A significant new multifamily development for Albertina Kerr is planned in Gresham.

According to plans submitted to the city of Gresham’s Urban Design and Planning Department, the nonprofit intends to construct a four-story building at 930 N.E. 162nd Ave., near the campus it has occupied since 1915.

The new structure is being designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects and will be configured roughly in a T-shape on the north side of the 9.7-acre property. The cross of the ‘T’ will front Northeast 162nd Avenue, and the post of the ‘T’ will jut eastward.

Plans call for up to 150 apartments in a variety of sizes. Some will be workforce units for Albertina Kerr staff, and others will be affordable units leased at 30, 60 and 80 percent of the average median income.

The building will have a gross floor area of 96,818 square feet and feature double-loaded corridors. A sizable community space will also be provided.

The project went before the Gresham Design Commission for an optional consultation in December. Advice given to the project team led it to go ahead and submit a development application.

Renderings of the project submitted by Ankrom Moisan show a building designed with gable ends at either end of the cross of the ‘T,’ with fiber-cement panels as the predominant exterior material. There will also be Juliet balconies for some of the residential units.

Albertina Kerr, founded in 1907, today serves some of society’s most vulnerable citizens, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental health issues and more.

The Gresham campus holds the Louise Home Hospital and Residence Hall, which was built in 1925 and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

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Updating a historic building to accommodate modern uses requires teams to balance a variety of competing interests. While accounting for a structure’s historic nature, architects often seek ways to improve energy efficiency and seismic strength.

Many firms have become accustomed to tackling such challenges. Any such situation can present a trade-off, according to Joan Jasper, a Scott | Edwards Architecture associate.

“With each decision, you weigh the advantages and disadvantages, and you learn to live with those,” she said.

Improving safety, for instance, has obvious advantages. And the well-publicized likelihood of a sizable earthquake hitting the Pacific Northwest within the decades ahead has spurred many building owners to take precautionary measures. But cost can be a significant drawback.

Sarah Cantine, an architect with Scott | Edwards Architecture, knows about that. Her firm was tasked with renovating the Louise Building – a 92-year-old structure, on Northeast 162nd Avenue, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bringing the building up to current seismic standards added nearly $500,000 to Albertina Kerr‘s planned $2.7 million renovation.

“In terms of the biggest issue (for renovations of historic properties), it’s seismic upgrades,” said David Wark, principal at Hennebery Eddy Architects and former chairman of the Portland Design Commission. “That alone can be the difference between a project moving forward or not.”

But Albertina Kerr was determined to see the Louise Building accommodate office space and areas for assessing children with special needs.

“They felt very strongly about the historic nature of the building,” Cantine said. “In order to renovate it right, you have to love the building.”

Deciding how to improve the earthquake resistance of the two-story former orphanage and home for unwed mothers was a time-consuming process. The team eventually chose to create entirely new interior walls to support the unreinforced masonry.

“The bricks are basically there for show,” Cantine said. “Shotcrete could have been used, but it doesn’t really work well with two-story buildings.”

Also, historic structures oftentimes are in poor condition, and that was the case for the Louise Building. It had water leaks and other maintenance issues that had been neglected for years.

“It had really fallen into disrepair,” Cantine said. “It was rough. Fortunately, it translates really well to offices.”

That compatibility for change to a new use was a big advantage for the Louise Building project and one that some owners overlook, according to Wark. Evaluating a historic structure for potential use before embarking on a costly renovation can save owners a lot of time, money and aggravation.

“If the proposed use is incompatible and forces a change to the structure, that isn’t the most efficient use of the money,” he said.

Another challenge for architects taking on renovations of historic buildings can be locating materials to match existing ones. That can take enormous effort even if there is no change to use of the structure.

“What we are really looking for is high-quality materials,” said Carin Carlson, a commissioner on the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission. “That is something a lot of people struggle with.”

Comfort and energy efficiency are also major factors that come into play. Windows can often be difficult to match.

“The commission doesn’t typically approve vinyl (window) products,” Carlson said. “We have yet to see a vinyl (window) that really worked for a historic building, which really matched and was compatible with the profile of the historic windows.”

Oregon City ran headlong into those issues when it decided to renovate its public library, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. City officials wanted to nearly triple the size of the 5,000-square-foot building. Doing so required an entirely new addition. That meant finding materials that would not only pass muster with Oregon City officials, but also with the National Park Service.

“We put on storm windows,” Jasper said. “We created a custom window to improve the comfort level.”

For the Louise Building, the design team faced a similar problem.

“Changing the windows is a big thing,” Cantine said. “We wanted to maintain the look, so we added another pane of glass on the inside (of each window). You are playing this balancing act between trying to meet energy codes and maintaining the look of the building.”

When buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the level of scrutiny becomes even greater.

“What (the National Park Service) asks is that, no matter how large or small the renovation, it is in deference to the original structure,” Jasper said. “There is quite a bit of interpretation to that.”

For the $195 million renovation of the Portland Building, the project team plans to install over the exterior a rain screen. However, it could run afoul of the National Park Service’s requirement that any renovation keep in line with the original design.

While the new screen would closely resemble the existing facade, it wouldn’t be an exact match; tiles would be nearly double in size. Also, mechanical equipment on the roof would be significantly larger. Those changes were approved by the City Council recently in a public hearing.

The National Park Service warned that such a plan could so substantially change the structure as to cause it to be removed from the national register. The design team determined the risk was acceptable in order to address numerous problems with the building.

It was a hard pill to swallow for the Historic Landmarks Commission, which ultimately approved the plan.

“If it is delisted as a consequence of an operation that we authorized, I would say we failed in (our) obligation,” Commission Chairman Kirk Ranzetta said during a review hearing in June.

Despite all of the challenges, help does exist for teams looking to renovate historic buildings. For those on the national register, tax credits are available. Those on local lists can potentially gain zoning allowances that allow for more commercial space than would be allowed normally.

“The federal tax incentive is probably the biggest benefit (of national register listing),” Carlson said. “You have to be a local landmark in order to get the local incentives. Because we haven’t seen high usage of incentives, we haven’t seen much local landmarking for many years.”

Wark added that one aspect that architects keep in mind when working on historic buildings is that all renovations are temporary.

“We have to be able to pass on a property,” he said. “In 25 or 30 years, another owner, another team will likely come in with another program for the building.”

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The Portland Housing Bureau has chosen Bridge Housing to build 61 new affordable apartments for low-income residents in the Eliot neighborhood, the nonprofit developer announced Monday.

The four-story North Williams Center, designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects, will form a “U” shape around a central courtyard. Ground is expected to be broken on the $18.3 million project in mid-2017.

Apartments will range from one to three bedrooms.

City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, in a prepared statement, said Bridge Housing has taken a “thoughtful approach” to community stability with the project.

Cynthia Parker, Bridge Housing’s president and CEO, said many longtime residents have been priced out and displaced from the Northeast Portland neighborhood.

Bridge said it plans to retain Albertina Kerr, a nonprofit that provides on-site services, to expand art and garden programs to residents.

The project comes as city officials make a major push for affordable housing. Last month, the City Council referred a $258 million housing bond to the November ballot.

The property at 2124-2146 N. Williams Ave. has a long history of shifting uses. Multnomah County acquired the property in 2013. Before that, it had served since 1998 as the site of Port City Development Center, a vocational training center for developmentally disabled clients.

In other periods, the site over nearly three decades had served as an industrial battery manufacturing and recycling center, an upholstery company and a lounge chair manufacturer, according to a Multnomah County report.

The property is approximately 50,000 square feet.

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Six Oregon projects were honored recently during the 2016 Gold Nugget Awards event, which recognizes excellence and innovation in complex design-build residential and housing-related efforts.

Two of the projects – 2125 Franklin and the Chehalem Cultural Center – received grand awards while the rest were named merit award winners in the international competition.

2125 Franklin, at the University of Oregon in Eugene, won in the “best campus housing – faculty or students residential – institutional use” category. The five-story, mixed-use project was designed by KTGY Architecture + Planning for developer American Campus Communities. Adroit Construction Co. was the builder.

The Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg was honored in the “judges’ special award of excellence – rehabilitation” category. The project was designed by Scott | Edwards Architecture and built by Triplett Wellman Contractors.

Scott | Edwards was part of the project team for two merit-level projects: the Albertina Kerr Louise Building in Gresham and the Canterbury residence in Portland. The Louise Building, built for Albertina Kerr Centers, was entered in the “best commercial project under 20,000 square feet” category. The Canterbury residence, built by iBuildPDX.com, was entered in the “best custom house under 4,000 square feet” category.

The Alameda, another Portland project, received a merit award in the “best renovation or restored single house” category. Chris Barlow Architects Inc. was the architect; the builder was Northwest Heritage Renovations.

The Rose Villa’s Rose Villa pocket neighborhood and town center project earned a merit award in the “best senior housing – on the boards” category. Myhre Group Architects served as the design architect and interior designer while RLPS Architecture served as the architect of record. The general contractor was R&H Construction.

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