Portland City Council has granted an appeal by the architects of a Pearl District affordable housing building against conditions imposed on the project by the city’s Design Commission. The proposed building will be located at Northwest 14^th Avenue and Raleigh Street and is being designed by Salazar Architect and LRS Architects for affordable developer Innovative Housing Inc.

The 12-story project was approved by the design commission in September with multiple conditions of approval, one of which was the subject of the appeal on the grounds that it would add significantly to the project’s cost. Commissioners wanted a set of oriel windows at the building’s fifth and sixth floors moved up to connect with another group on the upper three floors, creating a singular oriel.

“This comes down to a difference of opinion about two design choices,” Stevenson said. “One of the options presents a real increase in cost to an affordable housing development that is struggling to stay on budget. We’re appealing to you, our city council, to ask that you prioritize affordable housing over aesthetic nuance, and let us move forward with a project that will provide crucial affordable housing to families in Portland that need it today.”

Speaking for the design commission, member Julia Molinar read from a letter prepared by commissioners arguing that the project should be held to the same standards as others.

“It’s significant that the proposal fell short across width and breadth of its response to design guidelines,” she said. “It is the design commission’s decision that the proposed development does not need to be a model citizen, but it does need to demonstrate a willingness to participate in civic life.”

In a 4-0 vote to grant the appeal, with Commissioner Steve Novick absent, Mayor Charlie Hales and city commissioners were quick to praise the Design Commission for its work.

“I’m going to be very glad to support the appeal,” said Commissioner Amanda Fritz, “while also honoring the good work that the design commission is doing.”

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The $15.9 million restoration of a pair of historic buildings in Old Town/Chinatown is nearly complete, and a grand opening celebration will be held this week. The Erickson Saloon and Fritz Hotel Buildings, located on Southwest 2^nd Avenue and Southwest 3^rd Avenue, respectively, have been combined and turned into the Erickson Fritz Apartments. The mixed-income project features 62 studio and 1-bedroom apartments, which project developer Innovative Housing, Inc. expects to be fully leased by the end of August.

Innovative Housing, Inc. purchased the buildings from the Bill Naito Co. last year and hired LRS Architects to design the Erickson Building remodel, and ORANGEWALLstudios to design the Fritz. The project’s general contractor was Silco Commercial Construction Inc., which subcontracted Djoseland Construction Services for project supervision, framing, and finish work. The grand opening celebration will be held Thursday, July 23^rd from 5-7 pm at 9 N.W. 2^nd Ave.

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R&H Construction is building a mixed-use apartment project in the South Waterfront for Dallas, TX-based developer Alamo Manhattan. The 199-unit building features five stories of wood framing over a concrete podium and a subgrade parking garage. The ground floor will contain 1,500 square feet of retail space and walk-up residential units. Dallas, TX-based Hensley Lamkin Rachel, Inc. designed the project, which is slated for turnover in March 2016.

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The old Mariners Home, built in 1882 and vacant for more than 30 years, will again be a haven for travelers when it reopens in October.

The building of at the corner of Northwest Davis Street and Northwest Third Avenue in Portland’s Old Town Chinatown district will be renamed the and will offer hostel-style bunk beds as well as private rooms and suites.

The building has undergone massive renovation and seismic upgrades since reconstruction began more than a year ago, said Matt Siegel, owner of Building Blocks LLC. Siegel is one of four partners who are investing between $4 million and $5 million in the building. The partners, including Jessie Burke, Gabe Genauer and Jonathan Cohen, secured approximately $700,000 in loans from the Portland Development Commission and obtained the rest of the money from Lewis & Clark Bank.

Cohen, an engineer, designed a “top-notch system” with heat pumps that will “heat and cool and provide continuous fresh air into every room,” Siegel said.

Siegel’s company is in charge of construction with project management by Groundswell Development, Inc. The design was handled by Integrate Architecture, DCI Engineers and Blossom Igarashi Interior Design. All are based in Portland.

Shawn Uhlman, spokesman for the Portland Development Commission, said he toured the almost finished building last week and anticipates the project will transform the neighborhood.

“Hotel projects in Old Town Chinatown have been pretty rare things,” Uhlman said. “But it will have a steady stream of people outside the “8 to 5” window and that augments all of the positive momentum that seems to be occurring there right now. It’s a welcome addition and will be bringing tourists to that part of Portland – the oldest part of the city. They will come and bring their dollars and it will have a fantastic ripple effect.”

In addition, Uhlman said Siegel and his team have been extremely cooperative throughout the whole process.

“We have really enjoyed working with that team and they are to be commended,” he said.

A SHARED PASSION

The four-member team consists of Siegel, whose company specializes in historic preservation; “technical guru” Cohen; Genauer, with 27 years in real estate and construction; and Burke, “hospitality expert and community-organizing glue,” according to hotel literature.

One thing the four all have in common is their passion for the project, Siegel said, and they plan on running the hotel themselves. When asked how much experience they had in running a hotel, Siegel was blunt.

“Absolutely none,” he said with a big grin.

The hotel will be staffed full-time around the clock, Siegel said, and he and his partners will depend on the expertise of consultant Mark Keller of Partnership Hospitality.

The building was once a place of refuge for sailors back in the late 1800s, and Siegel said he hopes to attract modern-day adventurers.

“We went back and forth on the name, but it was first used by the Seaman’s Friendship Society,” he said. “We want it to be welcome and open to adventurous travelers because that’s who came to Portland 150 years ago.”

Rates will range from $35 per night for a bunk bed to $135 a night for a private suite and bath. The hostel portion of the hotel will feature triple-level bunk. Hostel guests will have storage lockers, privacy curtains, reading lamps and electric outlets, Siegel said, and the hotel will have free Wi-Fi throughout.

“We will also have common space just for the hostel with couches, lockers, three bathrooms and a kitchenette,” he said.

Siegel gave a tour of the building last week, stepping around scores of workers as they nailed up drywall and took other final steps to bring the building to completion.

“We are in the finishing phase,” he said. “We’re finishing the drywall, with the carpenters and painters soon to follow.”

The hotel was originally three stories, but in 1891 the entire structure was raised for the addition of a new bottom floor that featured cast iron exterior detailing, Siegel said.

PRESERVING DETAILS

According to the Oregon Historical Society, the was originally a seamen’s bethel (chapel), kitchen, reading room and chaplain’s quarters in 1879 run by the Portland Seamen’s Friends Society to help improve the lot of sailors. In 1882, the society built the three-story building that became the Mariners’ Home, designed by prominent Portland architect Justus Krumbein. The society sold the structure in 1903.

Many historical artifacts were found in the hotel, which will be on display, and historic details will be preserved, Siegel said. Those details include cherry wood staircase banisters, door trim and wainscoting, and original stair treads. Old doors will be used as wall panels behind the reception desk, and the brick and stucco exterior will be fully preserved.

But the finished hotel also will have every modern convenience, including a newly installed elevator that goes all the way to the roof, Siegel said.

“The elevator shaft is a major part of the seismic upgrade and we have new concrete walls up to the roof,” he said. “We even made the concrete look old, using board forms, like they would have done 100 years ago.

The building uses “a ton of hardware” to pull it all the structural elements together, Siegel said.

“That allowed us to group the bathrooms around the center of the building and the rooms around the perimeter,” he said.

The smallest “standard” rooms are only about 10 by 12 feet, but have ceilings at least 10 feet high. Each will have custom-built queen size beds with under-bed storage and vintage-style lighting fixtures and communal bathrooms. The largest rooms, or suites, will have king-size beds, pull-out sofa beds and private bathrooms. All the rooms will feature original 8-foot-tall windows.

“The décor of the rooms is sparse and clean and very efficient,” Siegel said.

The ground floor of the building will have two entrances, one for the front desk and another for a café. The café, which will be open to the public, will serve coffee, tea and snacks during daytime hours and wine and beer at night.

The spacious lounging area between the front desk and the café will have a gas fireplace and leather couches, Siegel said.

“We want all our spaces to be comfortable at all times,” he said.

That extends to the roof, which has been reinforced to support any activity, Siegel said.

“We rebuilt the entire roof to support whatever we want to do,” he said. “We will put in a wooden deck, lots of plants, shaded areas, bench sheets and tables.”

Future activities on the roof could include movie nights, he said, and possibly music events. The roof will also support a large solar array and will have green roof elements.

“We are personally and emotionally invested, and will be on site quite a bit,” he said. “People will be able to start making reservations in about a month and a half.”

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A six-story mixed-use project is being built as part of the Slabtown Marketplace development, the first phase of the Con-way Master Plan in Northwest Portland. The L.L. Hawkins, named for a Portland parks commissioner who was instrumental in the creation of Forest Park, will feature 113 market-rate apartments over ground-floor retail space, tuck-under and below-grade parking.

The project was designed by GBD Architects and Holst Architecture, and is being built by John Residential Construction Group. Cairn Pacific and Capstone Partners are the project’s joint developers.

The apartment building occupies the eastern portion of a block bounded by Northwest Raleigh and Quimby streets and 21st and 22nd avenues. An existing warehouse building on the block’s western portion is being redeveloped for New Seasons Market, which is slated for a late summer opening. Work on the L.L. Hawkins will be complete by early fall.

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Pavilion Construction is building Moreland Station, a four-story apartment project at the corner of Southeast Tacoma Street and 23^rd Avenue in Sellwood for Urban Evolution Development, Inc. The building was designed by BAMA Architecture and Design, and will contain a total of 68 units ranging in size from studios to two-bedrooms. Completion of the project is expected this fall.

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Goodfellow Bros., Inc is requesting bids for advanced utility packages: (BES) Sewer, (PWB) Water, (BES) CIPP, and (BES) Deep Shoring/Sewer. Please see today’s issue of 91��Ƶ for further details.

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