PROJECT: Kirkland Place

LOCATION: Beaverton

SIZE:��three buildings on 2.89 acres

START DATE: August 2017

ANTICIPATED END DATE: September 2022

COST: undisclosed

OWNER/DEVELOPER: Kirkland Development

ARCHITECT: Otak

ENGINEERS: Otak (civil), KGA (structural), Ayres (MEP)

CONTRACTOR:��Kirkland Construction

OTHER ASSOCIATES/CONSULTANTS: Gausman & Moore, Kramer Gehlen & Associates

PROJECT SIGNIFICANCE: Kirkland Place will consist of three buildings on approximately 2.89 acres in Beaverton, at the northeast corner of Northwest 118th Avenue and Barnes Road.

Two of the buildings are being developed as commercial pads of approximately 6,300 square feet in a one-story structure and 16,400 square feet in a two-story structure; both will be served by on-site parking at grade. The third structure will be a four-story, 89-room EVEN brand hotel with below-grade parking, a fitness studio, a boardroom, an indoor dining room, and an outdoor dining area with a fire pit served by the signature EVEN bar and kitchen.

Exterior materials will include composite siding, metal panels, stone veneer and Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS).

“Building Blocks” spotlights noteworthy projects either under construction or approaching the start of construction. To submit a project for consideration, please visit: djcoregon.com/building-blocks.

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A new project in the Columbia Palisades Master Plan will be a beacon over the Columbia River with the Portland skyline’s views.

The project consists of a five-story apartment and five-story condominium building, which will sit on a basalt bluff with views of the river and Mt. Hood.

Otak is the architecture firm and Kirkland Development LLC is the developer. The site is 203,000 square feet.

The 86-unit apartment building and 51-unit condominium structure stand on two levels of concrete podium. A pedestrian plaza deck links the buildings with planters, seating walls, entry courtyards and covered outdoor amenities.

Both of the buildings feature top-floor units with double the height of living space, mezzanines, terraces and covered decks.

Underneath the building is a 231-lot parking structure where 148 of the stalls are mechanical “stacker” spaces.

The site’s high stature creates a challenge with the heavy winds coming off of the Gorge. Brian Fleener, principal at Otak, said the buildings were designed to withstand parameters typically seen on steep coastal sites, not within city limits.

Winds over 40 mph can curve up the site’s steep slope. The project’s team needed to design for structural and waterproofing complexities. There was a limitation on window sizes in order to make them durable enough and weather-proofed.

The exterior cladding of the buildings is made up of aluminum composite panels on a rainscreen.

The white cladding was chosen to create a clean, crisp juxtaposition to the bluff’s rocky nature, Chris Maykut, senior designer on the project, said. It will also distinguish itself from the rest of the development.

The bluff is part of an 84-acre rock quarry that is being made into a mixed-use development. The inception of Ledges at the Columbia Palisades started 15 years ago, Fleener said.

The area had been a rock quarry for more than 135 years. As the area’s plans transitioned to a development, flat benches were formed throughout for buildings to be placed on it.

Otak’s project team also includes Director of Design Gary Reddick, Senior Project Manager Casey McKenna, Project Architect Saretta Tillmaand, Landscape Architect David Haynes and Civil Engineer Tim Leavitt.

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Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, paused to catch his breath at the top floor of a seven-story office building at The Waterfront Vancouver, near the Columbia River.

Workers below were finishing staircases and elevators. A block away, heavy equipment was being used to drive piles to support excavation of what will become the Indigo Hotel and condominiums. Construction management trailers occupied surface parking lots.

With breathtaking speed, The Waterfront Vancouver is becoming a real place. Restaurants are poised to open soon. White-collar professional firms have signed leases for office space under construction. Apartments could begin being leased as soon as next week. There will be parks, a seven-mile trail and a hotel.

“We wanted to get the project started and have a little bit of everything,” said Cain, whose company is managing the build-out of the 20-block site.

Visiting The Waterfront Vancouver these days is a bit like venturing inside a bee hive. Workers are everywhere – hundreds of them in brightly colored T-shirts and safety vests, shouting and stomping among scaffolding and staged equipment in a heat wave. The din of steel slapping into place is matched only by blaring backup alarms from construction vehicles and the roar of F-15 fighter jets taking off from Portland International Airport across the Columbia River.

The numbers give only a sense of the magnitude of the development – 3,300 residential units and 1.5 million square feet of office space. Robertson & Olson, a Southwest Washington firm, is the general contractor handling construction of the first three buildings.

“There’s a big, pent-up demand for this kind of development in Vancouver,” Cain said.

Gramor Development aims to attract many of the 70,000 workers who commute daily from Vancouver to Portland. Cain believes many companies have offices in Portland only because Vancouver lacked good options.

“We think pretty quick we’re going to get a lot more office interest,” he said.

Last week, McKean Smith, a law firm with offices in Portland and Hillsboro, agreed to lease 3,600 square feet in the Block 6 building, Gramor announced.

The legal practice joins Murdock Charitable Trust, Chicago Title and Fidelity National Title in taking office space at The Waterfront Vancouver. The Block 6 office building is more than 50 percent leased.

The Waterfront Vancouver started as a partnership among five parties from real estate and construction backgrounds who were eager to invest in Vancouver’s future. They jumped at the opportunity to land riverfront property when Boise Cascade decided to close a paper mill on the site and sell. Gramor Development agreed to lead the development with backing from retired managers of Kiewit Corp., a construction firm based in Vancouver. The partners formed Columbia Waterfront LLC.

“It sounded like something where you could come in and really change the face of the town,” Cain said.

The plan was never for Gramor Development to build everything itself, Cain said. Already, two blocks have been sold. Gramor sold Block 3 to Summit Development, which plans to break ground in January on a 12-story cross-laminated timber building with approximately 250 residential units and ground-floor retail space. Kirkland Development purchased Block 4, where ground has been broken for an 11-story tower that will have the 138-room Hotel Indigo and 40 condominiums.

Gramor Development is in negotiations on a deal for another block, Cain said.

“We’re happy to have someone come in and do it all,” he said.

Restaurants will open in the first wave in a bid to attract visitors. Sometime in August, WildFin American Grill will open. The seafood restaurant will have a sidewalk-facing window to serve fish tacos to outdoor diners on nice days. Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar is poised to open about a month later. Barlow’s Public House should open by the end of the year, Cain said.

The development is already attracting jet boat users interested in checking out a mast installed as a piece of public art. A 180-foot-long water feature from artist Larry Kirkland that maps the Columbia River and its tributaries is in development.

The Waterfront Vancouver is unfolding largely with public dollars. Columbia Waterfront laid the groundwork for the development with new streets or extensions of Columbia Way, Grant Street and Columbia Street. The development also contributed to construction of a railroad trestle that provided access to the property. The city of Vancouver is paying for the new park.

Calls to Vancouver officials were not returned promptly.

That stands in contrast to Zidell Yards in Portland’s South Waterfront District, where development has halted because of a disagreement between ZRZ Realty Co. and the city of Portland regarding the amount of public funding for streets and other infrastructure. In Vancouver, the developer largely paid for the infrastructure.

In comparison to Portland’s bureau structure, Cain praised Vancouver’s city manager-led government.

“The government here is effectual,” he said.­­

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Kirkland Development has begun accepting pre-reservations for condo units at the Kirkland Tower – the first residential project at The Waterfront in Vancouver, Washington.

The Kirkland Tower will have 40 condominiums on floors two through 11. The condos will range in size from 1,000 square feet to more than 3,000 square feet.

Kirkland has applied for a building permit for the first phase: an underground parking garage. “We’re hoping to be mobilizing and getting the site ready to go in about six to eight weeks,” Kirkland project manager Dana Gardner said.

A crane is expected to be moved into place in coming weeks. Completion is scheduled for spring 2020.

The 11-story tower, plus a rooftop deck, will be adjacent to the Hotel Indigo, a 138-room luxury hotel. Tower residents will have access to hotel services including concierge, food delivery and room cleaning and turndown.

Prices for the condos will not be released publicly, Gardner said.

The project was designed by Otak of Portland and developed by Kirkland, a Vancouver development firm founded by Dean Kirkland.

Condo construction has been sparse in recent years, although a few developers have forged ahead with for-sale units. Most multifamily developers have overwhelmingly favored apartments during the past decade.

“There haven’t been condos built in Vancouver since the late ’90s, early 2000s,” Gardner said. She said the modest number of units and waterfront location will help the condos succeed.

“It aligned really well with this project,” she said.

The condo tower and hotel will share a firewall. The hotel will take up about two-thirds of Block 4 at The Waterfront site, and the Kirkland Tower will occupy the remainder. An in-house construction company, Kirkland Construction, will serve as general contractor.

The Waterfront is Gramor Development‘s 32-acre project along the Columbia River. At full build-out, the master-planned development is expected to have 3,300 housing units and 1.25 million square feet of office space along with restaurants and retail shops. WildFin American Grill, Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar and Ghost Runners Brewery have leased space at The Waterfront and are scheduled to open this summer.

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