Foundation work is complete on the Hyatt Regency Portland at the Oregon Convention Center, a 600-room hotel in the Lloyd District. Officials expect the structure to generate additional conventions and draw more tourists to the area. Mortenson is the developer and design-builder of the $240 million project, which was designed by ESG Architects of Minneapolis. The 14-story building will have a bar, a restaurant and a ground-floor retail market, as well as 32,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting space.

Crews are setting and pouring columns, and deck forming began this week. The first elevated slab pours are expected to start in about three weeks. The 14-story tower will consist of post-tensioned concrete, while a two-story podium will be steel-framed. Work is beginning in earnest this week on the parking garage portion, which will reach six stories and have 425 stalls. The project is slated for completion in 2019.

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After more than three decades, a is coming near the Oregon Convention Center.

Arrangements for bond funding are expected to close Aug. 8, with demolition and other prep work on the site north of the convention center set to commence shortly after, said Tom Lander, executive vice president for Mortenson.

Mortenson closed on its $165 million construction loan. Regional government body Metro, which operates the convention center, is in the process of selling $60 million in bonds.

Lander expects Mortenson to hand over the property to Hyatt at the end of 2019. The hotel is scheduled to open to the public one month later.

He’s confident the firm will be able to weather the labor shortage gripping the construction industry during this period of unprecedented growth.

“Mortenson has had an office in the Northwest for more than 30 years,” he said, referring to the design-builder’s Seattle office. Mortenson opened a Portland office around six years ago.

“We have a strong presence in the Portland market. We have a strong relationship with the local unions, and we have identified our subcontractors and we feel that we are in a good position to advance the project. But it is a challenging market and it’ll be a fun build.”

The $240 million building will have 600 rooms, a market, a bar and a restaurant. The 14-story hotel will be located on two blocks just north of the Oregon Convention Center in the Lloyd District. A parking garage with 419 spaces is being developed with the help of Prosper Portland.

TriMet‘s MAX light-rail train already has a station that will be between the convention center and the 440,000-square-foot hotel.

Of the total project cost, around $170 million will be covered by Hyatt, $60 million by Metro bonds, $10 million by the Oregon Lottery and $4 million by Metro grants.

Economic development interests in the area have tried since the late 1970s to recruit a large-capacity hotel to the convention center Urban Renewal Area. The most recent effort to delay the project was a set of legal challenges by a rival developer. The matter was settled when Metro agreed to allow that developer, Gordon Sondland, to control a nearby parking structure.

Hyatt Regency Hotel

Size: 440,000 square feet

Cost: $240 million

Contractor: Mortenson

Design: ESG Architects, Mayer/Reed Landscape Architecture, Hyatt

The post Finally, huge hotel poised to rise in Lloyd District appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Portland’s hotel industry is in the midst of a booming expansion that is raising concerns that developers are arriving late to a long period of economic growth.

A Travel Portland tally of the hospitality development pipeline shows 2,728 rooms on the way. If built, the hotel developments would expand Central Portland’s room count by 35 percent by 2020 – an amount that one hotelier warns will be a “shock to the system.”

“I worry about the market’s ability to absorb the supply medium-term,” said Bashar Wali, president of Provenance Hotels, which owns several boutique hotels in Portland. “Long-term, the supply momentum is going to slow down. It doesn’t make sense anymore.”

Projects including the $50 million, 204-room AC Hotel Portland have opened in recent months, yet more hotel developers are looking to jump in with proposals that have yet to enter the city’s design review hearing process, according to stakeholders.

Brisk hospitality business in Portland is being supported by strong population and job growth. Portland hotels were 82.3 percent occupied in March, up 4.1 percent from March 2016, and 74.4 percent for the year, according to research firm STR.

As average daily rates and occupancies showed impressive strength, hotel groups began rushing into the market. National brands including Hyatt, Hampton, Hilton, Marriott and Radisson all wanted to be in Portland. That supply is on track to be added to the market in the next two to three years.

The flood of new rooms is prompting some people to question whether developers could overbuild. Already, signs suggest that some hospitality chains are looking to exit the market. The Porter Hotel, part of Hilton’s Curio brand, is on the market, Wali said. The 299-room hotel, under construction at 1355 S.W. Second Ave., hasn’t even opened.

“That was another indication that says to us the market is definitely turning,” he said.

Provenance is evaluating the offering, but so far, it has been unable to come to terms with the developer, The Widewaters Group of Syracuse, N.Y.

“I don’t know if we’ll get to where they want to get in terms of pricing,” Wali said.

The Widewaters Group did not return a message seeking comment.

Even as some companies are looking to reduce their exposure to Portland’s hotel market, others are considering getting in. Plans for an 11-story, 171-room hotel at Southwest 10th Avenue and Alder Street in downtown’s West End were revealed in April public notices. The project is from Graves Hospitality, based in Minneapolis, and design firm DLR Group‘s Portland office.

The property, home to a number of popular food carts and a surface parking lot, is owned by the Goodman family.

Benjamin Graves, president and chief operating officer of Graves Hospitality, visited Portland on Tuesday to meet with city officials, food-cart operators and others near the proposed project site.

“We’re hearing what everyone’s wants and needs are in the neighborhood, and hopefully we can do something the neighborhood can be proud of,” Graves said.

Graves said he’s interested in accommodating the food carts at Southwest 10th Avenue and Alder Street as the hotel proposal goes forward.

“That’s definitely something that we’re considering and exploring at the moment,” he said.

Graves Hospitality develops, owns and manages hotels across the country. The company works with several major hotel brands, and is a preferred developer for Moxy, a Marriott brand.

Graves said he’s interested in bringing a hotel to Portland, but the project on the Goodman family lot isn’t set yet.

“We’re just in the exploration phase, but we’re spending real time, energy and money in this process,” he said.

New projects must contend with costs for land and construction that have grown along with the economic cycle. Yet for a prospective developer such as Graves, Portland’s strong fundamentals continue to beckon, and costs remain below those for comparable West Coast markets like Seattle and San Francisco. Prices for steel, for example, have moderated and are below year-ago levels.

“From a relative perspective, if you’re looking at other markets, cost to build in Portland is still achievable,” Graves said.

Portland’s hotel development pace is similar to those in other fast-growing cities, and more growth is supportable, Graves said.

“We don’t think there’s a bubble right now,” he said. “I don’t believe Portland’s as frothy. There are markets we feel could use some breathing room – New York comes to mind.”

For developers and investors, a project’s success depends in part on when they intend to sell. Developers looking to flip a hotel project in the next few years may be in for a tough exit, Wali said.

“If you are a short-term investor for private equity, any of the traditional Wall Street investors, your hold horizon is typically three to five years,” Wali said. “We’re in the fifth, sixth year of our run. You’re now starting to come into the market. It’s going to take you two to three years to build, and if you’re going to hold for another two to three years, your contemplated sale of the asset to realize your returns is essentially at the bottom of the next cycle. If you don’t think it through that way, and your intent is to flip, you’re going to be hurt on your exit.”

Graves Hospitality holds its properties for five to 25 years, Graves said.

“It really is just a function of market conditions, our partner and how we feel about the marketplace itself,” he said.

Another new proposal calls for demolishing an existing quarter-block building at 600 S.W. Fourth Ave. to construct a 15-story, 215-room hotel. SERA Architects was listed as the applicant for an early assistance meeting, but the meeting was canceled. The identity of the developer was not listed, and the architect did not return a message seeking comment.

By far the largest hotel in the pipeline is the Hyatt Regency due to be built near the Oregon Convention Center. The hotel, expected to open in late 2019, will bring 600 rooms to market. How that hotel will affect others is among the most important questions looming over the local hospitality industry.

The Hyatt Regency may draw primarily from special events held at the Convention Center and nearby Rose Quarter. Only time will tell if the hotel creates its own demand, or as Graves said, “if it’s just going to suck demand from the existing hotels.”

Airbnb and competing services add another wrinkle.

“Airbnb is essentially the equivalent of an 1,800-room hotel in the market, day in and day out, competing with us,” Wali said. “Anyone who thinks Airbnb is going away has their head in the sand, because they’re not going away.”

In today’s hotel market, local and national developers alike are pushing boutique brands.

Provenance is expanding downtown with construction of the Woodlark Hotel at Southwest Ninth Avenue and Alder Street and a renovation and rebrand of the Westin, built in 1998 at 750 S.W. Alder St., into a new offering called Dossier.

Woodlark construction has been slowed by issues in the historic buildings. The project combines the Cornelius Hotel, built in 1908, and the Woodlark Building, an office and retail building built in 1912.

“It would be a lot easier if it were ground-up (construction), but that’s not what we do,” Wali said.

The Woodlark is now on track to open in spring 2018. The hotel will offer 150 rooms and an East Texas-meets-Portland restaurant from Doug Adams, the chef at the well-regarded Imperial restaurant in Provenance’s Hotel Lucia. Another bar is also planned.

Dossier will relaunch in August with 205 rooms.

Hotel developers are focused anew on drawing in customers with attractive lobbies, restaurants and other ground-floor amenities as distinguishable features.

“I can’t tell you that the guest room at my hotel is better than the guest room at the Hampton Inn,” Wali said. “Everybody has a comfortable bed and great Wi-Fi and a great shower. We think what really creates the experience now is it’s all about the public spaces, the social spaces, the restaurant, the bar. We’re spending a lot of money, focus and effort on those to give a true Portland experience, elevated.”

The post Checking in: more hotels on the way appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

In 2017, Portland is poised to be the city that works on parking garages.

The city is preparing to spend tens of millions of dollars on parking even as it pursues goals to fight climate change and promote dense, walkable neighborhoods.

The moves by the Portland Development Commission and the Portland Bureau of Transportation are prompting new criticism from a coalition of activists and armchair urban planners who are pushing a future for central Portland that is less reliant on cars.

The PDC is working with Mortenson Development to build a $20 million, 425-stall parking garage adjacent to the Hyatt Regency hotel, which crews are expected to start building near the Oregon Convention Center in June. Meanwhile, in a previously unreported move, the PDC is in discussions with Guardian Real Estate Services to buy the parking portion of the proposed Block 33 mixed-use building in Old Town Chinatown for an as-yet-undisclosed sum, and then lease it back to the developer.

Also, the Portland Bureau of Transportation and the PDC are moving forward on plans to renovate the city’s towering parking garage between Southwest Ninth and 10th avenues and Morrison and Yamhill streets.

Taken together, the plans indicate the city wants to grow central Portland’s parking stock alongside the extensive parking construction planned by private developers.

The public parking garage spending comes as the city promotes other initiatives, from the streetcar to Biketown to the $135 million vehicle-free Tilikum Crossing, to get residents and visitors out of their cars and on their feet or into public transit vehicles or onto bikes.

The largest parking project on the boards is Mortenson‘s $25.9 million deal with the PDC to build the parking garage at the Hyatt Regency hotel near the Oregon Convention Center. Critics of new parking say it’s a risky long-term deal.

PDC documents show the hotel would use 375 stalls, with the other 50 stalls to eventually be sold to TriMet. The garage would bring in approximately $1.8 million in annual net operating income, according to the agency.

Tony Jordan, a Portland activist who founded the anti-parking group PDX Shoupistas, said he’s skeptical that the garage will meet projections given the rise of ride-share platforms such as Uber and the proliferation of do-it-yourself lodging like Airbnb.

“If this garage next to the Hyatt is such a good deal, why isn’t Hyatt doing it?” said Jordan, whose group is named for Donald Shoup, an influential urban planner.

“You have a building that’s going to be around for a long time, that PDC is going to pay for for a long time, that’s going to exist in a very different transportation environment,” he said. “All of these factors conspire to say that this garage is not going to be full in 2025.”

A PDC spokesman said that without the garage, the Hyatt Regency hotel – a long-planned anchor for the Lloyd District – would not be built.

“The project doesn’t move forward without the garage,” PDC spokesman Shawn Uhlman said. “Fundamentally, this is part and parcel to that.”

The garage is to be constructed with further development of the site in mind. A 100,000-square-foot office building on top of the garage would help increase density and activity, including along the MAX light-rail line, and increase property tax revenues, according to the agency.

The Hyatt Regency is expected to bring in $600 million in tourism spending each year and millions of dollars more in tax revenue. The hotel could also give Portland enough capacity to host big events such as an NBA All-Star game.

“It’s a 600-room hotel,” Uhlman said. “That’s a really big number of guests. It’s pretty difficult to imagine a hotel of that size without a parking operation.”

The PDC has already given Mortenson $1.2 million to design and plan for the parking garage, all of which has been spent, according to a report from the agency.

Ground is anticipated to be broken in June, and the PDC is holding ongoing meetings for interested subcontractors.

The PDC has taken note of the criticism regarding its focus on parking garage construction. The agency even posted a lengthy explanation on the frequently asked questions section of its website.

Ethan Seltzer, a Portland State University professor of urban studies and planning, said it makes sense for the city to incorporate motor vehicle parking into its plans.

“As long as there are cars in the road, there’s going to be a need to have somewhere to put them,” he said.

Yet there’s a risk that driver behavior could change so quickly in coming years that large parking garages will become relics. Urban residents are driving less, and the advent of driverless cars could dramatically change demand for parking.

“What seemed like total science fiction a few years ago is seeming like an inevitability in the next five,” Seltzer said. “If you have driverless cars, you don’t need parking structures. You don’t need parking.”

Developers are broadly supportive of more parking in Portland’s urban center.

“Parking is not a highly profitable component,” said Tom Brenneke, president of Guardian Real Estate Services. “It drives many deals forward or not. “The idea of having more parking rather than less, if the city would partner it’s just going to increase the development potential in the city.

“You need people in the core to have a successful development.”

Guardian’s development plans for Block 33 include two levels of underground parking with 200-plus spots. The site has the potential for more, Brenneke said.

“We have potential to do a third (level) and are considering that,” he said. “We would probably need a PDC-type partner if we were going to do that.”

Guardian sent a letter of intent to sell the parking to the PDC, according to the Feb. 8 document. Jordan obtained the letter via a public records request.

The deal has not been finalized, Brenneke said.

“We have no deal with PDC, but we’ve had some dialogue,” he said.

The full-block project also has to clear the Historic Landmarks Commission, which questioned the proposed height in an initial hearing.

“We’re trying to get our height issue figured out,” Brenneke said. “Our deal works at 125 feet; it doesn’t work at anything less.”

Additional parking would increase the project’s cost.

The city is also working to extend the life of existing parking garages. In February, the city submitted a design advice request to make improvements to the seven-story Smart Park garage at Southwest 10th Avenue and Yamhill Street.

The city wants to remove stairs and elevators from two corners in favor of additional retail space. Existing retail tenants have received 18 months’ eviction notice, but will be welcome to reapply for space in the building later, according to the agency.

The plan also calls for mechanical upgrades, access improvements and new canopies and solar panels. The number of parking stalls will not change.

The post City driving ahead to expand parking stock appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The Portland Development Commission has amended its development agreement with Mortenson Development for a planned parking garage to serve the new hotel near the Oregon Convention Center.

The project to build the 442-stall parking garage is now expected to cost approximately $32.2 million, up from an earlier estimate of about $25.9 million.

The garage is considered a key support project for the 600-room Hyatt Regency hotel, and will not only provide needed parking, but also serve as a steady source of revenue for the PDC. The agency estimates the garage will generate $1.85 million annually.

Construction of the hotel is expected to commence once financing is in place in June 2017. The garage project will follow.

The PDC pointed to several reasons for the 24 percent cost increase.

• Additional foundation superstructure adds $1.6 million to the building’s cost. The superstructure changes are necessary to support future development of an office building atop the parking garage, according to a PDC staff report.

Overall, the PDC is spending $3 million so that an office building can be built on the parking garage.

The design also allows TriMet to operate a ground-floor police precinct without disruption of its operations.

• TriMet’s design specifications were responsible for an estimated $2.1 million cost increase. The transit agency has asked for 19,000 square feet of commercial space and 47 secured parking spaces.

The change requires deeper excavation and more shoring than first anticipated, PDC project manager Eric Jacobson said.

The agency had earlier indicated it would need only 14,000 to 15,000 square feet. The cost increase will be passed on to TriMet.

• Changes to gain the Portland Design Commission‘s approval will add $2.3 million in development costs. These changes include adding ground-floor retail space and bicycle parking, and modifying exterior design and materials.
• Costs are projected to increase by $320,000 because of the state’s 1.5 Percent for Green Technology in Public Buildings program. PDC staff had not initially realized the garage would be subject to the program.

“We hadn’t budgeted for that in part because we don’t build and own too many buildings,” Jacobson said.

Mortenson Development is expected to deliver the hotel in mid-2019, and then the garage. Mortenson Construction is the general contractor. Both companies are part of M.A. Mortenson Co. of Minneapolis.

The parking garage would add to the PDC’s portfolio an asset that could generate revenues for other programs. Currently, the PDC owns two parking structures: Station Place Garage at Union Station and parking at the Strand condominiums in Southwest Portland, near the Willamette River.

The PDC’s board approved an amended development agreement by a unanimous vote Dec. 14.

The post Costs grow for parking garage planned near hotel appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The long-planned project to build a massive hotel near the Oregon Convention Center is close to gaining approval. But the Portland Design Commission last week had some lingering details to discuss with the design team during a two-hour meeting.

ESG Architects of Minneapolis is designing the project, which calls for a 600-room hotel and a six-story parking garage with more than 400 spaces. The development is planned for property bounded by Northeast First Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Northeast Holladay and Multnomah streets.

The design team has been very responsive to many areas of concern, city planner Tim Heron said. He plans to meet with team members several times to refine project details before the next hearing on Oct. 20, when he expects the Design Commission to give its approval.

Heron mentioned three major areas of concern: architectural coherency in response to the Lloyd District; street-level activation for both the hotel and garage along Northeast Holladay Street; and frontage and corner activation along Northeast Second Avenue.

Staffers took issue with the dark appearance of the hotel tower and need for more glazing along storefronts. They also had questions about proposed screening of the garage and street-level pedestrian coverage, as well as use of open slatting over entrances that allow for landscaping but provide no rain protection for people walking by.

Trace Jacques, a principal at ESG Architects, went over each point and explained that the color of the tower would be lightened, as requested by the Design Commission. The metal panels and glass tower will be in three shades of gray, with the darkest shade only for accents.

The metal skin will also be very bright, Jacques said, with a “very silvery, bright finish” and be made of Galvalume, a carbon steel sheet coated with aluminum-zinc alloy.

“That skin is meant to change with different atmospheric and lighting conditions, and it literally does change moment by moment,” he said. “The colors are the same, but the distribution and use are very different than it was before. The metallic finish catches light differently than just painted surfaces.”

Also, in following commissioners’ advice, Jacques said, a prominent stairwell has been moved from the garage corner so that elevator lobbies instead offer views at the corner.

The updated design also includes a new ornamental screening system for the garage and in front of the hotel’s restaurant, with more glazing added, increased retail space at the corners and intimate wood accents at entrances and portals.

One big change in the design to reflect advice of commissioners and staffers was to introduce retail space at the hotel’s southwest corner, Jacques said. The open trellis design could be closed, he added.

“It would allow for some planting below it but is at odds with this desire to have more shelter,” he said. “But it could be just clean hardscape and glazing.”

Retail space was also expanded at the northeast corner, and open bike parking was changed to a fully-enclosed retail space while the street-level generator room was dropped down one level.

The project has been through three design advice hearings and two design reviews since 2014.

Architect Paddy Tillet, a board member of the Portland chapter of the American Institute of Architects, said he has now seen the design three times and believes it has come a long way.

“The greatest challenge in working with a big building of this sort is to find an engagement between the building and the folks on the street,” he said. “The challenge of making scale work at such extremes is a great one, but what we’ve seen is a progression toward what we think is a very good solution.”

Stephanie Soden, chief of staff for Metro Council President Tom Hughes, told the commission that many public agencies – including the city, the state, Multnomah County and Metro – have invested “significant resources” to see the hotel built. It will create thousands of jobs and bring millions of tourist dollars into Portland, she said. Prompt approval is vital, she added.

“The project has experienced delays, which have increased costs,” Soden said. “Any further delays will put the project at risk, and final approval is needed as soon as possible.”

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A new 10-story office building planned in downtown now has the Portland Design Commission‘s approval, but not without regrets that the existing building on the site cannot be saved.

Demolition is looming for the 124-year-old Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple at Southwest Third Avenue and Taylor Street. The building formerly was on the city’s Historic Resource Inventory, but was removed to allow development of the new tower designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects. The Design Commission approved the project with a 3-0 vote on Thursday.

Commissioner Tad Savinar stated before the vote that he intended to abstain and wished he had done more to save the old building.

“This is a hard job, and I failed when the project came in the first time,” he said. “I think I could have done more in the interest of saving the Temple Building. If I had known then what I know now, I think we would have pushed harder. I feel that I let folks down.”

Commission Chairman David Wark hinted that he had regrets as well.

“I don’t mean to admonish, but I hope in the future in the same situation we can find a new path – it’s a very good building,” he said.

Ankrom Moisan Executive Vice President Murray Jenkins said he too was sad that the historic building couldn’t be saved, but explained that demolition is as much about risk of collapse as about the cost of a retrofit. The six-story structure is one of the tallest unreinforced masonry buildings in the city. It has multiple floor structures – some made of wood and some of steel.

“There’s a risk of actually doing construction to save it,” he said. “We’ve tried for a year to save it. We wanted to make sure it wouldn’t bring down the adjacent development.”

The Temple Building was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style by Justus F. Krumbein, who was the architect of Oregon’s second state capitol building. Restore Oregon, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving historic places, led the charge to save the Temple Building.

Peggy Moretti, Restore Oregon’s executive director, testified before the Design Commission in August that the building is a “prominent resource” and that the design of its replacement “does not accomplish the goal of creating a new landmark.” Restore Oregon board member Matthew Davis repeated that message to the commission on Thursday.

“It is supposed to be replaced by a landmark, but I’m not seeing a future landmark in these latest designs,” he said. “We are asking you to deny the project.”

Downtown Neighborhood Association board member Grant Higginson agreed. He cited the restoration of the Brewery Blocks as an example of retaining historic character, and said the new office building design doesn’t meet that standard.

“City guidelines say to preserve, and the current proposal preserves nothing,” he said.

Although demolition of the Temple Building was a foregone conclusion, according to Jenkins, the design team plans to contact the Bosco-Milligan Foundation to determine which items can be salvaged. The plan is to create an inventory of reusable pieces.

Once discussion turned to the new building, it became clear that commissioners were pleased with the way the design team had responded to their suggestions.

Michael Great, managing principal at Ankrom Moisan, told commissioners he agreed with their previous comments that the first design had “too much architecture for a half-block.” So, the team moved the loading zone and garage entrance from Southwest Third Avenue to Second Avenue, and recessed the northeast corner to direct more attention to the historic Auditorium Building next door.

“We want to let it be the star of Third Avenue,” he said.

Frameless glass retail entries at the ground level will give emphasis to what’s happening on the inside, Great said. Instead of being offset, the two-story glazed main entrance will be centered in the middle of the block of Taylor Street, with a secondary entrance nearby leading to 100 bike spaces.

The new design also pushed back the 10th floor to make room for a rooftop terrace at the ninth level at the southeast corner.

Commissioners praised the updated design.

“I like the way it defers to the Auditorium Building, and the notch at the northeast corner is a nice move, and I like the way you moved the entrance,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said.

Commissioner Andrew Clarke agreed and said he was glad the new design moved the loading docks.

“The (loss of) the Temple is a little disappointing, but I like the (new) building,” he said.

Commissioner Julie Livingston said she liked the way terra cotta accents were pulled down to grade, and Commissioner Jessica Molinar said she appreciated that the new design now has canopies all the way around for pedestrians.

“That’s great and I don’t find any issues that don’t comply with (city design) guidelines,” Molinar said.

Clarke, Livingston and Molinar voted to approve the design, while Savinar and Wark abstained.

Also on Thursday, the Design Commission reviewed:

Headquarters hotel

The first request for design advice for a new, massive hotel near the Oregon Convention Center was issued two years ago. As such, Thursday’s hearing was expected to be “more like a design advice request hearing,” city planner Tim Heron said in his report on the project.

Now, the design should have a better chance of gaining approval when it comes back before the commission in a few weeks, Heron said.

“We hope to have a really successful Oct. 20 hearing,” he said.

The 14-story, 600-room hotel will be on a superblock, Heron said. On the block next to it, a six-story garage will hold more than 400 parking spaces.

Design commissioners and the applicant, ESG Architects of Minneapolis, spent two hours discussing staff concerns. Among them were unresolved issues involving architectural coherency in respect to the Lloyd District as well as activation of ground floors and corners.

Southwest 11th Avenue and Alder Street hotel

A 15-story, 220-room hotel is proposed for the corner of Southwest Alder and 11th Avenue in Portland’s West End. A design advice hearing had not been requested for this project, city planner Grace Jeffreys said, and Thursday’s hearing was its first design review.

The building is designed by SERA Architects to reach a height of 150 feet. City staffers have several concerns, Jeffreys said, about the design and quantity of canopies, the quantity of columns, other details such as ground-floor setbacks and accessibility of the hotel restaurant’s entrance to disabled individuals.

The project is scheduled to return for a second design review on Nov. 17.

The post Farewell, Temple building; hello, office tower appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Two significant projects planned in Portland, vastly different in scale, are on track to move forward soon.

The Portland Design Commission on Thursday spent about an hour discussing plans for the 11-story Framework tower, which is expected to be the tallest building in the country constructed with cross-laminated timber – a product popular in Europe, but relatively new as a building material in the U.S.

Then for the next several hours, commissioners discussed design details for the long-awaited Hyatt Regency hotel near the Oregon Convention Center. The two-block development will include a 600-room hotel next to a seven-story parking garage.

Framework tower

Although a few citizens on Thursday objected that the Framework tower planned at 430 N.W. 10th Ave. will not reflect the Pearl District’s industrial past, commissioners unanimously praised its design and assured approval at its next review set for Sept. 8.

During the public comment period, Pearl District resident Curt Jennewine said he had 78 signatures on a petition complaining that the building would not meet design guidelines for the former historic warehouse district.

“It will set precedence and erode the character,” he said.

But Kate Washington and Nolan Lienhart of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association praised the project because it will include affordable housing and increase neighborhood diversity.

Washington said the association’s planning committee voted to support the design, and she doesn’t believe that all new buildings in the Pearl District must reflect the history of the neighborhood. Lienhart agreed.

“I don’t agree with the notion that all buildings should reflect the warehouse design, which can be pretty dark and heavy,” he said.

This was the second design review for the Framework tower, and only a few issues remained to be resolved, city planner Grace Jeffreys said. They included location and depth of canopies, a lighting change on the second-floor terrace, covering of the generator exhaust and the design of the service area on Northwest Glisan Street.

After brief discussions about each issue, all were resolved and commissioners indicated that final approval would be granted at the next hearing.

Although CLT is relatively new to the building industry in the U.S. and called unsafe by the concrete industry, design commissioners have praised it as a welcome building product.

“I think it’s an extraordinary design and I could care less that it’s timber,” Commissioner Tad Savinar said. “The structure is exposed with a wonderful feeling of modern and old-timeyness and is a fantastic addition to the neighborhood.”

The Framework tower, designed by a Lever Architecture team led by Thomas Robinson, won a competition to receive half of a $3 million prize from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use CLT “to construct lighter-weight, more energy-efficient, tall buildings.”

The developer is Project^ and the building will include street-level retail space, office space, workforce housing and community space.

Hyatt Regency hotel

The commission’s discussion of problem areas with for the Hyatt Regency hotel near the Oregon Convention Center was more lengthy and in-depth.

Prior to Thursday, the project had received three design advice hearings dating back to September 2014. The first application was submitted in December 2015 and a revised application was submitted in June.

The project site, immediately north of the Oregon Convention Center, is bounded by Northeast Holladay Street, First Avenue, Multnomah Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The hotel will be 14 stories with 600 rooms atop a three-story podium with a 32,000-square-foot ballroom and meeting space, a 24-hour market and a fitness center.

The parking garage will house 419 spaces for guests and 25 for retail use. The building will also hold bike parking – including rental, storage and repair space. Plans call for future development of the garage to include adding floors for office space.

Located in the Central City commercial district with design overlay designation, the hotel will be 180 feet, six inches tall with a floor area ratio of 12:1 with a 3:1 bonus allowed. Mortenson Construction‘s Portland office is working with Hyatt Hotels Corp. as developer for the Metro-owned project. ESG Architects of Minneapolis is designing the hotel and garage.

City planner Tim Heron initially outlined 13 different issues that city staff identified for the hotel and garage within three areas where design guidelines had not yet been met: architectural coherency and contextual response to the Lloyd District, active floor use on Northeast Holladay Street and corner activation at Northeast Second Avenue.

Scott Cruickshank, executive director of the Oregon Convention Center, told commissioners the $240 million project is being funded by between $165 million and $170 million from the Hyatt Regency Corp., $60 million from Metro bonds, $10 million from the Oregon Lottery and $4 million in Metro grants.

Ideally, construction should start in early 2017, Cruickshank said, with Design Commission approval being granted before the end of the year.

“The only thing that could stop (the project) now is delays,” he said.

After a lengthy discussion of all the issues by commissioners, Heron suggested that the project come back for a “soft” hearing on Sept. 29 to accelerate the process.

“It would be more of a work session,” he said, suggesting that Design Commission approval come in the following design review meeting.

“One more hearing and we’re done,” he said.

Although every month that approval is delayed costs about $1 million, said Trace Jacques, vice president and design principal at ESG Architects, he agreed with the timeline.

“I think that’s a wise course,” he said. “Time is of the essence, but we want to make the best use of it we can.”

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Metro officials and a group opposing the proposed 600-room Hyatt hotel at the Oregon Convention Center said Friday they have reached a legal settlement.

Gordon Sondland of Aspen Lodging Group had challenged the project, including Metro‘s plan to issue $60 million in bonds to help pay for construction of the $212 million hotel.

The two sides reached agreement to dismiss ongoing lawsuits and avoid future legal challenges.

The agreement clears the way for the Hyatt Regency, which is slated to begin construction later this year. It will be located north of the Convention Center and is expected to open in late 2018.

Minneapolis-based M.A. Mortenson Co. is the builder on the project.

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The headquarters hotel planned near the Oregon Convention Center is one of many either in development or under construction in the Portland-metro area.

Competing hotel developers said at an industry forum Thursday that they support the proposed 600-room Hyatt hotel near the Oregon Convention Center.

Homer Williams, chairman of Williams & Dame, said the hotel could help revitalize the Lloyd District.

“If they do a good job at the street level, it will be additive” to the neighborhood, he said. “If not, it will be an island.”

The Hyatt project has attracted critics, most prominently hotelier Gordon Sondland, who objected to Metro’s role. Metro plans to issue $60 million in bonds to support construction of the $212 million project; they will be repaid by lodgers’ tax revenues.

Sondland and Metro officials announced Friday that they have reached a legal settlement to dismiss pending lawsuits challenging the project, and to avoid future legal action.

The agreement clears the way for construction of the Hyatt Regency to begin later this year. It’s expected to open in 2018.

Kimo Bertram, the San Francisco-based vice president of development for Hyatt, said the project is supported by “three pillars” – a strong base of corporate business travelers, positive expectations for the Oregon Convention Center and a steady supply of leisure travelers looking for “Portland authenticity.”

The comments came at a breakfast hosted by NAIOP, a commercial real estate development association, at the Multnomah Athletic Club.

Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction is the builder for the headquarters hotel, as the project is known. Mortenson also is developing the AC Hotel Portland at Southwest Third Avenue and Taylor Street, and a 15-story hotel at 619 S.W. 11th Ave.

Nate Gundrum, Mortenson’s director of real estate development, said the company isn’t concerned that the rush of development will exceed demand.

“We’re not afraid of new supply,” he said.

The Hyatt is only one of many hotel projects slated for construction this year. High occupancy rates and strong revenues are encouraging new development.

Portland hotels enjoyed approximately 80 percent occupancy and $200 average room rates in 2015, exceeding the national averages of 65 percent occupancy and $125 room rates, said Kasia Russell, managing director for HVS Consulting and Valuation in Portland.

Demand was even stronger in summer, when local occupancy rates push up to 95 percent, she said.

While downtown is the hottest market for hotel developers, Washington County is also attracting interest. Russell said she’s tracking 12 projects there that would total 900 rooms.

That wave will be the first new hotel inventory for the southwest suburban county since 2006, Russell said.

“That’s where we see all the employment growth and the residential growth, so it makes sense that’s where we see hotels coming online,” she said.

Developers also discussed what they see as a high cost to win approval for Portland projects. Gundrum said it cost $2 million to move forward with AC Hotel Portland, while a similar project in Minneapolis incurred only $800,000 in predevelopment costs.

“The influence of neighborhood groups and the Design Commission (in Portland) is pretty high,” Gundrum said.

Williams, a prominent developer of the South Waterfront District and the Pearl District, said developing in Portland is worth the price tag.

“It’s a price most developers are willing to pay,” he said. “The bigger issue might be time.”

Hotel development also tends to be more volatile and prone to cyclical downturns than are the residential and commercial sectors, said William Balinbin, vice president of acquisitions at Denver’s Sage Hospitality.

“The moment there is a disaster somewhere in the world, the moment there is a terrorist attack, we are empty,” he said. “And it hurts.”

Several participants said too few new hotel rooms will come online this year to significantly affect room rates and occupancy. The developers and analysts said the hotels under development won’t change the market dynamics until 2017 or ’18.

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