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Portland鈥檚 West End is set to witness construction of a 12-story, mass-timber tower following its by the Bureau of Development Services.

Julia West Apartments, planned for 522 S.W. 13th Ave., on the northeast corner of the intersection with Southwest Alder Street, will offer 90 units (60 studios and 30 one-bedroom units) of permanent supportive housing for seniors.

Designed by Holst Architecture for Community Development Partners, the approximately 59,900-square-foot building will feature a cross-laminated timber frame. Amenities will include a rooftop terrace, a laundry lounge, on-site support services run by NARA Northwest and the Northwest Pilot Project, and two community rooms: one on the ground floor and another on the top floor.

The affordable housing project underwent a Type II design review process overseen by the BDS. As part of the procedure, the project team received design advice from the Portland Design Commission in January. Commissioners commended the choice of a thin-brick fa莽ade and said they were impressed by Holst鈥檚 ability to fit the tower on the site, which is about one-eighth of a typical Portland block. Commissioner Don Vallaster called the proposed building 鈥渞eally handsome.鈥�

鈥淲ell, you鈥檝e taken a difficult site,鈥� he said during the January design advice meeting. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to get two stairs and an elevator in on this type of a site without really causing problems for the layout, and I think you鈥檝e done a really good job of that.鈥�

In response to feedback from the commissioners, the team added a shade canopy to the ground floor and an overhang on the roof deck to increase solar protection, Holst associate and project designer Josiah Henley stated in an email.

Because the building鈥檚 residents will be seniors, the project team was able to deviate from the typical bicycle parking standard. That allowed inclusion of more active uses on the ground floor and back-of-house uses in the basement. However, a 鈥渃ovenant鈥� with the city stipulates that the 90 units will be made available only to individuals ages 55 or older.

BDS鈥� conditional approval calls for the required covenant to be executed before issuance of a building permit. Failure to comply would require the project team to meet the standard bicycle parking requirement, which would be 135 long-term spaces rather than the 12 spaces planned. Five short-term bicycle parking spaces are required regardless.

鈥淲ithout the ability to reduce bicycle parking, it would have been extremely difficult on such a small urban infill site to provide space for amenities/services that are particularly impactful to elders living in Permanent Supportive Housing,鈥� Henley stated.

Due to the constrained site, a modification to reduce the required amount of eco-roof from 60 percent to approximately 16 percent was approved, and a design exception was allowed for oriel windows to project about 20 percent into the public right-of-way on the 2nd through 11th floors. The oriel windows would help the tower fit into the neighborhood contextually, commissioners said during the design advice meeting. The site is near various brick-laden buildings like the First Presbyterian Church across Alder Street and modern residential buildings such as Eleven West and Block 216.

Also, a modification was approved to reduce the 25-foot depth requirement for ground-floor active uses to roughly 10 feet along Southwest 13th Avenue (western frontage) and 15 feet along Southwest Alder Street (southern frontage) to allow for spaces that fit the building鈥檚 programming better.

鈥淭he proposal is a well-designed affordable housing project for older people making use of a small, challenging site and integrating successfully into the neighborhood fabric redeveloping an underutilized corner site to bring life and activity,鈥� the staff report stated.

The existing building on the site will be demolished. Walsh Construction is serving as the general contractor for the project.

The project team is preparing to seek a building permit, according to Henley.