The Block 290 mixed-use project continued its long and twisting path through the Portland Design Commission on Thursday. At the request of the Northwest District Association, the commission agreed to keep the record open for seven days to allow submission of additional testimony.

With more time granted for responses and rebuttals, Guardian Real Estate Services‘ Block 290 project won’t return before the Design Commission until Aug. 3. City staff has already recommended approval.

As designed, the horseshoe-shaped building would have two seven-story elevations and one four-story elevation with a rooftop amenity. The elevations would range between 57 feet and 79 feet. Retail space would occupy the ground floor, with residential units above. The floor area ratio (FAR) would be 2.7:1.

The design process has already dragged on for more than two years. The site at 1417 N.W. 20th Ave. is complex because it falls within the Con-way Master Plan. It requires that a public square be included in the project. The development team believes LRS Architects‘ design of the square meets requirements.

“We wanted a flexible square,” said Mauricio Villarreal, a principal with Place Studio, the project’s landscape architect. “We wanted to create a square that is lively and engaging and entertaining, and has whimsy if you will – a place that people want to come with their family, with their friends from out of town.”

Villarreal said he believes the 16,008-square-foot space would be comfortable for 50 people or 100 people. Also, an arcade would provide 2,922 additional square feet.

Neighbors have a decidedly different view of the square. Karen Karlsson, president of the Northwest District Association (NWDA) disputed nearly every assertion the development team made. The group claimed that only the portion of the square that had a view of the sky should count toward the Con-way Master Plan requirement for a public square. Project developers also counted square footage under an arcade to boost the total.

“The development needs to be this large in the opinion of the developer and the Design Commission,” Karlsson said. “You can’t fit that development in the envelope of that particular block, so something has to give.”

Neighbors were also upset with a 15-foot encroachment into a public right-of-way that was necessitated by the redesigned square.

“I believe the 15 feet here is sacred ground,” said Ron Walters, former president of the NWDS. “Block 290 was the core of the master plan. It was the fundamental idea of not building 3:1 (FAR) throughout the entire 17 acres.”

There was even some disagreement within the association about whether the group should even work with the developer.

“NWDA, I think made the mistake of opening Pandora’s box and trying to work in good faith with the developer,” Walters said.

In the end, commissioners seemed to reach a consensus that the redesigned square both met Con-way Master Plan requirements and followed city’s design guidelines. They also believed that other projects featuring more dubious uses of public space had been approved.

“To me this seems like an infinitely better situation than over at the New Seasons (Market),” Commission Chairman David Wark said.

Commissioners did express some concerns regarding planned bench types and placement, and other building materials. They encouraged developers to explore small adjustments before they return in August.

Appeal of Press Blocks approval on tap

The Portland City Council will hear an appeal of the Portland Design Commission’s approval of the Press Blocks project on Aug. 10 at 2 p.m.

The Goose Hollow Foothills League on May 31 filed paperwork to appeal the Design Commission’s approval granted May 5.

The project, planned as three buildings over one and a half city blocks, would include office, retail and residential space. The development would occupy lots at 817 S.W. 17th Ave. and 1621 S.W. Taylor St.

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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday told the developers and designers behind the Koti Apartments  – also known as the Block 290 project – they are on the right track toward final approval.

The hearing served as a work session and no vote was taken, but it did give LRS Architects the chance to unveil its revised project designs to commissioners.

The site at 1421 N.W. 20th Ave. must meet Con-way Master Plan standards as well as design guidelines. The master plan calls for any development on the site to include a public square.

Exactly what is considered a square and how that square has to be configured had, until recently, confounded two architecture firms and project owner Guardian Real Estate.

In May the team presented the design panel with a concept in which the apartment building nearly surrounded the interior space with public-access walkways. At that time, commission members said they felt the design gave the impression of a private courtyard rather than a public square.

In revisions presented Thursday, the team removed part of an elevation at Northwest Pettygrove and moved the elevation on Northwest 21st Avenue toward Northwest Quimby. The change, according to the project team, provides better public access to the square from both Northwest Pettygrove to the south and the corner of Northwest 21st Avenue and Northwest Pettygrove.

The improved access came at a price, though. The design now encroaches 15 feet into a future pedestrian walkway and neighborhood park. However, the trade-off didn’t bother Commission Chairman David Wark.

“I think we have been very fair to everyone, hearing from neighborhood association (and) people from the neighborhood, and working through all those parties’ concerns,” Wark said.

Wark and commissioners Don Vallaster and Andrew Clarke previously formed a subcommittee to work with the developers and neighbors. The goal was to come to a comprise that would give the neighborhood a public square that it considered useful while also meeting guidelines and leaving developers with a financially viable design.

“It’s a set of reasonable tradeoffs, trying to get a public space integrated with development,” Wark said. “I think it meets the intent of the master plan.”

Not everyone at the Thursday meeting agreed. Three neighbors voiced their continued opposition to the project.

“This simply does not meet the standards or guidelines of the master plan,” Ron Walters, the former president of the Northwest District Association, said. “I have been adamantly opposed to any encroachment in public area, and the community has been adamant about that.”

Despite neighbors’ concerns, commission members were largely supportive of the new design direction, although they indicated they felt there were still some details – such as specifics about the square and aesthetic issues related to the structure – that still need to be ironed out and finalized.

“To get my vote, this (square) has to be a place of wonder,” Commission Vice Chairman Tad Savinar said. “It has to be a square for northwest Portland where everybody wants to go. Make this square fantastic.”

The Koti Apartments project will return to the commission on July 6.

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