A 90,000-square-foot hotel is set to rise in the Pearl District‘s south end near the historic North Park Blocks.

Choice Cambria, designed by SERA Architects, was approved by the Portland Design Commission with a 3-2 vote on Thursday. Commissioners Jessica Molinar and Chandra Robinson voted against the project. Commissioner Don Vallaster was not present; he had recused himself previously due to a conflict of interest.

The six-story building will rise on a half block on Northwest Park Avenue, between Northwest Davis and Couch streets. The project is the first for Denver-based HighSide Development in the Portland market.

The design has come a long way from earlier iterations, commissioners said Thursday. A new face for the 178-room hotel was revealed – a façade of brick instead of multiple materials, above a black ground floor.

The hotel entrance will now be at the center of the building, rather than an edge, and on the northwest corner there will be a lounge lobby multiuse space where plans previously called for a meeting room. Also, a minimal massing shift on the secondary setback enabled rooms alongside the courtyard to turn into suites.

“We’ve delivered a simple, refined building that fits with the contextual character of the neighborhood,” SERA Architects principal Jeff Roberts said. “It’s simple in its geometry, but has refined details, especially at the human scale down at the street level.”

However, Molinar, Robinson and a Pearl District Neighborhood Association representative criticized the proposal. It won’t stand out in the neighborhood, they said.

“This is an adequate background building,” said David Dysert, co-chairman of the PDNA’s Planning and Transportation Committee.

Molinar added that the design neither contributes to the North Park Blocks’ diversity nor reinforces its identity.

In previous design advice hearings, commissioners had urged the project team to simplify the design. Commissioner Brian McCarter said the applicant listened and returned with a design that is calmer, with higher-grade materials.

The design “looks good,” but could be better, Robinson said.

“It just needs a little bit more … to be on the (North) Park Blocks,” she said.

The main entry, courtyard and program elements were praised by commissioners universally. But exterior elements became sticking points.

The brick appeared to be applied like a paint color, Molinar said, and McCarter was troubled by the black brick cornice dragging over into the red brick. Eventually two conditions of approval were added: 1, the color of the cornice line in the brick massing must be red instead of black, and 2, a bull-nose transition must be included between the red and black brick at the ground level.

A straw poll at the end of the discussion period revealed that Molinar and Robinson would not vote to approve the project. The Bureau of Development Services gave the applicant an option to return in one week with updated graphic renderings and potentially gain unanimous approval. Roberts indicated that he and the client would like to move the project forward. A vote was called, and Choice Cambria was approved with the two conditions attached.

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A proposed six-story hotel showed its new face to the Portland Design Commission on Thursday.

The Choice Cambria Portland would front Northwest Park Avenue, near the historic North Park Blocks, on half of a block between Northwest Davis and Couch streets. This was the second design advice hearing for the project; the first took place in August. Commissioner Don Vallaster recused himself from the hearing due to a conflict of interest.

The latest proposal from SERA Architects is better, commissioners said, but has room for improvement in how the building would relate to its surroundings.

The design team is trying to find a balance between modern expression and the Pearl District‘s urban fabric, said Jeff Roberts of SERA Architects. That was the aim of the previous proposal, but commissioners stated that it wasn’t working.

The team changed its design concept to instead embrace the trees on the North Park Blocks.

“What we looked at in detail was just the beauty and the structure of the changing seasons of the park,” Roberts said.

The form of the structure changed to a barbell, which allowed the addition of four guest rooms. Now the hotel would be 95,000 square feet and have 178 rooms.

Also, the exterior design shifted away from a dark green and tan stucco split to a brick, sandstone stucco and multicolor metal pattern envelope to represent tree bark.

However, commissioners stated it was a “fussy” number of materials.

“We go from brick, and then we set back about two feet and go to metal panels, and then we set back … maybe 10 or 12 feet,” Commissioner Brian McCarter said.

The exterior would work better with just one material, Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston noted.

“Most of the strong context buildings are 90 percent one thing,” she said.

Materials aside, the Design Commission agreed that the proposed building concept and structure layout was improved from the previous iteration.

Due to the site location on the North Park Blocks, the landscaping fronting the park was highly debated. The hotel is the first building required to respond to the new Green Loop code, which mandates a 12-foot setback along 75 percent of the property lines adjacent to it.

The purpose of the setback is to provide a greater pedestrian pathway around the Central City. However, as stated in the previous Design Commission hearing, the setback separates people from the park. A large part of the discussion on Thursday involved the kinds of trees that could go between the park and the building to enhance the environment without shadowing guest rooms.

“What’s lacking in the park and what could these setback areas provide are truly lush landscape – a truly beautiful understory,” Commissioner Zari Santner said.

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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday got its first glimpse of plans for a new hotel toward the Pearl District’s south end. Choice Cambria would be a six-story building near the historic North Park Blocks.

The hotel would occupy half of a block and front Northwest Park Avenue, between Northwest Davis and Couch streets. Two existing buildings on the site would be demolished. The new building would hold 174 guest rooms and a 1,900-square-foot space available for a tenant improvement.

Thursday’s hearing was for design advice. The applicant, Jeff Roberts of SERA Architects, filed the request on behalf of Denver-based HighSide Development. The project is the firm’s first in the Portland market.

Cambria Portland is just one of the Choice-branded hotels the developer is working on across the U.S., including downtown Los Angeles.

“Designing on the park blocks is pretty special,” Roberts said, adding that he walks through the area almost every day on his commute.

The location of the project site and its significance in proximity to the North Park Blocks held much of the design commissioners’ conversation. The blocks were some of the original park properties in the city.

While design commissioners voiced concerns about the building’s design, the significant setback drew most of the comments.

“The setback is kind of bananas,” Commissioner Chandra Robinson said.

Most of the other commissioners agreed.

The Green Loop requires a 12-foot setback along 75 percent of the property lines adjacent to it. The purpose is to provide a greater pedestrian pathway around the Central City.

However, in the case of North Park Blocks, Robinson said it devalues the park. Instead of the sidewalk and buildings pushing pedestrians closer to the park and adding to a singular experience, the setback creates separation.

The Green Loop’s setback requirement had also been debated for Block 216, which is now under construction. The setback had carved into the building’s ground floor.

The project team is seeking a modification to the setback requirement to reduce the lot line by two feet, or 74 percent. City planner Ben Nielsen advised not seeking a 100 percent reduction of the setback because that would mean completely redoing ground-floor programming.

Also, as of Thursday, the building would be split in two with a nod to the area’s history on one side and a modern exterior enveloping the remainder.

Design commissioners expressed concerns with the fusion of old and new.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Robinson said. “It doesn’t feel like it’s contextual, and it doesn’t feel like … the mix of the modern and the historic is really coming from that area.”

Design commissioners suggested the building take on an entirely historical or modern approach.

Commissioner Don Vallaster recused himself from the hearing due to a conflict of interest.

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