A proposal for an eight-story, 134,000-square-foot office building in the East Portland Grand Avenue Historic District drew criticism from the Historic Landmarks Commission on Monday for overall excessive size and scale.

The structure would be built on a half-block parcel fronting Southeast Grand Avenue between Ash and Pine streets. But with many of the surrounding buildings in the historic district rising only three or four stories, commissioners expressed concern at a design advice hearing that the new building would simply overwhelm everything around it.

“My understanding of this district is certainly some degree of differentiation is OK,” Historic Landmarks Commission Chairwoman Kristen Minor said. “But right now this scheme is too much; it feels like too much mass. And when you look at all the examples, the buildings that are contributing to the district are generally one to four stories.”

TVA Architects is designing the project for Sturgeon Development Partners. As submitted, the building would feature glulam columns and beams and cross-laminated timber panels on the interior. Precast concrete panels would clad the exterior in a similar manner as the Weatherly Building and other contributing historic buildings in the district.

Bob Thompson, a principal with TVA Architects, told commissioners that when it comes to context, the most important thing to consider is what will happen in the district in years ahead.

“You’re going to see development in this area over the next 15 years like you’ve never seen before,” he said. “We’re looking at it beyond what it is today. If we can work within the framework we’re talking about, I think you’ll be happy with how we incorporate this constructive feedback we’ve gotten today.”

On top of the building’s massing and scale, however, concerns also were raised about the so-called wedding cake architectural style that calls for a distinct base, midsection and top. While this is a common way buildings in this district are delineated, commissioners noted that the proposal for the new building could go further.

“I do think the idea of having a two-story base has been done in this building,” Minor said. “The Weatherly (Building) has a really explicit two-story base to it and the thing that building does is that there is a very clear distinction between the pattern of openings and the entire fenestration pattern at the base at the Weatherly.”

Commissioners expressed strong support for the use of CLT and exposed glulam beams and columns, as well as a generally open feel with large window openings to provide transparency and show off the natural wood finishes.

But that same aesthetic interest also contrasts with the historic aspects of the surrounding buildings and the district as a whole.

“I don’t mind concrete as a material, and look at the Weatherly Building – it is one that has painted concrete,” Minor said. “But there are so many fine details that really add to that building that need to be brought into this building. I’m with you, Commissioner (Maya) Foty, in that I do want to see the CLT construction here; I think it’s inherently beautiful. But also I think it’s going to be tough to have a building that has this degree of openness all the way up. It makes it hard to fit in.”

The project proposal is expected to change before it is submitted for design review.

“I think most commissioners might be amenable to seeing this building at this scale,” Minor said. “But I just think that the response to how this building must shift must change volumetrically.”

Foty agreed.

“It would be easier if it was a little shorter to blend in,” she said. “For me, personally, I really need conviction that it will fit in this neighborhood. But I’d be willing to review it at the same height.”

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Another project featuring cross-laminated timber will soon go before the Portland Bureau of Development Services for evaluation.

A pre-application conference for an eight-story, 144,000-square-foot mixed-use building in the East Portland Grand Avenue Historic District is scheduled for Jan. 9. Applicants from TVA Architects will outline plans for the project, which is being developed in an opportunity zone by Sturgeon Development Partners.

The property, at 236 S.E. Grand Ave., is half of a block bordered by Southeast Grand and Sixth avenues and Southeast Ash and Pine streets.

“It’s a really well-located site and a neighborhood that’s transitional,” said TMT Development CEO Vanessa Sturgeon, whose firm purchased the parcel in September for $3.55 million. “The property is currently underutilized, so we’re looking forward to being part of the neighborhood transformation.”

“It’s going to be an office building with retail on the ground floor,” Sturgeon said. “The retail is necessary to serve the office tenants. The tenants really like to have places to eat and services that are walkable, so this is contributing to all that.”

TVA Architects principal Robert Thompson is the project’s design architect.

“We’re going to be going after the creative workforce market,” he said. “So, the building is going to be a combination of exposed concrete structural framework vertically in terms of the core and perimeter columns, and all interior floors will be glulam beams and cross-laminated-timber floor panels; it will be beautiful.”

The project’s location will require review by the Historic Landmarks Commission.

“The building will honor and respect the character and the massing – the overall look and feel – of the historic buildings that make up the Grand Avenue Historic District,” Thompson said. “But at the same time we’re putting forward a more contemporary, modern interpretation of that look.”

Two exterior cladding options are being considered: brick masonry and an architectural precast concrete skin. Thompson said the design team like the idea of using fiber-cement panels as an accent.

“We’re evaluating the options,” he said. “But we’re leaning heavily toward the precast option, which is in concert with a lot of buildings not only in the Grand Avenue district but also the inner southeast industrial district.”

Generous amounts of glazing will further serve two purposes.

“We’re looking at a lot of large windows to express the retail to the public and the timber structure of the building, so it will be perceived as a very warm, progressive workplace,” Thompson said. “Our plan is to get under construction within this calendar year – in the fall of 2020 – and be under way with the project.”

Sturgeon said the use of cross-laminated timber is more than just a passing fad.

“Part of it is the sustainability,” she said. “And frankly, we just really like the look of the product – it’s beautiful. In Oregon we’re on the cutting edge of sustainability, so we’re looking to push the envelope and go eight stories instead of six through some new developments in the technology.”

Building industry fears about shortages of cross-laminated timber panels are not influencing this project, Thompson said.

“It’s not an ongoing concern,” he said. “But it’s what’s current, it’s what people like right now, and it creates a unique, warm, inviting environment to work in. Timber is one of our great resources, and Portland is leading this industry at a national level.”

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