Demolition has begun at the site of a new 71-unit apartment complex being developed by Creston Homes in the Buckman neighborhood of Southeast Portland. designed the building. See the rendering of the finished project after the jump.

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Despite heavy criticism from neighboring residents, an 18-unit apartment building likely will replace a Northwest Portland home built more than 100 years ago.

Last May, Creston Homes and appeared before the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission to present plans for a three-story apartment project at 2124 N.W. Flanders St. The proposal faced resistance from people concerned about the potential impacts on the rest of the Alphabet Historic District.

On Monday the project team presented essentially the same proposal in a land-use hearing, and this time it is expected to win approval – as long as the design team revises its plans for windows and doors.

“I think it’s too bad,” said Donald Genasci, a member of the Northwest District Association. “They’re tearing down a building that is in the character of the neighborhood, and their proposed building will ultimately cut out a considerable amount of light from the neighbors on both sides. It doesn’t conform to city code.”

When the proposal drew opposition last year, Don Sowieja of Myhre Group Architects speculated that some of the objections were not to the specific project, but to the precedent it could set for future projects in the neighborhood.

“I believe the neighbors oppose the project because they think it will encourage more development in the district, which I believe they oppose,” Sowieja said last May.

The Alphabet Historic District has a high concentration of middle-class apartment buildings and small-scale commercial buildings constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the existing home at 2124 N.W. Flanders St., which since 2007 has been owned and rented out by Dennis Sackhoff, ‘ president and CEO, is evaluated as a “non-contributing” resource in the national register documentation for the district.

The Historic Landmarks Commission felt that proposed modifications to the district’s building setback regulation and height limit were justified, according to city planner Dave Skilton. But the planned vinyl windows and fiberglass doors raised concerns from the commission.

“The whole thing kind of hinged on the quality and appearance of the proposed windows and doors,” Skilton said. “The commission was unanimous on not wanting to approve the flatter profile windows.”

The proposed windows and doors are considered modern assemblies that would stand out inappropriately among neighboring historic homes. If the designers were to switch to traditional wooden windows and doors, or at least some visually similar to wood, then the commission would be expected to approve the project on Feb. 13.

The multifamily project is being developed by Creston Homes’ David Mullens, who is also working on the new apartment complex going up next to the Hollywood Theater. Mullens declined to comment on the Flanders Street project because of ongoing review by the Historic Landmarks Commission.

If the commission were to approve the proposal, opponents would have an opportunity to appeal.

One potential issue surrounds the existing home’s designation as “non-contributing,” according to Peggy Moretti, executive director of the Historic Preservation League of Oregon.

“In our opinion, the property should have been designated a ‘contributing’ building in the historic district, and had a little more research been done into the history and significance of the building, it would have been,” she said in a written comment to the 91��Ƶ.

However, if the building will not be rehabilitated, Moretti said the proposed infill design seems generally compatible with the HPLO’s recommendations for new construction in historic districts.

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Creston Homes is back with a proposal for an apartment building in the Alphabet District, after receiving much negative feedback on a proposal for the same site in May.

Creston Homes along with presented a 26-unit, three and a half-story apartment project at 2124 N.W. Flanders St. to the Historic Landmarks Commission in May and faced resistance from neighbors about the project’s potential effects on the Alphabet Historic District. A 116-year-old house currently sits on the site and is classified as a non-contributing resource in the district.

Creston homes filed a new land-use application with the city on Dec. 1 which was distributed as a on Dec. 19 to the neighborhood association and city agencies that might comment on the project’s likelihood to be approved.

The new project looks visually similar to the previous controversial proposal by Creston Homes, but it includes 18 instead of 26 apartment units. Like in the previous proposal, the project team is asking for variances to the site’s height and setback requirements.

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Creston Homes is planning to start construction next month on a 71-unit apartment project at Southeast 20th Avenue and Morrison Street in the Buckman neighborhood. In contrast to the company’s project it started recently near the Hollywood Theatre, the Buckman Court Apartments will be a small, infill effort.

Creston Homes project manager David Mullens said that although the market for apartments is thriving, the company is being cautious. That kind of approach makes sense, brokers say, in light of the economic collapse in the last few years.

Several of Creston Homes’ projects in the past few years – such as one at 1516 N.E. Hancock St. in the Irvington neighborhood – have simply added small pockets of density. The firm seems to have a steady stream of projects, and vacancy in the local apartment market is below 3 percent; however, Mullens chose his words carefully.

“There are some niche opportunities that have come up, but I am not ready to say that now is the time to go and build apartments,” he said. “We’re trying to do what we do and do it quietly.”

One of Mullens’ concerns is that the apartment market looks so good that it will be overbuilt by the time many new projects open. Brokers, however, say that scenario likely won’t occur.

“The concern of overbuilding is being able to have rents be viable (to cover project cost) by the time a product comes on the market,” principal broker Beth DuPont said. But “there really is a lack of strong inventory coming on the market.”

That doesn’t mean that market growth won’t make an impact, Vice President Robert Black said.

“There are a lot of proposed infill sites going through permitting on the east side. None are significant enough in size to cause an oversupply; they may just keep rental growth at bay,” Black said. “Right now rents are growing really fast.”

Creston Homes likes small parcels ready for redevelopment, Mullens said. The Hollywood Apartments are being built on a long-vacant site, and the Buckman Court Apartments will replace two duplexes and a recording studio. Neighbors are glad to see new construction, he said.

“There was a prior development attempt on the site by the prior owner, but he ran into the economic times,” Mullens said. “There are thousands of projects like that all over Portland.”

The market being targeted by Creston Homes is one that will absorb mostly one-bedroom and studio apartments approximately 300 to 500 square feet. Comparable units will be in the new Buckman Court Apartments.

“The term ‘workforce housing’ has been used over and over again,” Mullens said. “This kind of fills that gap for people that are either in health care or service positions around town. They just don’t want a big place to live.”

DuPont said that Portland’s east side is likely to gain more of these small apartments.

“I think there’s always a place in the market for a smaller infill apartment project that’s a little more recession-proof,” she said.

Creston Homes is in the process of securing demolition and construction permits for the Buckman Court Apartments project. If everything goes according to schedule, Mullens expects construction to start in late January 2012 and last for 12 to 14 months. He said Creston has some other projects in the pipeline; however, he wouldn’t discuss them.

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After a period of relative silence, a developer has broken ground for a mixed-use building next to the Hollywood Theatre in Northeast Portland.

Hollywood District business owners and historic preservationists had concerns about the project, which was proposed to include approximately 52 apartment units and no parking. A project manager said the team was concerned about a prolonged design review process, and chose to use a different process so it could build without facing potentially costly and delay-inducing appeals.

Construction of the Hollywood Apartments has “just started,” according to Creston Homes project manager David Mullens. The building, due to be completed in 14 months, will include 47 one- and two-bedroom apartments and 3,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space, Mullens said. The owner of the project is Hollywood Apartments LLC, part of , which also owns Creston Homes.

In May, the by Hollywood Theatre Executive Director Doug Whyte, who expressed concern that the new apartment building could hinder visibility of the theater’s historic marquee, particularly for people traveling on Sandy Boulevard.

Representatives of the building’s designer, , met with Hollywood Theatre and neighborhood stakeholders a few times, but those conversations stopped last spring. That’s because the project team decided to take a different avenue to secure design approval, Mullens said.

The project proposed in May called for 52 units, enough to require a loading dock, according to city code; the team was seeking a variance for that requirement. The design, as it was, also varied from design guidelines for aspects like cornices and height, Mullens said.

The team discovered that it could make changes to make the project fit “Community Design Guidelines” – an “objective set of standards,” said Bureau of Development Services spokesman Ross Caron. Those standards can substitute for design commission review in some of Portland’s design overlay zones, including the Hollywood District, Caron said. And unlike the design review process, the community design process does not allow for public appeals.

Mullens said he can’t remember exactly when the team decided to use Community Design Guidelines.

“It had a lot to do with the fact that anyone in the neighborhood could file an appeal of any decision (of the design commission), for a small fee,” he said.

Such appeals, Mullens noted, could have derailed the project.

The commission’s design review process also could have been longer, he said. And that would have made a huge difference because city building permit fees increased on July 1. Because the team applied before fees increased, Mullens estimates that it saved $56,000. The permit for construction was issued Nov. 17.

Whyte and representatives of the Hollywood Theatre stopped meeting with the apartment designers once they started pursuing the alternate review process. Whyte has not seen an updated design.

“I would have liked it if we had been in communication through the whole process,” he said.

However, Whyte did say that the theater’s major concern – visibility of the marquee – seemed to be addressed in the new design. He said he heard that the new building will “step back” from the curb near the theater, so that views will be preserved.

Whyte also said he is glad something is being developed on the long-vacant property adjacent to the theater.

“We want to work with them to see if they can get something really cool into a retail space, like a restaurant that will both benefit the theater and the restaurant,” Whyte said. “The lot has been empty for so many years; it will be nice to have some life and activity there.”

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