Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals has denied an appeal of a Portland City Council decision upholding approval for an affordable housing project planned in the Alphabet District.

Plans call for construction of two new buildings – one five stories and the other a four-story addition to the existing three-story Buck-Prager Building, at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St. Combined, they would hold 148 housing units, including 48 for seniors. Northwest Housing Alternatives is developing the project.

Portland’s Historic Landmarks Commission approved the project last year, and then neighbors of the project site submitted an appeal to the City Council. It voted 4-0 against the appeal, which led resident Kenneth Dobson to appeal to LUBA.

LUBA, which hears appeals of land use decisions made by local jurisdictions, listened to that appeal in July. Then the board earlier this month upheld the City Council’s decision and rebuffed all five points of error claimed by the appellant.

In the appeal, Dobson claimed the proposed project would not be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, and the proposed height, scale and design would violate city design standards. He also claimed the city erred in allowing elimination of on-street loading space.

The board, however, did not agree.

“Petitioner has not demonstrated that the city’s interpretation of ‘compatible’ is inconsistent with the express language of HAD-3, the purpose of that design standard, or the underlying policy that provides the basis for that standard,” stated in denying the first assignment of error.

As to the second assignment of error, the decision stated, “We conclude that a reasonable person could rely on that evidence to support a finding that the development will ‘maintain the district’s architectural scale and its fine-grained pattern of development,’ as required.”

The project is being designed by Carleton Hart Architecture. Michelle Black, a principal with the firm, declined to comment on LUBA’s decision.

Dobson or another appellant may appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court. If not, the project team will be able to apply for building permits; however, there is no timeline for such action.

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The Portland City Council on Thursday denied an appeal of the Historic Landmarks Commission‘s approval of plans for a 148-unit affordable housing project in the historic Alphabet District.

The council voted 4-0 against the appeal, giving developer Northwest Housing Alternatives the go-ahead for a project involving the historic Buck-Prager Building at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St. Carleton Hart Architecture‘s design calls for renovating the existing structure to gain a four-story addition and constructing another building with five stories.

The Historic Landmarks Commission issued its approval in September. But the Northwest District Association and Portland attorney Tony Schwartz appealed that decision to the council, saying the planned development would be too large to fit the context of the surrounding neighborhood, which features 13 single-family homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On Thursday, several Alphabet District residents testified in favor of the appeal. Dan Anderson lives two blocks from the project site and said there was no guarantee the development would deliver anything other than “full frontal market-rate housing.”

“In short,” Anderson said, “we have an incompatible building that fails to deliver affordable housing.”

City commissioners, however, rejected those arguments.

“I do believe approval criteria were met; I don’t believe errors were made in the review process or if there were deviations from that process that they would have resulted in a different outcome,” Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said prior to the final vote. “Like many Portlanders, I’m overwhelmed by the rate of change in the city and I don’t like a lot of it. But in this case I actually think that this is a much more attractive new development than I have seen on our streets, and that the developer and architect have really gone to great lengths to meet the criteria.”

Carleton Hart senior associate Michelle Black is the lead designer for the project. She told commissioners that attaching a covenant guaranteeing affordable housing will hinder the developer’s ability to fully fund the project.

“I don’t know how to address all the hypotheticals you’re laying out here,” Black said. “It’s already very, very difficult to provide affordable housing, and to put anything else tied to this project makes lenders very uneasy. And, quite frankly, we need as much flexibility as possible in talking to as many lenders as possible to get this project funded.”

Funding remains the single largest hurdle in the project’s path.

In a turnabout from earlier Historic Landmarks Commission meetings, the list of people signed up to testify included twice as many project supporters as project opponents.

“Regarding scale and height, that was a unanimous decision,” Historic Landmarks Commissioner Kristen Minor told the council. “None of the commissioners had concerns overall about the scale and height, and that’s important.”

As designed by Carleton Hart, the Buck-Prager Building will be seismically enhanced and a south wing with four stories will be built and physically attached to the existing structure to provide 48 affordable units for seniors. A five-story north building will provide 100 affordable units for people making 60 percent of the regional median family income or less.

The council’s vote Thursday was tentative in nature. A final vote to uphold the decision is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 19, at Portland City Hall.

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Northwest Housing Alternatives‘ proposed 148-unit affordable housing project in the Alphabet District doesn’t quite have the green light for construction yet.

The Portland City Council later this month will hear of the planned two-building project, which earlier this year received approval from the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission.

Plans for 1727 N.W. Hoyt St. call for construction of a pair of new buildings – one five stories and the other a four-story addition to the existing three-story Buck-Prager Building. The five-story “North” building would have 100 workforce housing units, while the four-story “South” addition would combine with the existing building to provide 48 senior housing units.

Carleton Hart Architecture designed the project.

Opponents say the buildings as designed would be outsize for the neighborhood. The appeal filed on behalf of the Northwest District Association claims that criteria for approval were not met and multiple procedural errors were committed during the review process.

The City Council will hold the hearing at 2 p.m. on Nov. 29 in its chambers at 1221 S.W. Fourth Ave.

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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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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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