A proposal to construct a five-story mixed-use building in Portland’s historic Alphabet District is scheduled to be discussed by the Bureau of Development Services at a pre-application conference on Oct. 10.

The applicant, GBD Architects, is set to lay out plans for construction on two parcels fronting Northwest 23rd Avenue and stretching between Marshall and Northrup streets. As described in city documents, the development at 1137 N.W. 23rd Ave. would feature one level of below-grade parking (approximately 48 total parking spaces), with an entrance on Northrup Street. The upper four floors would hold around 70 apartment units.

The project’s developer is CE John, a commercial real estate development firm based in Vancouver, Washington, that started in the 1940s as a residential homebuilder. The company develops and builds retail, office and industrial products, and also offers property management services and commercial construction. CE John normally operates in a build-hold fashion, and has produced developments including Beaverton’s Cedar Hills Crossing and Columbia Shores in Vancouver.

For this project, CE John purchased the Northwest 23rd Avenue property earlier this year for $6.57 million. The two 0.23-acre parcels have a pair of aging single-story commercial buildings. The Quality Pie diner occupied the building on the corner of Northwest 23rd Avenue and Northrup Street until 1992. That structure has been vacant since. The adjacent building was the home of Shogun’s Gallery, an antique dealer, until it closed in 2017.

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Historic preservation can cut both ways for developers.

Some profit handsomely from adaptive reuse projects. Others become stymied by regulations that restrict what can be done with a historic structure.

One project in Portland’s Historic Alphabet District, at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St., falls into both categories. There, Northwest Housing Alternatives plans to renovate the existing Buck-Prager Building at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St. and construct two new buildings nearby. In total, the project would provide 148 housing units.

The project does not yet have an official moniker, and already has drawn neighborhood opposition. Even earlier, a 2014 attempt by Gerding Edlen to demolish the Buck-Prager Building was denied by the city.

Now, the project is set to return before Portland’s Historic Landmarks Commission for design review on Aug. 27. The project team is eager to gain the go-ahead needed to proceed beyond the design phase.

“It’s unique,” said Michelle Black, project manager for Carleton Hart Architecture. “There is this building central to the site, and you’re building around it, and it’s a unique design problem if you’re keeping to the nature of the neighborhood. Some is new and some is old, and that’s the nature of the Alphabet District.”

Carleton Hart Architecture’s latest plans call for the original three-story unreinforced masonry Buck-Prager Building to be gutted, renovated and seismically reinforced to hold 18 senior housing units. A new four-story addition to the south would add 30 senior housing units. Meanwhile, a new five-story structure to the north would hold 100 additional workforce housing units. All 148 apartments would be affordable for people making 60 percent of area median income.

Black described the exterior design as part of a “delicate dance” needed for the project to truly fit the neighborhood.

“The circumstances of this existing building are that there’s virtually nothing on the interior,” she said. “It was reused and changed over the years as an office building, so there’s less to draw upon. But when there is historic fabric to work with it’s ideal to bring that into whatever the new design is.”

The north building is the taller of the two new proposed structures. It would feature a red brick facade with very pronounced banding on the cornice work.

“You can see multiple buildings in the Alphabet District that show this,” Black said. “It’s both historic and what we’re looking at for this building.”

The south side structure is more complicated.

“It’s the balance of doing something that is both complementary to the historic resource yet contrasting enough to where you’re not going to upstage the Buck-Prager Building,” Black said.

Currently the Buck-Prager Building has a white-painted gable end facing Northwest 18th Avenue, while the rest of the structure is red brick. This scheme will remain, Black said.

“With this last iteration of the design,” she said, “it is taking the rhythm of the window base and carrying it across to the south building with its horizontal banding … they look like they belong together, but they also look like separate buildings.”

As Portland’s population continues to grow, a much greater effort will be needed to boost the current housing stock, affordable or market rate, said Martha McLellan, Northwest Housing Alternatives’ executive director.

“There are fewer and fewer sites, and more and more of those sites are in locations that require design review,” she said. “You don’t really get the advantage of the clear and objective path for affordable housing that land use laws say should be available. So, there’s an increasing amount of turf that is subject to design review and there are fewer and fewer sites that are available and they bump into each other.”

Alphabet District neighbors have raised concerns such as building heights incompatible with the neighborhood and inadequate parking. Design changes have accordingly cut 16 units and one story from earlier renditions of the workforce housing building.

McLellan minced no words about the need for greater acceptance from the public in regard to affordable housing development.

“That’s true – the amount of affordable housing that is needed is a big number,” she said. “And building it is expensive and difficult and lengthy. And in virtually any neighborhood the first reaction is ‘We don’t want change.’ So on the one hand we have 30,000 people a year moving to Portland and on the other hand the neighbors don’t want change. And, then, what is a reasonable expectation?”

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A project proposed in Portland’s Alphabet Historic District faced another hurdle as the Historic Landmarks Commission discussed issues at a second design advice hearing on Monday.

Northwest Housing Alternatives is planning a multifamily project in which the Buck-Prager Building at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St. would be renovated to hold 18 senior housing units. Next to it, a new four-story building to the south would hold 30 senior housing units, and a new five-story building to the north would hold 101 workforce housing units. All of the units would be affordable for people making 60 percent of the area median income.

Numerous residents testified on Monday, most against the project. Supporters cited the need for affordable housing in the neighborhood and the city. Opponents said the new structures would be too large, and incompatible with other buildings in the historic district.

Brendan Sanchez, an associate with project designer Carleton Hart Architecture, said the team made several changes in response to commissioners’ feedback at the first design advice hearing on Jan. 8. In an effort to make the project more complementary, the height of the larger building was reduced from six stories to five. Doing so reduced the number of units by 16.

“It is a very eclectic group of buildings that are found within the district, both multifamily and single-family, but also different styles and heights,” said Michelle Black, a project architect at Carleton Hart Architecture. “We have really looked to make something that feels like it fits within the Alphabet District.”

Another change from the previous design was creating horizontal bands on the larger building to better match other buildings in the district.

Both the north and south structures would be primarily brick with stucco accents. Part of the Buck-Prager renovation would include replacing the aluminum window frames with wood and restoring ground-floor windows.

Most commissioners were largely satisfied with the design changes, but Commissioner Wendy Chung said she thinks the five-story building would be too tall.

“I think that you guys have been extraordinarily responsive to exactly what we asked of you, which is for a design that is compatible with the district,” she said. “Those buildings could easily fit in to various parts of the historic district. I just don’t think they fit in there.”

Others said they believe the project is moving in the right direction.

“This is, for all intents and purposes, the same scale as the buildings I see in the district,” Commissioner Matthew Roman said. “I’d hate to see us lose more units when I think they’re fairly close in terms of compatibility.”

Commissioners provided additional feedback and ideas on the new design, including the possibility of adding a courtyard to the larger building.

The project’s next appearance before the commission will be for design review, but a date hasn’t been set.

“We certainly appreciate the 180 degrees that you’ve taken in terms of the design inspiration,” Commission Chairman Kirk Ranzetta said. “Our hope is to have a design that we think the commission can wrap its arms around and give you the nod.”

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New ideas are being proposed to incorporate a contributing structure in Portland’s Alphabet Historic District in a new development, and the Historic Landmarks Commission weighed in during a design advice hearing on Monday.

Commissioners praised the project team’s plan to preserve the 90-year-old Buck-Prager Building as housing, but questioned whether two new buildings planned nearby would be complementary to the neighborhood.

The Buck-Prager Building, at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St., has sat mostly vacant since 2007. In 2014, developer Gerding Edlen sought to tear it down and construct an apartment building in its place. However, the Portland City Council struck down that proposal, siding with neighbors who contended that the former Women’s Hospital of Portland was too important to the historic district to allow demolition.

Now Northwest Housing Alternatives is planning a multifamily project in which the Buck-Prager Building would be renovated to hold 17 senior housing units. Also, a new four-story building to the south would hold 32 senior housing units, and a new six-story building to the north would hold 116 workforce housing units.

“I am really excited to see the applicants making a few moves,” Commission Vice Chairwoman Kristen Minor said.

Carleton Hart Architecture is designing the project.

“We are maintaining the historic structure, which is in the center of the site, so right off the bat that poses a lot of challenges to design around,” said Brendan Sanchez, an architect at Carleton Hart Architecture. “We are trying to enhance the building and the district.”

Project plans call for seismic upgrades to the Buck-Prager Building. Also, all of the units would be affordable for people making 60 percent of the area median income. To meet those goals in a financially feasible project, the project team says the six-story tower needs to be 66 feet.

“I am not sure this can be compatible,” Commissioner Matthew Roman said. “It may not be possible to get the number of units to make it work.”

Numerous residents testified against the project on Monday. Complaints ranged from excessive height to inadequate parking.

“I appreciate that this is a complicated project that we have brought forward,” said Stephen McMurtrey, housing development director with Northwest Housing Alternatives.

Despite the issues raised, designers still believe they can present a design able to gain the commission’s approval.

“I can’t say that I can outline exactly right now what we feel like the path forward looks like,” said Michelle Black, a project architect at Carleton Hart Architecture. “I do think we still have a path forward.”

No date is set yet for the project team’s next appearance before the commission.

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After delivering two prominent Pearl District high-rises, developer Bob Ball is back with a $4.2 million mixed-use project in the Alphabet District.

“This is going to be a beautiful boutique project – a very high-end, high-quality project,” said Ball, builder of the upscale Wyatt (2007) and Parker (2014) apartment towers. “It’s going to be a great-looking building.”

Ball purchased the land for his latest project at 915 N.W. 21st Ave. prior to the completion of the Parker. Plans call for two ground-level retail spaces totaling 4,000 square feet, 31 parking spaces and 27 apartment units on floors 2-4.

The architect is FFA Architecture and Interiors, and the contractor is LCG Pence. Ball said both retailers have been selected, but declined to name them.

For Ball, who lives near the site in the West Hills and got his real estate start nearby, the project is personal.

“I felt very privileged to get the site,” he said. “That’s always been a neighborhood that feels like my home. I think this is really going to add to the neighborhood.”

Though Ball has been active in the local real estate market for years through his firm Astor Pacific, he is reforming operations under a new business heading: Robert Ball Company, which he says will have more of a focus on investment. That business will be launched formally on Feb. 11 – Ball’s 50th birthday. The new company has entered a long-term lease to rent a Northwest 23rd Avenue space that Apple.

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Neighbors dislike plans for a Northwest Portland apartment complex with no parking, but the developer says zoning restrictions prevent construction of underground parking.

Property owner Gregg Opsahl applied in September to the Bureau of Development Services for a permit to break ground on a $2.6 million, 19-unit apartment building at 2246 N.W. Pettygrove St.

“We went before the neighborhood association with plans for what we were doing,” he said. “They weren’t happy because we’re not providing any off-street parking.”

The area is zoned for high-density residential, requiring developers to build back from the property line by about 11 feet, Opsahl said.

“With a 6,000-square-foot site like this, the zoning makes it challenging, to say the least, to incorporate subterranean parking,” he said. “With that requirement, we’d have room for a handful of cars, if that.”

If the area were zoned for mixed use, Opsahl said he would be able to build closer to the property line, and below-ground parking might be feasible. He added that he knows of other apartment buildings under construction in the area that have more units and aren’t providing any parking.

Opsahl said the price point of these apartments lends itself to tenants who work nearby and are accustomed to commuting by bike. The building will provide secured bike storage.

“A mid-level executive who works at Intel or Nike and needs secured parking for their car might not be interested in these units,” he said.

The five-story structure will feature a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments with hardwood floors and stainless steel appliances. Opsahl said rents will likely range between $2.30 and $2.50 per square foot.

Construction is scheduled to begin late this year and finish in winter 2015.

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Days may be numbered for a 95-year-old building in Portland’s Alphabet Historic District.

Mark Edlen of Gerding Edlen in early September submitted an application for a conditional land use permit to demolish the building at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St. The Portland-based development company would like to replace the building with an 82-unit apartment complex.

Ross Caron, spokesman for the Portland Bureau of Development Services, confirmed that his office had received the request for a land use review. He said a notice of proposal should go out in the next few weeks.

The 13,000-square-foot building has been vacant for several years, but it’s considered a contributing structure to the historic district. To demolish the building, Gerding Edlen would need approval from the Historic Landmarks Commission and Portland City Council.

The structure sat empty through the recession and lost its permit for conditional commercial use. The property today is zoned for high-density residential use, so an expensive seismic upgrade would be required if it were renovated.

The neighborhood surrounding the Hoyt property is mostly single-family Victorian homes. Holst Architecture has designed for the site a four-story building that steps up to six stories in the center. The renovation would provide 70 spaces of below-ground parking.

Jill Sherman, vice president of development for Gerding Edlen, did not return a call Monday for comment.

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The 95-year-old building at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St. is a contributing structure in the nationally registered Alphabet Historic District. But in recent years, it has contributed only vacant space.

The problem is two parts zoning, one part structural. After the owners of the 13,000-square-foot building disbanded their law firm and moved out around 2007, the structure sat empty during the recession and lost its grandfathered status for conditional commercial use. Today, the property is zoned for high-density residential use, which would require a costly seismic upgrade.

“We’ve looked at multiple scenarios for developing the property, including renovating and developing next to it,” said Jill Sherman, Gerding Edlen vice president of development. “It’s just not feasible economically and I don’t think it’s a better project.”

Gerding Edlen and the property’s owners are working on plans to redevelop the half-block site on the east side of Northwest 18th Avenue, between Hoyt and Irving streets, as an 82-unit apartment building. But before the $14 million-plus development can move forward, the building at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St. must be demolished – and that promises to be a difficult proposition.

Only once in the city’s history has approval been given to demolish a contributing structure in a historic district – in 2010, for the Kiernan Building, aka the Dirty Duck – and it was controversial. Now, some Northwest Portland residents are rallying to save the Hoyt Street building.

Once again, goals for density and preservation are competing.

“When you put 80 units in a giant building in between these two streets of quaint Victorian homes that have been here for 130 years you’re seriously degrading the character of the street,” said Wendy Chung, a neighbor and a Northwest District Neighborhood Association board member.

Chung said the Hoyt Street building may not be on the National Register of Historic Places, but her 130-year-old home (at 1729 N.W. Irving St.) is, and so are many others on the surrounding block. She bought her house in 2007 for $485,000 with an expectation that those historic designations would be honored.

Chung noted that she and her neighbors are not opposed to development, and cited numerous projects nearby as evidence. She even likes Holst Architecture‘s designs – featuring a distressed brick facade, bay windows and a mansard roof – for Gerding Edlen’s proposed project. She just doesn’t think such a development is appropriate for the site.

“We’re all for development and trying to increase density,” Chung said. “We just think on this particular lot there could be ways to preserve (the building) and meet our density needs.”

Sherman has evaluated those options. She said that the cost of construction would not really justify the expense, and that after development of the surrounding property only a sliver of the contributing structure would remain visible. Nevertheless, she understands neighbors’ concerns; about a year ago she began meeting with them to gather input.

Because lack of parking is a big concern in Northwest Portland, Gerding Edlen is proposing 70 below-grade spaces. It is also hoping to include a substantial amount of two-bedroom units (now in short supply) and workforce housing. Sherman pointed to the same nearby multifamily developments that Chung did as evidence that the building would not be out of context, especially from a geographic perspective.

“It’s all about location and proximity to transportation, the proximity to services and the proximity to jobs,” Sherman said. “Basically, I think of that district as a downtown central city district and generally where I think you want to see – and a lot of our public policy says that’s where we want to have – density of housing.”

Part of the conflict stems from the mixed messages touted by the property. Its zoning encourages high-density development, but the historic district designation bestowed later doesn’t.

Notably, a by the National Trust for Historic Preservation found that some of the most thriving communities are those that contain a high diversity of building ages. But for the Hoyt Street building, its fate will be determined via a Type IV historic resource demolition review – a process that can take up to eight months, and ends with a vote by City Council.

“I think you’re asking a question that even preservationists would disagree on,” said Tim Heron, a senior city planner for the Bureau of Development Services. “It’s very subjective, and that’s why we have a process, and that’s why this will go through a process … We’re going to talk those issues out … When you demolish a resource, it’s irreplaceable. You don’t get it back. That’s the bar.”

Meanwhile, Josh Schweitz, a Kidder Mathews senior vice president who marketed the Hoyt Street building for several years during the recession, lamented that it can no longer accommodate commercial use. He came close to a deal in 2008, but nothing panned out.

Schweitz said that wouldn’t happen today.

“I guarantee I could put my sign up and I could have it under contract within a week just because the market right now is so hot,” he said. “… I wish I had 10 of those types of buildings.”

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Gerding Edlen is working on plans for a large multifamily development in Northwest Portland, but it has hurdles to clear before it can break ground.

The Portland-based development company is looking to partner with the owners of a half-block on the east side of Northwest 18th Avenue, between Irving and Hoyt streets, to build an 82-unit apartment building on the site. An existing 95-year-old commercial building is listed as a contributing structure in the Alphabet Historic District.

Jill Sherman, a Gerding Edlen vice president, said demolition of the building requires approval from the Historic Landmarks Commission and Portland City Council. She’s aware of only one other project in Portland – the Blanchet House of Hospitality – that has received such an endorsement.

“We’re a firm that is more likely to restore and renovate a historic building, so we do not take it lightly at all,” Sherman said. “But the … architectural features of the building, both interior and exterior, are no longer present, and it’s a contributing building in a historic district that’s really historic for the residential buildings that are there. This is a commercial building, and it’s actually not even allowed by right.”

The property is zoned only for high-density residential, so any renovation would have to accommodate that use. Sherman said Gerding Edlen looked at that option in conjunction with development of the surrounding lot, but it was neither attractive, nor economically feasible.

A few nearby neighbors support the project, but Sherman said many people oppose demolition and the size of the planned development, which would step up from four stories to six in the center.

The project is planned to have below-grade parking at a ratio of 0.8 stalls per unit; and feature a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom units. Gerding Edlen plans to rent-restrict 20 percent of the units at a rate affordable to people making 80 percent of the area’s median family income, if it can secure the necessary tax exemptions from the Portland Housing Bureau.

Gerding Edlen is still early in the design process, and recently applied for a pre-application conference with the city. Plans call for a facade composed primarily of brick, with bay windows and a mansard roof. Sherman said the company began seeking feedback from neighbors about a year ago.

“We have a road ahead of us, so we’ll see,” she said. “Honestly, for me it’s hard being in a position where we have a bunch of people in opposition because generally we’re able to work productively with neighbors. We care about that. We reach out to them early and often and bring them into what we’re doing.”

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When developer Martin Kehoe first met with Rick Michaelson of Inner City Properties and colleague Dan Volkmer, he had no intention of selling his property at 1507 N.W. 24th Ave.

Kehoe planned to build on the site a seven-unit townhome development that would have required demolition of the 116-year-old . Neighbors rallied in opposition, and in April briefly initiated a temporary . But having begun deconstruction, Kehoe was hesitant to let go of his investment – until Michaelson and Volkmer made a pitch.

“At the end of an hour, Rick Michaelson and Dan Volkmer had convinced me to accept a deal that would result in the sale of the property,” Kehoe said. “They are businessmen and they were very logical and very persuasive, and their passion and love of Northwest Portland was very, very clear … They convinced me that it was the right thing to do.”

The sale is expected to close by the end of the month. Parties involved declined to provide details of the arrangement, but Kehoe purchased the property (including an adjacent lot with a less significant single-family home) in March for approximately $1.5 million. Restore Oregon Friday; Michaelson is one of its board members.

The Goldsmith house was designed by Edgar Lazarus, who also designed the in the Columbia River Gorge. Volkmer, principal broker of the Dan Volkmer Team, said the Goldsmith family originally platted much of the neighborhood in the 1800s. The house isn’t on the National Register of Historic Places, but Restore Oregon Executive Director Peggy Moretti said it could be.

Michaelson said he is one of approximately 20 neighbors who came together to purchase the property. Their plan is to restore the house as a single-family home (it has served as an office for decades), and likely develop the adjacent property as multifamily housing. Those details aren’t set yet.

“We’re incredibly excited and a little nervous,” Michaelson said. “It’s a workload issue. We had enough work going on without taking on this project, but when an opportunity and a need comes along, you just have to take it regardless of what time it is.”

Volkmer said the sale of the Goldsmith house represented a good compromise.

“Both Marty and Rick deserve kudos for sitting down at the table and I think in the long run doing the right thing for everybody,” Volkmer said.

Meanwhile, Kehoe will be able to tackle numerous multifamily projects in the pipeline.

“We have so many – so many – other good development projects that we’re working on – both in Portland and in Seattle,” he said. “So to turn this one back into a beautiful … grand old mansion makes me feel pretty good.”

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