A pre-application conference is scheduled for Feb. 18 for discussion of a proposal to build a six-story residential building with approximately 200 apartments in Portland’s Alphabet Historic District.

The building, as designed by SERA Architects, would rise on an irregularly shaped 0.73-acre parcel at 2250 N.W. Flanders St. The development would feature 110 below-grade parking spaces with access from Flanders Street.

At present, the property is home to the Flanders Professional Building – a four-story, 24,381-square-foot medical office building completed in 1968. The property also has 65 surface parking spaces.

Because the site is in a historic district, the project team is seeking Type III historic resource review.

The property, according to city of Portland and Multnomah County records, has not had an ownership change since 1999, when it was purchased for $2.85 million. The most recent estimated market value offered for the property was $7.785 million in 2019.

SERA Architects’ communications coordinator, Shelby Schroeder, said the project team behind the application is choosing to remain anonymous at this time.

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The saga of the Buck-Prager Building, in Portland’s Alphabet Historic District, continued to drag Monday, as the Historic Landmarks Commission delayed until next month a decision whether to approve plans for a 148-unit affordable housing development.

Following a hearing lasting longer than three hours, the record will be held open for the next seven days to allow additional public testimony. Previously, three design advice meetings took place for the project, which is being developed by Northwest Housing Alternatives on a half-block parcel at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St.

As designed, the project would feature construction of a new five-story building with 100 workforce housing units, a renovation of the existing three-story Buck-Prager Building to provide 18 senior housing units and increase seismic strength, and construction of a four-story addition to the Buck-Prager Building to provide 30 more senior housing units. All 148 apartments would be affordable for people making 60 percent of area median income.

The century-old existing building was at the center of Monday’s discussion.

“Primary to this project is to save the Buck-Prager,” lead designer Michelle Black of Carleton Hart Architecture told the commission. “We really tried hard to leave the exterior in place and bring back items that have been lost over time.”

Earlier design advice reviews brought about a host of changes to the original design in order that the new buildings blend in well with the surrounding neighborhood. But from the beginning a significant portion of the neighborhood has expressed opposition to a project that would be much larger than adjacent single-family homes, some of them also designated as historic resources.

At the same time, Black said, Northwest Portland has long featured the most diverse mix of residential housing in the city, such as five- or six-story apartment buildings amid single-family homes.

“The proximity of tall buildings next to small is really something that is intrinsic to this district,” she said. “It’s found throughout the district.”

Bureau of Development Services staff issued in an Aug. 17 memo a recommendation of conditional approval for the project. Conditions included making both faces of patio doors on the south addition operable, adding fiber cement detailing on north building window recesses and maximizing the number of trees along Irving Street.

Also, city planner Grace Jeffreys noted Monday that non-standard landscaping and irrigation improvements to the right-of-way for the north building still require Portland Bureau of Transportation approval.

Public testimony both for and against the project was ample Monday.

“The last iteration of the proposal that we just walked through is beautiful,” said Madeline Kovacs, the coordinator of Portland for Everyone, which advocates for land use policies that support affordable housing. “The Alphabet District does not call for matching details, and many changes have also been made, as we all just saw.”

Kovacs and others also noted that Portland’s affordable housing crisis makes approval of projects like this imperative.

“The size and scale of the proposed buildings have been a central issue,” said Sarah Stevenson of Innovative Housing Inc., which owns more than 1,400 apartments in Oregon and Washington. “But as a developer, I have to say that the scale of a development is often crucial to its development. Carleton Hart has been very creative while respecting and preserving this historic asset.”

Others were more blunt.

“This body has been blocking developing on this site since 2014, which is repugnant to me,” Southeast Portland resident Alan Kessler said. “There are thousands sleeping on the street at night when there could be homes here. The idea that this body, after three design reviews would say, well, French doors versus sliding doors, the pettiness of that is just incredible to me.”

Project opponents almost universally spoke about the scope and massing and how the complex would come to dominate its immediate surroundings.

“Even if it were to meet criteria to a certain extent,” said Mark Hales, who owns an investment property on Northwest Hoyt Street, “how many six- and seven-story buildings need to be put up in what is now an existing parking lot? What is the overall long-term view of that effect? I think it drastically changes the entire composition of the entire Alphabet District.”

Others warned that the affordable housing component could fly out the window if project finances fail to pencil out in the future.

“Housing affordability, first of all, is not an approval criteria; it’s aspirational,” said Dan Anderson, who lives two blocks away from the project site. “The subsidies required to deliver that outcome are not in place today. Prior applications have seen this declined by the state of Oregon. You’re being sold vaporware. You’re being set up for a bait and switch.”

Commissioners discussed the project briefly; some expressed support and others remained ambiguous.

“While I’d like to see the expression on the north side of the north building, that notch, be a little bit bigger, for me it’s sufficient and I’m willing to put my support behind what’s proposed in terms of the bulk and height,” Vice Chairwoman Kristen Minor said. “That’s also said in recognition that the project is doing a significant good thing for the neighborhood by renovating the Buck-Prager Building. For me, this is going to be a good addition to the neighborhood.”

Chairman Kirk Ranzetta and Commissioner Matthew Roman also expressed support for the proposal, while Commissioner Ernestina Fuenmayor and Commissioner Annie Mahoney remained unconvinced.

“The massing is still pretty big, pretty aggressive,” Fuenmayor said. “But maybe now the south addition looks a little more compatible as a whole. I have a mixed feeling about this.”

The Historic Landmarks Commission will revisit the project Sept. 24. At that time, any new testimony will be reviewed. There will not be any further staff or applicant presentations, however, and the next meeting will largely be confined to deliberation by the commission and potentially a vote.

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Plans for a new four-story mixed-use building in Portland’s Alphabet Historic District received praise at a Historic Landmarks Commission design advice hearing on Monday.

The Allied Works Architecture design of a building at the corner of Northwest 23rd Avenue and Glisan Street would have five residential units above 925 square feet of ground-floor retail space and eight long-term bike parking spaces.

The 1,789-square-foot site has sat vacant since a 2016 gas explosion destroyed the historic Alfred C. F. Burkhardt House.

“I think the design is amazing,” Commissioner Wendy Chung said. “It really does draw from the historic features of the neighborhood. Even though it’s clearly a modern building, it’s a perfect example of something that’s compatible but modern.”

Allied Works Architecture’s Rebecca Wood said the team was inspired by the simple masonry in the district. The project by R&A Development would feature glazed porcelain tile and painted vertical metal fins, custom twisted painted metal ornamental balconies, a painted metal canopy, painted aluminum-clad wood windows and French doors. They are also proposing to replace three trees that were destroyed in the explosion.

“I really appreciate your efforts in looking at the examples in the district and putting a modern spin on it,” Commissioner Annie Mahoney said. “Overall I think it’s a wonderful design.”

Commissioner Matthew Roman wondered if the residential windows without balconies would be too tall to fit well in the neighborhood, but others said they believed the windows would provide a nice contrast.

The proposal doesn’t request any modifications to code, which commissioners noted and appreciated. They praised the simple and clean look of the building – the balconies would be flush with the exterior walls and the building’s height would be the same as the adjacent structure.

Dan Koch of Allied Works Architecture said the team presented the proposal to the Northwest District Association’s planning committee, which liked the design.

At 45 feet tall, the building would be the maximum height allowed in the district. In a letter to commissioners, the neighborhood association stated it would like to see an increase in the building’s height of three to five feet in order to raise the level of the ground-floor retail entry to match the level of the sidewalk.

Commissioners said they would support the modification. However, Koch said the additional height would be a detriment to the overall design of the building.

“We were very intentional in trying to meet the design guidelines,” he said. “I appreciate your reasonable and thoughtful input. Now we will take that and make this better.”

Commissioners said they hope the building’s design will be an inspiration to others.

“The design and attention to detail is well appreciated,” Commission Chairman Kirk Ranzetta said. “We look forward to seeing the next iteration.”

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