Not even face coverings could hide the satisfaction of architects Don Copper and Janet Olson while crews continued to wrap up construction of the 17-story 5 MLK mixed-use building in Portland’s Central Eastside.

Copper is a managing principal and Olson is a principal with GREC Architects, a Chicago firm known for designing lakeside high-rises in the Windy City or lush, sprawling parks in far-flung places like Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. But at the east end of the Burnside Bridge, general contractor Hoffman Construction is finishing a project in a much different setting.

“This is our first project in Portland,” said Copper, who has worked with 5 MLK developer Gerding Edlen in Chicago on several occasions. “The scale of the city, the 200-foot blocks, as opposed to Chicago with its 300-by-600-foot (blocks), it’s a significant difference in how we experience a place – because with the smaller blocks, even though it’s a legitimate city, it has a really manageable scale.”

Beyond the city, Copper and Olson were inspired by the natural landscapes of the Pacific Northwest as they designed 5 MLK, which is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of East Burnside Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. There, the gleaming new building sits kitty-corner from the 21-story Yard residential tower like a massive sentinel guarding the entrance to East Portland.

“We definitely looked at things on many levels of scale,” Copper said, “but all of them in the context of Portland and the region.”

That context ranged from the region’s natural features to the bustling area.

“I’d say on the location and the site, we kind of saw what was happening here, which now has happened, and I think it’s really developed nicely,” Copper said. “(Gerding Edlen) let us run. That’s the beauty of working with them; they have … business approaches to a building and we take the creative architectural design approaches, and the two mix really well.”

5 MLK has two distinctly different faces. The northeast corner facing the Burnside/Martin Luther King Jr. intersection features the main entrance and lobby, which serves both residential and commercial tenants. The southwest corner, by contrast, is marked by a prominent sequoia tree and a rounded facade that serves to highlight the entrance to ground-floor retail spaces that front both Southeast Ankeny Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The building’s southwest corner also has on the second through sixth stories a series of terraced outdoor patio spaces.

“We came up with this concept directive that we call urban landform,” Copper said, “to try and make the building like a natural landform that sort of cascades down and has waterfalls. And having all these landscaped terraces that once the landscaping is mature, the landscaping will hopefully become as much a part of the structure as the architecture and soften the architecture.”

On the inside, 5 MLK is different from anything the firm has done before, Olson said. The goal was to start with a tree in the main lobby and adopt as many natural elements as possible. In addition, the lobby is intended to be a much more public space than those in similar buildings. Plans call for it to eventually host live musical performances and other events after the pandemic subsides.

“It really kind of is what that area of the lobby has evolved around – engagement with the tree,” Olson said as she circled the large planter.

Other natural elements in the lobby come in the form of stone-clad walls that are intended to resemble Oregon’s ubiquitous basalt columns formed by volcanic activity, as well as generous natural wood finishes and furniture. Even the carpets and furniture have circular shapes and patterns as an ode to water droplets spreading steadily outward.

“With things like this, where it’s a big statement, and it’s viewable from outside, if you’re a passerby on Burnside you can view this and feel a part of it even though you’re not inside,” Olson said. “So that, along with bringing in natural daylight.”

To that end, there’s even a lobby skylight that is both a source of light and a connection to the rest of the building.

“You can look up and see the terraces, and eventually the plantings will grow and you will see that,” she said.

Floors two through five have a combined 120,000 square feet of office space and separate amenity decks, while floors seven through 17 hold 220 residential units that range from 510 to 1,174 square feet.

The unique sixth floor has a huge array of amenities to serve both residential and business tenants. These include a large fitness center, conference rooms, classrooms and more. Another amenity space on the 17th floor offers residential tenants additional entertainment areas, as well as a small, outdoor swimming pool.

Structurally, the building bears little resemblance to those built in the Midwest, where seismic resilience isn’t as important. 5 MLK has concrete shear walls and columns.

“Where we could, we left those exposed,” Olson said. “In a handful of units we have exposed shear walls, like some in the entry, or in the bathroom, like a kind of surprise. Also, on the sixth floor it’s an element that separates two of the conference room spaces, and we’ve exposed it on both sides of that. It keeps that raw material aspect engaged.”

The building’s seismic resilience was created in an interesting manner, Copper said.

“The two elevator cores are shear walls that almost create a box,” he said. “They’re two U-shaped structures that go all the way up the building, and the elevators are inside those.”

Structural engineers with KPFF decided to link them with very large steel beams at each end, Copper added.

“In this way the core is designed to fail at a certain level of force,” he said. “There’s a lot of reinforcing steel in this building that would not be in the same building in Chicago.”

The post Natural elements bring mixed-use building to life appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Skilled craftspeople continue to swarm the 5 MLK project site in Portland even as the anticipated spring 2020 completion date approaches. Approximately 60 carpenters, all employed by framing subcontractor Performance Contracting Inc., are building interior metal framing on virtually all 17 stories and the rooftop mechanical penthouse.

The mixed-use building is coming together at 5 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., near the east end of the Burnside Bridge. Hoffman Construction is serving as the general contractor for the project, which was designed by GREC Architects of Chicago for Gerding Edlen Development.

Plans call for 220 residential units, 120,000 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of commercial space – some that will be occupied by a high-end restaurant.

Approximately five to six months of work remain, Hoffman Construction project manager Brian Reeves said.

“It will be more toward the end of April, and some work will probably spill into May,” he said.

Work is ongoing at all levels. There are Corona Steel ironworkers, Van Lom Concrete cement masons and Coffman Excavation crews working on the ground-floor restaurant space and pedestrian walkways. Meanwhile, PCI carpenters, JH Kelly plumbers, Cherry City Electric electricians and General Sheet Metal HVAC specialists are installing mechanical systems on residential floors seven through 17.

“We topped out the concrete in September,” Reeves said. “So now the facade is up with the exception of the lower level and the slab-edge covers and parapet covers.”

Floors two through five will be delivered as office shell space and are essentially complete at this stage. The sixth floor will have more office space as well as amenities for office tenants placed on a series of cascading outdoor decks that continue down through the second floor.

On the roof a large mechanical penthouse is being constructed and prepped to receive HVAC, electrical and other mechanical equipment and prefab skids to hold it all.

“We are progressing up the tower in finishes right now,” Reeves said. “So there are various levels of finishes complete. Level eight is the most complete level, and there are a few apartments that are fully completed up there.”

One unique element on the 17th floor will be an amenity deck containing depressed seating and even a swimming pool. The latter required significant structural accommodation for the 16th floor, including extra-thick concrete support beams, resulting in 16th-floor ceilings roughly five feet taller than standard. The extra height in the residential units provides a unique feel, especially because the floor-to-ceiling glazing is retained.

The building skin consists of an elaborate window wall system that provides each floor with floor-to-ceiling glazing. It uses what GREC designers call a pattern of vision glass, spandrel glass, porcelain panels in two colors, and projecting mullions. Other exterior materials include metal soffits and ground-level stone masonry planters.

With a 300-foot-tall tower crane still in place on the site, the project team has a lot to do.

“There’s still quite a bit yet, definitely,” Reeves said.

The post 5 MLK project site still a hive of activity appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The area surrounding the Burnside Bridge‘s east end has experienced a surge of new development in the past several years, and it’s not done yet.

The Burnside Bridgehead, a gateway to Portland’s inner east side, formerly was a site of urban blight. But new buildings Yard, Slate and the Fair-Haired Dumbbell have arrived. Some existing buildings in the area have received adaptive reuse projects.

Now, crews are constructing the latest addition: 5 MLK.

Designed by Chicago firm GREC Architects to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold standards, 5 MLK will feature a 17-story, U-shaped tower as well as a five-story podium structure with a landscaped courtyard inside the “U.”

Gerding Edlen is developing the project on a compact, 0.14-acre parcel at the corner of Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and East Burnside Street. The building will hold 220 residential units, 120,000 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of commercial space. There will also be 170 vehicle parking spaces in a three-level, below-grade garage.

Crews broke ground slightly more than a year ago after demolishing the century-old former Fishel’s Furniture building. The project team expects to top out the concrete structure in September, and finish in April 2020.

At present, general contractor Hoffman Construction is self-performing concrete work via subsidiary firm Hoffman Structures Inc. Crews are set to finish pouring concrete for post-tensioned slabs on the fifth floor.

“What we’re doing is trying to put these on a 10-day cycle with the concrete PT decks,” Hoffman Superintendent Lou Parker said Feb. 27 amid a morning snow flurry. “So we’re trying to pour every Thursday or Friday. We poured last Friday and this one here is supposed to pour this Friday.”

Of course, a recent outburst of winter weather managed to present challenges.

“The weather does affect us,” Parker said. “Everybody that came in today is stepping up. We put a (concrete wall form) panel in this morning early, trying to beat the wind, and they were still wrestling with it pretty good; it’s a tough day out there.”

The post Another piece of Burnside Bridgehead puzzle appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A 101-year-old building has been razed to make way for construction of a new 17-story mixed-use building at the Burnside bridgehead. NorthStar handled demolition of the former home of furniture retailer Fishels at the intersection of East Burnside Street and Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. In its place, developer Gerding Edlen is building 5 MLK, which will include 10 stories of apartments over six levels of office and amenity space, retail space and below-grade parking. The building was designed by Chicago-based GREC Architects, and Hoffman Construction is the project’s contractor.

Demolition wrapped up last week, and earthwork is set to follow. Foundation work will begin in May, and the project is slated for completion by the fourth quarter of 2019.

The post Photos: Burnside bridgehead building brought down appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

5 MLK, a mixed-use tower planned near the east end of the Burnside Bridge, received conditional approval from the Portland Design Commission on Thursday. Commissioners voted 3-0 to give a green light; Don Vallaster abstained, and David Wark, Samuel Rodriguez and Tad Savinar were not present.

“I thought you guys did a good job; it’s a great building,” Commissioner Andrew Clarke said. “It’s just a great addition to a growing cluster of buildings that is slowly forming in the neighborhood.”

Plans for Gerding Edlen‘s project at 5 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., the former site of Fishel’s Furniture, call for a 17-story building that will include 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, 220 residential units and 170 underground parking spaces.

Main conditions attached to the commission’s final approval are that planters in the lobby not become permanent and that a storefront be accessible by building patrons. Also, the vertical fins used on the building’s upper stories must match the color of the back-painted spandrel glazing used in the window wall system, and the canopy/parapet fascia at the 17th floor roof terrace must be clad with spandrel glazing that matches glazing used at the parapet of the “bridge” massing.

This was the project’s fifth appearance before the Design Commission. The final design features multiple rooftop terraces, vegetation and an open aperture between the retail and residential units to evoke a natural feeling. GREC Architects, of Chicago, is hoping that the building, along with Yard across the street, will serve to frame the Burnside Bridge and act as a gateway to the city beyond the Willamette River.

Commissioners Julie Livingston and Jessica Molinar debated much of the makeup of the entryway before giving their OK. Concerns focused on whether the design presented too many barriers to the public.

“We want there to be a very active intersection with a lot of pedestrian activity,” Livingston said. “To the extent that this interior space can really engage the urban environment that surrounds it, it will be more successful.”

Lead project architect Donald Copper, a GREC principal, said the team sought to use fixed planters with trees throughout the lobby in order to appeal to passersby. The main entry to the lobby is on the corner of Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Burnside Street.

“The original concept was tied to the natural area,” he said. “The consensus was to use a step facade to start to engage the curve.”

Commissioners said they believed that the trees combined with window screens would create a barrier to public sight and access into the structure. The compromise finally hashed out was to make the planters movable. As such, they became part of the building’s furniture and not under the commission’s purview.

“Our preference would be to have fixed planters so they could have drains,” said Kelly Saito, Gerding Edlen’s managing partner.

However, most commissioners believed that fixed planters, combined with a lobby floor lower than the sidewalk outside, wouldn’t meet the city’s design guidelines.

“I think the elevation change between the sidewalk and the floor with the planting creates a great barrier,” Livingston said. “Make the street fantastic and you can do whatever you want with the planters.”

Other smaller issues revolved around the prominence of the main entryway and the use of an open aperture.

“This entry does not seem particularly obvious or prominent,” Vallaster said.

The post 5 MLK project granted Design Commission’s OK appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.