The old Oregon Ballet Theatre building in Portland’s Buckman neighborhood is fenced off and days from being razed, with a six-story, mixed-use project ready to rise in its place.

The city recently issued permits for demolition, shoring and concrete work on the Modera Belmont project site at , a proposed 200-unit, five-over-one structure by Mill Creek Residential Trust. The Texas-based merchant developer closed on a $6.5 million land sale with OBT last month. Serving as its own general contractor, Mill Creek is also currently at work on the Modera Pearl project in the Pearl District.

Subcontractors so far have performed soft demolition and asbestos abatement on the old OBT building, which was constructed as a Wells Fargo bank 50 years ago. Bulldozers and other heavy equipment should move in next week, according to Sam Rodriguez, senior managing director for Mill Creek. Permits for construction of the building superstructure could be approved in two months, he said. The project timeline is 22 months, with completion scheduled for October 2017.

Earlier this week, Oregon Ballet Theatre began operating in its new South Waterfront location at 0720 S.W. Bancroft St.

Modera Belmont’s architect is SERA Architects. Plans call for 11,469 square feet of commercial space with a basement garage with 105 parking spots, two loading docks and storage space for 302 bicycles. The U-shaped building will feature a ground-level courtyard and a gathering area on the east side of the roof.

The site is a full city block in Portland’s Central Eastside, bounded by Southeast Sixth and Southeast Seventh avenues and Southeast Morrison and Southeast Belmont streets.

The project didn’t have a simple trip through design review; the Design Commission held five hearing on it in six months before voting to approve in August. Several significant revisions were made, including the addition of more retail space on the ground floor, more balconies and alterations to the facade.

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After finally passing review by the Portland Design Commission last week, plans are moving forward for the Modera Belmont, a six-story, mixed-use building with 200 apartment units at 818 S.E. Sixth Ave.

Kurt Schultz of SERA Architects said the Aug. 6 meeting with the Design Commission went smoothly with only a couple of minor adjustments to building plans.

“They wanted us to widen the spacing between the window mullions (on the ground floor) and to extend the canopy by a few feet on the west side of the building,” he said.

The next step is to submit building permits, Schultz said. Construction could begin as late this year or early next year.

The design of the new building will include 11,469 square feet of commercial space with a basement garage with 105 parking spots and two loading docks. The U-shaped building will have a ground-level courtyard and another area for residents to gather on the east end of the roof. Bike storage for 302 bicycles will be located in the basement and on the ground floor, with additional bike parking in front of the building.

According to city records, the site of the new building is a full city block in Portland’s Central Eastside, bounded by Southeast Sixth and Seventh avenues and Southeast Morrison and Southeast Belmont streets.

The recent hearing was the fifth time the project had been brought before the Design Commission since an initial design advice request in February. The design of the building has gone through significant revision since then, including adding more retail space to the ground floor, more balconies and further carving out the façade, according to Schultz.

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Mill Creek Residential’s Modera Belmont project in Southeast Portland will return next month for the fifth time before the Portland Design Commission.

Despite a city planner recommendation to approve the project, design commissioners on Thursday said the massing should be eroded more on the proposed full-block, mixed-use development, designed by Portland-based SERA Architects. Commission Vice Chairman Ben Kaiser said this was the only sticking point for him with the proposed design of the six-story, 230,000-square-foot building, at 818 S.E. Sixth Ave.

“There are a lot of examples around the city of people breaking up full block (developments),” he told the project team. “This is absolutely taking advantage of every square foot … The only flaw in my mind is that relentlessness. I think you’re there with everything else.”

Thursday’s hearing was the fourth time the Design Commission has offered feedback on the 200-unit development. This includes two previous design review hearings and a design advice request. A fifth design review hearing is scheduled for Aug. 6.

Since an initial design advice request hearing in February, the design has undergone significant revisions. Among the most recent changes included adding more retail space to the ground floor, more balconies and further carving out the façade, SERA principal Kurt Schultz told the commission on Thursday.

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The design for a proposed mixed-use development in Southeast Portland still needs a bit more work to meet city standards.

The Portland Design Commission on Thursday asked Portland-based SERA Architects to return next month for a third design review hearing with revisions to plans for Mill Creek Residential Trust‘s Modera Belmont project. The proposed six-story, 230,000-square-foot building, at 818 S.E. Sixth Ave., would replace the Oregon Ballet Theatre building.

The project team is scheduled on July 9 to present to commissioners a modified design based on commissioners’ feedback, said Sam Rodriguez, managing director of Mill Creek‘s Portland office. He’s hopeful that at that hearing the project will gain the commission’s approval.

“We’re going to have to add a few more balconies and do some more sculpting of the building,” he said. “It seems like we’re almost there.”

The proposed development would include 202 residential units, ground-floor commercial space and a basement garage with 105 parking spots. The U-shaped structure would frame a ground-floor courtyard with stormwater planters.

Staci Monroe, the city planner overseeing the project, said that along with a request to add balconies, design commissioners on Thursday noted that the development’s proposed courtyard and other ground-floor portions needed more work. In a design review hearing last month for the project, commissioners suggested widening the courtyard because the stormwater planters were dominating much of the space.

Rodriguez said per the commission’s suggestions on Thursday, one of the revisions to the design will be converting a ground-floor residential unit into a retail space. This change will make the only apartments on the ground floor the ones facing the courtyard, he said.

“We’re going to have to do retail all the way around,” Rodriguez said.

Design commissioners on Thursday also offered feedback for two other proposed projects: A boutique-style Hilton hotel in the Pearl District and a mixed-use development in Northwest Portland.

The design commission on Thursday gave a harsh critique of the mixed-use proposal for 1400 Northwest Raleigh St., city planner Jeff Mitchem said.

“They didn’t like it,” he said. “(The design team was) told to go back to the drawing board and raise the bar.”

The six-story, 145-unit building with 900 square feet of ground-floor retail space is being designed by Seattle-based ENCORE Architects for Alliance Residential Co., which has a Portland office.

Mitchem said commissioners were concerned about a plan to have two parking garage accesses instead of a single entrance, the use of fiber cement panels and an overall lack of design coherency. They also suggested that the design team consider live-work units on the ground floor instead of townhouses as proposed, he said.

Designs by Portland-based ZGF Architects for the Canopy Portland hotel, at 425-431 N.W. Ninth Ave., call for a 10-story building with 153 rooms. Canopy is Hilton Worldwide’s new “lifestyle” brand, according to a description of the project submitted to the city by ZGF and developer Brian DeLawder of Portland Hotel Partners XXVII LLC. The proposed hotel would include a rooftop terrace as well as a ground-floor bar and café spilling out onto the sidewalk.

The building is being designed to earn a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design silver rating via various measures to save energy and water. Initial designs for the façade use wood siding and board-formed concrete on the ground floor and corrugated metal panels between the windows on the upper floors.

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The architects of two planned Portland developments will be to some extent going back to the drawing board following critiques from the Portland Design Commission.

Design commissioners on Thursday requested revisions to plans for the Modera Belmont, a mixed-use development that would replace the Oregon Ballet Theatre building in Southeast Portland. They also expressed reservations with a proposal to build a Hampton Inn & Suites in the Pearl District and sought more information on how the development would impact neighboring condominiums.

Teams representing both projects sought the commission’s design review approval on Thursday, but commissioners instead asked the architects and developers to return for at least one more hearing with revised designs.

A design team from Portland-based SERA Architects presented plans for the Modera Belmont, developed by Mill Creek Residential Trust. The proposed six-story, 230,000-square-foot building, at 818 S.E. Sixth Ave., would include 204 residential units above ground-floor commercial space and a basement garage with 105 parking spots. The U-shaped structure would frame a ground-floor courtyard with stormwater planters.

Based on commission feedback offered during a design advice request hearing in February, the SERA project team significantly modified the plans, SERA principal Kurt Schultz told commissioners on Thursday.  Among the commissioners’ suggestions the design team took to heart were reducing the number of materials used on the facade, he said. The revised design features a simplified, mostly brick façade that’s punched out at various intervals to reveal white metal panels.

“Our idea was to create an asymmetrical brick enclosure,” Schultz said. “We really do appreciate the advice from the design advice request. We think having a more contemporary brick expression fits the Central Eastside.”

Despite changes to the design, commissioners said it wasn’t quite approvable and lamented that the project team didn’t act on more of their feedback. During the design advice request, commissioners suggested widening the courtyard, but on Thursday several said they felt as proposed it was still too narrow with the stormwater planters dominating much of the space.

Commissioner Jeff Simpson said façade would have a cleaner look if the design stuck with just brick and glass and eliminated the metal panels. It would also be more in line with the brick buildings the design team showed the commission they were inspired by, he said.

“I think what’s elegant about those images that show your precedence is they’re all brick and glass,” Simpson said. “There’s no metal to steal the show.”

Another commission concern with the proposed design was the planned live-work units on the ground-floor facing Southeast Belmont Street. Commission Vice Chairman Ben Kaiser pointed out that at the urging of the design commission the Portland City Council is considering a moratorium on ground-floor residential units.

“I’m a proponent of having the whole ground floor (be) retail,” he said. “I think you could make this a really successful ground floor commercial level … We’re having a hard time finding a successful ground floor residential (level).”

Given how the area surrounding the project site is evolving, Commissioner Guenevere Millius  agreed that replacing the ground-floor apartments with commercial space would be better.

“I think living on the ground floor on Belmont is a tough proposition,” she said. “These are going to be your least favorite units unless there is a retail component … I know it’s a 40 mile-per-hour neighborhood right now, but it will become more walkable in just a few years.”

The project team scheduled a second design review hearing in front of the commission on June 4.

HAMPTON INN & SUITES PEARL

Commissioners also critiqued on Thursday plans by Madison, Wisconsin-based Raymond Management Co.  to build a Hampton Inn & Suites hotel in place of two older warehouse structures in the Pearl District, at 821 N.W. Everett St., 338 N.W. Ninth Ave. and 303 N.W. Park.

The project is being designed by Madison-based Gary Brink & Associates Architects and Portland-based Hennebery Eddy Architects. Plans call for an eight-story, 201,000-square-foot hotel with 243 rooms, 9,000-square-feet of ground floor retail and 104 parking spots on the second and third floors and an eco-roof on the fourth floor.

One of the commission’s biggest concerns was how development would interact with the Park Northwest Condominiums building it would wrap around. Millius pointed out that information was conspicuously absent from the materials the design team provided to the commission.

“I feel like that’s what’s missing from your packet … a better sense of the conversation between your building and theirs,” she said.

Park Northwest residents and other neighbors who testified at the hearing said they had a series of concerns with proposed development, including noise from the hotel’s rooftop mechanical equipment right outside their windows. They urged the developer to enhance the proposed eco-roof to make up for their lost views.

Millius said it fell on the design commission to push the hotel developer and architects to address these concerns.

“Our job is to try and mitigate that disaster,” she told the project team. “The most contextual building you have around is (Park Northwest) … I want to see some of those things you’re going to do to help.”

Commissioners on Thursday also offered feedback on the Carbon12 mixed-use project. The proposed residential development at 12 N.E. Fremont St. would include eight stories of cross-laminated timber(CLT) construction over a concrete basement, according to plans submitted to the city by Portland-based Kaiser Group and PATH Architecture.

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SERA Architects, midway through schematic design for a new mixed-use development that will replace the Oregon Ballet Theatre building in Southeast Portland, is seeking design advice from the city.

Kurt Schultz, a SERA principal, scheduled a Feb. 5 hearing to gain feedback from the Portland Design Commission for Mill Creek Residential Trust‘s Modera Belmont project. The planned six-story, 230,000-square-foot building, at 818 S.E. Sixth Ave., will have approximately 220 residential units, ground-floor retail space and below-grade parking.

The design team is making good progress, but would like commission’s feedback on the overall look of the project before seeking city design review approval, said Sam Rodriguez, managing director of Mill Creek Residential Trust’s Portland office.

“The aesthetics are up in the air right now,” he said. “It’s going to be kind of a modern building picking up from the industrial influences in the neighborhood.”

The development will be geared to attract residents age 25 to 35, with amenities such as a bike storage and repair room and a rooftop terrace, Rodriguez said. Plans for the ground floor call for 7,000 to 8,000 square feet of retail space facing Southeast Morrison Street, and live-work units facing Southeast Belmont Street.

Mill Creek Residential Trust last fall purchased the 14,000-square-foot Oregon Ballet Theatre building, with plans to demolish the 74-year-old structure to make way for new development. Rodriguez declined to give the sale price and the estimated cost of the project.

Rodriguez said he hopes to start construction on the development by the end of this year. Mill Creek Residential Trust will serve as the general contractor.

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