By Amanda O’Brien
Wealth of Geeks

The volume of hotel rooms currently being built in the United States hit its highest level in 16 months, according to .

While globally, the real estate information and analytics company finds hotel construction has dropped or leveled off, the U.S. has more than 157,000 rooms under construction, and another 600,000 in the planning stages.

Even though numbers have not fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels (the U.S. peaked at 220,000 new rooms opened in April 2020), they demonstrate strong demand despite the headwinds of inflation and high interest rates.

U.S. cities leading the hotel growth

According to a recent Lodging Econometrics report, Dallas dominated the U.S. charge with 22,392 rooms in the works. It’s the fastest-growing metro area in the U.S., and there are 189 new projects on the horizon.

Dallas is followed by Atlanta, the third-fastest growing metro area in the U.S., which has 159 new projects planned, comprised of 18,522 rooms.

California’s Inland Empire set a new record with 124 projects and 12,569 rooms. Luxury, extended-stay, and residential hotels are anchoring the growth, as well as an influx of new hotels designed for large gatherings.

Luxe residential hotel developments on the rise

The Auberge Resorts Collection will open The Knox in Dallas in 2026. This boutique 5-star hotel, billed as a high-end retreat in the heart of the ritzy Knox Street area, will feature 140 rooms, 48 private residences, and over 3 acres of retail and dining along the popular Katy Trail.

One of the most anticipated new hotels in the U.S. is the $750 million Four Seasons Turtle Creek. It is expected to open in 2027 with 230 rooms, including 118 private homes. At 35 stories, it will be the tallest building in Turtle Creek and alter the Dallas skyline. Conceptual designs show culinary reasons to take note of its development. The hotel will house Zuma, a multiple award-winning Japanese restaurant with 14 locations globally.

From the AIC Hotel Group — chef Nobu Matsuhisa, actor Robert De Niro and producer Meir Teper — Nobu is set to open a hotel near Orlando’s theme parks in 2026 with an estimated $75 million price tag. It will offer 300 rooms, including eight villas and 50 residences.

Further west, Grand Hyatt Deer Valley is slated to open in late 2024 in Park City, Utah. As part of Deer Valley Resort’s expansion, the hotel will coincide with the addition of 16 new ski lifts and a 10-passenger gondola. The largest hotel under construction in Utah, the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley will feature 442 rooms and 55 private residences.

A prospective Ritz-Carleton project in Nashville has stalled, but other high-end offerings still make headlines. The St. Regis Hotel and Residences is expected to break ground downtown in 2025. Early plans show the building will be 39 floors, with 177 hotel rooms and 111 on site residences, as well as a fine dining restaurant and a full-service spa.

The boutique hotel boom

The Joie de vivre (JdV) by Hyatt recently announced it will build the $30 million, 125-key Chambray Hotel in the suburb of Roswell, Georgia, designed to honor the area’s milling past. It’s set to be a 5-story mixed-used building and should be completed by 2025. Hyatt plans to include a ground-level restaurant by Atlanta’s Indigo Group, a rooftop café, a 24-hour market, a fitness center and meeting space.

The recently completed Forth Atlanta, a $150-million, 196-room, 16-floor luxury boutique hotel development, opened this summer in Atlanta’s historic Fourth Ward neighborhood. Thirty-nine of its rooms are designed for extended stays. The hotel will also house a member-only club and four restaurants.

New York’s hotel scene is never dull, and there are a few buzzy properties in the works. The little-known Marin Architects, under the H Hotel LLC, are building the 42-story tower with 173 luxury guest suites off 39th Street, overlooking Bryant Park, for mid-2025 completion. The building will have a presence on the park’s iconic skyline, featuring an up-lit cantilevered cap and rooftop bar. Down below, there are plans for restaurants and an outdoor plaza.

The Chloe Nashville is an upcoming boutique hotel set to open in late 2024 in Hillsboro Village, just south of Music Row. It will be an intimate property with just 19 guestrooms in two historic Craftsman-style homes, along with a newly constructed third building that will add ten more guestrooms, a restaurant kitchen, and an outdoor pool bar.

New hotels catering to gatherings

In downtown Atlanta, the $155 million Anthem boutique hotel is expected to open in 2025 with 292 rooms as part of the Centennial Yards mixed-used development. Located across the street from Merecedez-Benz Stadium, it will open in time for Atlanta to host several World Cup games.

The largest new project set to open is Marriott’s 1,600-room Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center in Chula Vista, California. Expected to open in Spring 2025, it is a few miles from downtown San Diego and includes nearly 500,000 feet of indoor and outdoor meeting spaces.

The VAI Resort in Glendale, Arizona, with 1,100 rooms, is the second-largest U.S. hotel under construction and is set to open in phases starting in 2025. The $1 billion, 60-acre resort will be the largest in Arizona. It will feature four towers, a $40 million, 360-degree concert stage, and a 52,000-square-foot party island in a 6-acre lagoon. Located across from the soon-to-open Mattel Adventure Park, it aims to attract both locals and families.

This article was produced by Media Decision and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.

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Prosper Portland‘s board agreed last week to sell 3 acres to Mortenson Development for a hotel near Portland International Airport.

The parcel at Cascade Station would be home to a 200-room midrise hotel to serve business travelers and visitors flying through PDX.

The final purchase price will be approximately $1.57 million, depending on the final size of the acreage sold, according to a staff report. Any additional land needed for the project will be charged at $12 per square foot, or the final appraised price, whichever is greater.

Prosper Portland has sold off 13 acres at Cascade Station during the past six years for government and corporate offices and a hotel.

Mortenson officials said the airport market is underserved for hotels, particularly at a higher price point.

“We feel it’s a great market for a hotel,” said Brian Gunn, real estate development specialist for Mortenson. “It’s well-suited for it.”

Growth at Cascade Station has added amenities that draw in visitors, Gunn said.

Mortenson has a hotel operator in mind, but has not finalized the deal, said Dan Mehls, vice president and general manager for Mortenson in Portland.

Cascade Station, off of Airport Way, has several big-box stores, including an Ikea, and chain restaurants such as Buffalo Wild Wings. The area’s hotels include Hyatt Place, Residence Inn by Marriott and Aloft, a brand owned by Marriott International Inc. A Holiday Inn Express is under construction.

The FBI also has its local headquarters at Cascade Station in a 121,000-square-foot office building.

Mortenson is also the developer of the 600-room Hyatt Regency at Oregon Convention Center that broke ground last week and an associated parking garage. The Minneapolis-based company previously developed the $50 million, 204-room AC Hotel in downtown Portland.

Developers have rushed into Portland’s hospitality market. Travel Portland, a tourism organization, is tracking 2,728 rooms in the development pipeline.

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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.”

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Greystar, a major development and property management firm based in Charleston, South Carolina, is the developer behind a proposed 30-story tower at Southwest Fourth and Washington Street in downtown Portland.

“We’re looking at a tower that will have a residential, hotel and retail component,” said Brad Schnell, managing director of development for Greystar’s Portland office.

The property, as proposed in a pre-application notice, would include 300 to 350 residential units and five floors of underground parking.

The hotel brand is to be determined, Schnell said. The tower will also likely feature a ground-floor restaurant.

“It’s an evolving neighborhood, and we’re going to work to showcase the food scene, the tech scene,” Schnell said. He noted the property is near the future James Beard Market and the thriving Pine Street Market.

The property at 401-419 SW Washington St. is owned by Menashe Properties. Greystar has the property under contract, but the purchase has not closed, Schnell said. Neither side would disclose the purchase price.

Greystar has developed projects throughout the nation, but nothing of significant scale in Portland. “We’ve bought a number of deals here,” Schnell said. “This is our first big development deal here.”

Greystar is also a major owner of apartment rental properties. Nationally, the company has more than 400,000 multifamily units under management and a domestic development pipeline of $1.4 billion.

Julie Bronder of ZGF Architects is listed on the application for the Washington Street project. ZGF has designed other recently built Portland towers, including Park Avenue West and Indigo at Twelve West.

Schnell said ZGF is “probably the foremost architect” for this type of project. “Greystar is always looking to push the design envelope,” he said.

Menashe Properties purchased the Washington Center building in 2014 for $9 million. Jordan Menashe said he and his father, Barry, purchased the property “with a lot of hair on it” – including existing tenants and other complexities – but also strong potential.

“Barry had the eye for it, and we still believe today, it’s one of the best pieces in Portland for what and how big you can develop, and where it is coming off of the Morrison Bridge,” Jordan Menashe said.

The property was recently the site of a temporary homeless shelter in a deal struck between the Menashes and Mayor Charlie Hales’ office.

Jordan Menashe said the family firm is interested in a continuing relationship with the project.

“We would welcome the opportunity to discuss a way to stay involved in the deal because we believe in Greystar and what they plan to build,” he said.

Greystar’s big move comes as other developers propose what could be some of Portland’s tallest buildings. Urban Renaissance Group has proposed building up to 29 stories at the former Oregonian Publishing blocks in Goose Hollow. A pre-application notice was published Monday for a mixed-use tower of unspecified size at Southwest 11^th Avenue and Washington Street. And the Goodman family’s Ankeny Blocks proposal calls for five towers of 460 feet each.

Schnell said the 30-story project is supported by strong population and job growth and continued low vacancy rates in downtown Portland.

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The developers who plan to create a new upscale hotel from two historic downtown buildings hope the end result will become a community gathering place.

A plan to transform the Cornelius Hotel and the Woodlark Building, on Alder Street between Park and Ninth avenues, into a 150-room “lifestyle” hotel took on new life when the property was purchased earlier this year. Provenance Hotels and NBP Capital were major investors, and development group Arthur Mutal LLC also invested in the purchase and hotel development.

Lauren Noecker Robert, a managing member of NBP Capital, said she hopes the new hotel will attract both out-of-town visitors and locals looking for a place to “hang out.”

“For a time, the Cornelius was called the House of Welcome and that resonated with us,” she said. “We haven’t decided on a name yet, but we wanted something that invokes emotion and that says anyone and everyone is welcome. We want it to be Portland’s gathering place.”

Noecker Robert said work to renovate the two old buildings will begin as soon all the required permits are obtained.

A first step was a hearing Monday before the Historic Landmarks Commission. The commission unanimously approved the plan, with a staff-recommended requirement that no more than 20 percent of the old windows would be completely replaced.

The Cornelius Hotel, built in 1908, has been closed up for a long time, Noecker Roberts said, and “needs a little more love” than the Woodlark, which was built in 1912 for commercial uses.

Bashar Wali, president of Provenance Hotels, said plans for developing the hotel include restoring the lobby of the hotel “to its original feeling and glory,” and keeping as many artifacts as possible.

“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot left to preserve, but we hope to find hidden gems,” he said. “I have done a lot of historic hotels and have seen some where sometimes the accents are cheesy.”

The design and décor of the hotel, with the theme, “the New Northwest,” will reflect the past while also looking to Portland’s future, Wali said.

“We hope to embody what the city can become, and (the hotel) will be softer and prettier than just flannel and reclaimed barn wood,” he said. “The hipsters’ moment in time has passed. Portland is more sophisticated and has outgrown the image presented by Portlandia.”

LCG Pence Construction will serve as general contractor. All work on the project will be done by local companies, Noecker Robert said.

R&A Architecture + Design handled initial design work. MCA Architects is serving as the architect of record and is overseeing design implement of the overall project. Interior design is being handled by Staicoff Design Co. of Portland.

Because the two buildings feature different types of construction, converting them into one structure won’t be a simple process, said Ted Grund, MCA Architect’s project manager. The Cornelius Hotel, built in 1906, is made of load-bearing masonry with some iron columns and beams.

“They improvisationally used iron where they didn’t want heavy columns and the rest is timber,” he said. “It has a heavy load-bearing wall that’s 21 inches thick at the bottom. In the lower levels, to have slimmer columns, they used structural steel encased in concrete.”

The Woodlark Building, on the other hand, is built entirely of reinforced concrete with steel supports.

Another challenge in joining the two buildings is their different heights. The Woodlark is nine stories; the Cornelius is seven stories.

“Every single floor is at a different height, including the ground floor and the basement,” Grund said.

The owners estimate the renovation will cost around $30 million and will take between 12 and 18 months.

According to MCA’s application to the Historic Landmarks Commission, renovation of the two buildings includes installing new wood and a metal storefront. A new “Juliet” balcony is planned at the entrance, and a new elevator penthouse and stair tower are planned for the roof of the Cornelius.

Both buildings will require new elevators and enlarged elevator shafts, which also will add to the complexity of the renovation work, Grund said.

The project’s developers are seeking tax credits for retaining the exterior historical aspects of the two buildings using original drawings by the architectural firm of Bennes, Hendricks and Tobey.

A metal and glass canopy over the sidewalk on Cornelius will be recreated. The mansard roof on the Cornelius, damaged earlier by fire, will be restored to original condition. All windows, although they will be double-paned, will be clear glass.

The new hotel will include a large restaurant and bar on the ground floor of the old Woodlark building with a sidewalk-level lunch window on Southwest Ninth Avenue. The lobby of the Cornelius portion of the building will have bar and will serve light meals throughout the day.

The new hotel will also have deluxe suites on the two top floors with two large conference spaces and meeting rooms on the basement level.

Once the new hotel is completed, it will be Provenance Hotels’ fifth property in Portland. In addition to owning the Westin Portland, the company owns and manages the Hotel Lucia, Hotel deLuxe and the Sentinel. The company also owns hotels in Seattle and Tacoma as well as Nashville.

NBP Capital currently owns more than 2,000 apartments and 400,000 square feet of commercial space in the Portland metro area.

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A hotel in the works for downtown Portland will introduce a new brand by Hilton Worldwide called the Canopy by Hilton.

With 153 rooms, the Portland Canopy Hotel by Hilton at 425 N.W. Ninth Ave. will include rooftop terraces as well as an eco-roof, according to city records. The 10-story hotel also will feature glazed brick and wood-clad columns on the ground floor.

The architect for the new hotel is ZGF Architects; general contractor is Howard S. Wright Construction.

Canopy is Hilton Hotel’s new “lifestyle brand hotel,” said Julie Bronder, associate partner at ZGF. The hotel will use local vendors for service spaces that will include a ground-level bar and restaurant that will “spill onto the sidewalk,” she said. A winter garden lounge area will be two stories high, from below-grade to ground level.

“They want to energize the neighborhood they’re in,” Bronder said.

Chris Hartson, pre-construction manager for Howard S. Wright, said each floor of the new building on the 10,000-square-foot lot will be about 8,000 square feet. Each floor will have 17 rooms.

Construction will begin in the spring of 2016, and subcontractor agreements are still being finalized, Hartson said.

The owner of the site is Menashe Commercial Properties, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s website.

The Canopy by Hilton brand was launched last year and the first location to open under that name will be Canopy Reykjavik in Iceland’s capitol city, now under construction and set to open next year.

The Portland Canopy by Hilton hotel is being developed by the Boccini/Pollin Group. The company also is building a Canopy by Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C. , which will break ground next month, said Dave Pollin, co-founder and president of Boccini/Pollin Group.

Hotels originally were designed just for sleeping, Pollin said, but the Portland Canopy by Hilton will reflect a “live, work, play” philosophy, from live music in the restaurant/bar to table tennis tables in conference rooms.

Another feature will be “transfer rooms” with lockers and showers where guests can wait before their room is ready. The lobby area will also have a glass-enclosed room where guests can hold meetings or just find some solitude.

Pollin is well acquainted with the world of hotels. He said his father, Harold Pollin, owns three hotels near the Portland airport: the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel, Hampton Inn Portland-Airport Hotel and Aloft Portland Airport Hotel.

“We are very in tune with the Portland hotel market,” he said. “My dad opened his first hotel in 1973 and we will be following the strategy of long-term commitment.”

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Corvallis may be getting a new Courtyard at the Marriott hotel, and it will overlook Riverfront Commemorative Park on the Willamette River.

The hotel will be limited to 75 feet in height and the city will also cite other conditions when developer Corvallis River Run LLC has a July 1 public hearing.

Most of the conditions required by the city are mundane adjustments to make sure the plans meet city code requirements, said Kevin Young, planning division manager for Corvallis.

“Mostly they have to do with elements of the proposal that didn’t provide enough specificity to meet all code requirements,” he said. “Weather protection on a façade is one issue, and they requested to reduce window coverage on the south side of the building.”

City staff didn’t think the number of windows should be reduced, he said, but people in a neighboring building to the south have also asked there be fewer or no windows on the south side to protect their privacy.

Young said the planning body could approve the request for development at its meeting or bring it back for a second reading next week.

It’s not the first time someone has tried to build a hotel on the 0.71-acre lot at 115 S.W. First St. The city turned down a request to build a Hyatt Place hotel in July of last year, Young said. That plan would have included public parking with $4.2 million in public financing.

Public financing was a “troublesome point” in the previous proposal, Young said, and was the main reason the former project was turned down. But new plans for the Courtyard at the Marriott will have no public parking and no public funding, Young said.

Young said city staff is recommending the planning commission approve the Marriott plans.

“This project, given that it’s right on the riverfront adjacent to the riverfront park, has a high civic profile,” he said. “We as staff find it meets (city) criteria.”

Plans for another hotel were recently approved by the city for Ninth Street, he said.

“We’re seeing right now a few different proposals for hotels,” he said. “We’ve been hearing there is a real need for more hotel rooms in Corvallis.”

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Plans for a Pearl District mixed-use building and a proposed hotel in Southwest Portland have gained unanimous Portland Design Commission approval.

Design commissioners on Thursday approved with conditions Portland-based Vallaster Corl Architects’ design for Couch 9, a proposed 11-story, mixed-use building, at 115 and 125 Northwest Ninth Ave.

They also fully supported – with slight revisions – a design by Atlanta-based HC Architecture for the 299-room Porter Hotel by Hilton on the former Pendleton Building property at 202-218 S.W. Jefferson St.

Plans for the Couch 9 project, developed by Portland-based Urban Assets Advisors, call for 137 apartments, approximately 8,000-square-feet of commercial space and two levels of underground parking with 87 spaces.

Overall, commissioners said they were impressed with the design for Couch 9 and praised the bright red recessed balconies on portions of the facade. But, as in previous hearing for the project, they expressed lingering reservations with a wall of balconies in varying shades of orange on the proposed building’s west side. As a condition of approving the project, they requested modifications to that façade.

“I still am not comfortable with the west balcony elevation,” Commissioner Tad Savinar said. “It’s the opposite end of the spectrum from what’s on the other two faces.”

During the public testimony portion of the hearing, neighboring residents also raised concerns with plans for that side of the building. The proposed designs for the west side made the building appear cheap and motel-like, neighbors testified. They also worried about seeing clutter from building tenants on the balconies. Several neighbors testified that they didn’t like the pops of bright color and would prefer a more neutral façade.

Vallaster Corl Architects partner Don Vallaster said the design team thought the loud colors would bring a new vibe to that portion of the Pearl District.

“For us, we thought it was time to add a little bit of color and texture to the context of the neighborhood,” he said.

In response to Design Commission feedback at a design review hearing for the project last month, the design team on Thursday presented revisions to the west façade. This included removing the false columns, adding depth to the balconies and modifying the color gradation.

When the design team shared how plans for that part of the building had evolved, several commissioners said they preferred the previous design that they reviewed in March. Savinar, who earlier in the hearing said he couldn’t vote in favor of the project, moved to approve the project on the condition that the west façade again include the false columns between the balconies. This would add more interest to that side of the building, commissioners reasoned.

The commission also requested modifications to the Porter Hotel design before approving the project, developed by Syracuse, N.Y.-based Widewaters Group to be part of Hilton’s Curio brand. Plans for the 16-story, 200,000-square-foot hotel call for a ground floor lobby, restaurant, bar, market and pizza take-out window. Planned amenities include a rooftop restaurant and a basement pool, sauna and fitness area.

Commissioners praised the blue glass mosaic design on building’s main façade, but had worries about also using patterned stone tile for the pilasters on the ground floor. The pattern on the stone tiles was too busy in context with the glass mosaic, Commissioner Guenevere Millius said.

“The conflict I’m seeing is there are too many contrasts,” she said. “That stone wants to hold a big brick building on top.

As a condition of approving the project, commissioners asked the design team to replace the stone tile pilasters with narrower versions made from precast concrete. This revision would help offset the base with the rest of the building, Commission Vice Chairman Ben Kaiser said.

“It makes it feel lighter at the base,” he said. “The precast (concrete) quiets it down and brings attention to glass … because the project has come so far along, I think that would be a great improvement.”

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A historic Northwest Portland building is getting a face-lift and a new lease on life.

Ganesh Sonpatki, owner of the 133-year-old Harlow Block at 722-738 N.W. Glisan St., in 2012 announced plans to renovate and reopen the long-vacant building as a hotel.

Sonpatki in 2008 purchased the building for $950,000, according to city data. In 2009, Portland-based architect Stan Chesshir applied to the Bureau of Development Services for a commercial building permit to renovate the upper floors and remodel the ground floor to accommodate a restaurant. Sonpatki put renovation plans on hold in the face of a down economy; however, after purchasing and renovating the Downtown Value Inn near Portland State University, he decided to move forward with the Harlow Block project.

“The delay was partly because of the economy, but also there was a seismic component,” he said. “In a building that age you can do a certain amount of renovation without triggering a seismic upgrade, and with the economy improving we decided just to go in and do it all at once.”

When work wraps up, the hotel will have 25 rooms – each with its own bathroom. Sonpatki said rooms will run between $60 and $120 per night.

“I think the best thing is that, price-wise, I don’t see a lot of affordable alternatives for hotel rooms in Northwest Portland,” he said. “So people are stuck staying farther out or have to split the cost of a room to afford it. This is a price point people can afford.”

Sonpatki predicts construction to cost about $2.5 million. He expects to open for business in summer 2015. Contractors have already begun demolishing parts of the building and installing steel rebar to support poured concrete.

“They’ll basically build a cement structure inside,” Sonpatki said. “That way, if there’s an earthquake and the bricks start collapsing, the walls will stay intact.”

Sonpatki owns several other Portland-area properties, including the Banfield Value Inn in the Hollywood District, Briarwood Suites in Southeast Portland and the Peppertree Inn in Beaverton. He’s in negotiations to purchase the Astoria Riverwalk Inn and the adjacent Seafare Restaurant & Lounge.

Although Sonpatki has chosen to partner with national hotel chains for some of his projects, he said he’s planning on running the Harlow Block one – which he hasn’t yet named – independently.

Plans for the Harlow Block building renovation show ground-floor space for two 700-square-foot retail spaces, a 700-square-foot hotel lobby and 1,500 square feet of restaurant space.

“I’m planning on opening the restaurant myself or finding a partner who’s looking for space,” Sonpatki said. “I’m looking at having American cuisine with a Northwest flavor and some sort of a bar component.”

The building has no designated parking area, but Sonpatki is looking at contracting local lots to accommodate hotel guests’ vehicles. He also is hoping that the building’s proximity to light rail and bus service will lessen the need for parking.

The Harlow Block was built in 1882 by Capt. John Harlow, an entrepreneur who founded Troutdale. He built the hotel near the planned transcontinental railroad station, but died a year after the building opened for business. Harlow’s widow, Celeste Harlow, retained ownership and managed the property until 1902.

When Celeste Harlow sold the building, the new owners renamed it Park Hotel. In 1907, the structure was sold again and became the Muckle Building. In 1980 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

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The downtown building that has housed Portland’s oldest restaurant – Huber’s Café – since its construction in 1910 soon will be converted into a high-end boutique hotel.

In January, the building, at 320 S.W. Stark, St., was purchased by California-based BPR Properties Portland LLC for $4.95 million. That same month, the new owner requested a commercial building permit to begin work, according to Bureau of Development Services records. The project is expected to cost $4.06 million.

Huber’s will neither be altered nor affected by the construction. Plans for the remodel indicate that the ground floor will be able to accommodate additional commercial businesses.

BPR Properties is a family-owned business that specializes in acquiring existing buildings and remodeling them to become boutique hotels.

A BPR Properties employee declined to comment, but the company’s website indicates that the structure is called the Oregon Pioneer Building and that in 1979 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Arris Studio Architects, based in San Luis Obispo, Calif., designed the remodel.

Interior demolition is under way. Tualatin-based E A White Construction Co. is the contractor hired to complete the conversion. A call to the company was not returned by press time.

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