the paseo. It will include a new tribute to the victims of the May 2017 attack on a MAX light-rail train; the existing one will be removed to allow construction to take place. The development team collaborated with the mural’s artist to find a way to bring the words, colors, and imagery from the community-based artwork into the new design.

鈥淚 think back to before Interstate 84 was ever built in Hollywood, and Laurelhurst used to thread together and connect together,鈥� McCarter said. 鈥淭he freeway just wiped out all of that connection, and I think for the last 70 years, the south side of Hollywood has really been kind of a forgotten, fragmented edge with kind of some throwaway parcels left over after the freeway acquired all their land. And this is a super strong project to reestablish 鈥� some north-south depth to the Hollywood District.鈥�

Late last year, Raimore Construction was selected as the general contractor for the paseo portion (infrastructure improvements) of the project.