The Portland Design Commission on Thursday gave its first impressions of possible alternatives for Phase 2 of the Oregon Square development in the Lloyd District. In summer 2016, plans for a 325-foot tower at 827 N.E. Oregon St. was approved by the commission.

GBD Architects on Thursday presented three options for a revised tower. The first would be a shorter, 250-foot all-office tower. The second option would be a 20-story, broader office and residential tower, including six stories of offices and 14 stories with a total of 287 apartments. The third option would be an 18-story building with 10 stories of offices and eight stories with a total of 150 residential units.

All three options would include ground-floor retail space. A big difference was that two of the three would be wider than what was approved previously.
“Really we are here to explore options,” said Kyle Andersen, an architect with GBD Architects.

It’s possible that the project team may try to gain approval for an option and still not have a decision whether to include residential space, he said.

The design team and developer American Assets Trust looked for guidance from the Design Commission as to what would be palatable among the options.

“It’s a significant change – it’s a change of use, so we came in early,” Andersen said. “A lot of things are changing in the market, so we want to be a little bit nimble.”

A lot of the changes would be at the building’s edges. The all-office tower would include approximately 300,000 square feet of office space. The options that would include residential units have approximately 120,000 square feet of office space.

The third option would have a profile and floor plan closest to plans approved previously.

“By shuffling the floors we could keep the shell of the building but just space floors on the building,” Andersen said.

Commissioner Don Vallaster asked which option the developers preferred.

“The one that makes us the most money really,” said Wade Lange, regional manager for American Assets Trust.

For other developments, that has been a combination of office space and residential space.

Commissioners expressed concerns about the massing and the shading that could change. They were receptive to a broader building as an overall concept, depending on impacts on the open plaza.

“Is the bulk going to create more shaded plaza area?” Vice Chairman Tad Savinar asked.

Also on Thursday:

Block 40

The commission also got its first look at plans for Block 40, at 3714 and 3718 S.W. Macadam Ave. in the South Waterfront District. The proposed project would include two nearly identical buildings. A Spanish staircase would run between Southwest Macadam and Moody avenues, separating the buildings.

Texas-based HLR Architects‘ design for Alamo Manhattan Properties LLC calls for ground-floor retail space, 200 residential units, 240 parking spaces and a rooftop terrace in each building. Each structure would stand 250 feet and have 7,000 square feet of retail space.

The commission discussed a variety of options, including whether the buildings should be identical.

“Why are these two buildings the same?” Savinar asked. “Can you have one block treated one way and the second block treated some other way?”

Another concern among commissioners was how the building would serve as an entrance and exit to the South Waterfront.

“These elevations are extremely important because they are flanking the entrance into the South Waterfront,” Commission chairman David Wark said. “The first impression a lot of people get is going to be that first floor of your building. It has to be something that really sets the stage for the rest of the district.”

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