Outstanding issues remain for the Northbound 30 Collaborative development.

The Portland Design Commission got its second look at the dense multifamily project near Forest Park in Northwest Portland on Thursday. The project team – developer Noel Johnson and Leeb Architects – asked for extension of the design review hearing before a vote could be called.

The Northbound 30 Collaborative (NB30) is a combination of eight buildings approved previously (designed by Waechter Architecture and Jones Architecture) and five proposed additional buildings.

In total, the development would provide 219 total multifamily units on a site at Northwest 29th Avenue and Nicolai Street. Each building would be five stories and have 16 to 19 units. That would allow the project team to avoid inclusionary housing requirements for buildings that hold 20 units or more.

The design proposed on Thursday called for a switch for two of the additional buildings from a brick exterior to fiber cement siding. Robert Leeb, the applicant, said the team had observed wood shrink in similar cross-laminated-timber buildings and cause brick to crack.

When it was mentioned that the Wilson Forest Park Homes nearby are of a similar structure and have a brick exterior, Johnson, the developer of the townhomes, said the team used a different construction method than what is proposed. The townhomes’ brick sits on top of the concrete stem walls with no ledgers, allowing for the bricks’ weight to be completely off the CLT.

Another design change since the previous hearing in April include the addition of a 20-foot-to-25-foot vehicle and pedestrian gate along Northwest 29th Avenue. Other access to the site would be from Northwest 30th Avenue via a portico in Building 13 for pedestrians and a vehicle driveway through Building 2.

In the middle of the site would be a courtyard consisting of a long driveway for vehicles and stacked parking stalls.

With only two main pedestrian entrances from the street proposed, concerns were raised by commissioners about accessibility. Commissioner Jessica Molinar said people in wheelchairs effectively would have to wheel themselves down a driveway and go through a tucked-behind parking area to enter the building.

“To me (that) is not equitable,” she said.

That sentiment was echoed by other commissioners.

Johnson explained that each building would have an ADA parking stall immediately outside of it, eliminating the need to travel through a parking garage. It is a different configuration than for typical multifamily developments, he acknowledged.

“Here they’re immediately outside of their car – they’re immediately in(side) and … it’s a 10-to-20-foot distance to the elevator, and it’s no more than a 10-to-20-foot distance to their home,” he said. “That’s for every single building, which I’m really excited and proud of.”

Johnson added that it is much better than the standard configuration and that residents could simply direct a friend on how to access the site from the street.

“I just absolutely disagree,” Molinar said. “Yes, you’ve solved the problem for one car in one building (for) each building. But if … that person has visitors or if someone is just looking for a place to go in because they’re lost … where do those people go? They’re just wandering around in a wheelchair, or with a walking device or some other kind of mobility device out in what is really gonna feel like a parking area.”

Molinar said at the present the design offers two distinctly different access experiences for abled persons and disabled persons. The latter would be required to cross through a parking lot and through a “back tunnel way” to reach the elevator.

Commissioner Zari Santner agreed with Molinar, saying that equity is likely not going to be fully achieved with this design as proposed.

Commissioners suggested that a cover – even a small one – be added over the pathway in the courtyard from Building 4 to Building 13 so anybody with an accessibility device does not have to go in and out of rain.

Johnson said that is a great suggestion.

As of Thursday, Bureau of Development Services staff did not yet recommend approval for the project. Commissioners said that if the project team were to add artwork to the vehicle gate along Northwest 29th Avenue that would advance the development in the right direction.

The NB30 Collaborative project team will return before the Design Commission on June 16.

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Design commissioners on Thursday suggested significant changes to a developer’s proposal for a mass-timber multifamily project near Forest Park in Northwest Portland.

Noel Johnson, an independent local developer, is proposing to build 13 structures containing 219 total multifamily units at Northwest 29th Avenue and Nicolai Street. Each building would have 16 to 19 units.

The development, known as Northbound 30 Collaborative, would be a companion to Johnson’s adjacent Wilson Forest Park Townhomes; construction of its final units is nearly complete. Both developments feature low-slung residences made from cross-laminated timber, but they have distinct investors and are separate legal entities.

Eight of the Northbound 30 (NB30) buildings were previously approved, with designs by Waechter Architecture and Jones Architecture. On Thursday, Johnson sought design advice for five additional buildings designed by Leeb Architects. The site gained room for more buildings after the Northwest Children’s Theater and School found a downtown location that better suited the organization’s needs, Johnson said.

The Design Commission awarded the previous design for NB30 a citation for design excellence. The newly proposed buildings still need some work, commissioners said Thursday.

“I don’t think the design of the new buildings fits in with the design of the previous buildings,” Commissioner Jessica Molinar said. “I think it’s just too many moves.”

Commissioner Don Vallaster agreed.

“This thing doesn’t work for me,” he said. “This thing has to be simplified. … It’s too dense, it’s confusing and it muddles the whole concept.”

The site has a base 3:1 floor-area ratio, and a height limit of 65 feet. Materials were chosen to echo Forest Park and the industrial sanctuary to the north, Johnson said.

Commissioners criticized a pedestrian walkway that they said leads to little except a leasing office and interacts too much with vehicle traffic. They also criticized a column holding up one of the building corners.

NB30 Collaborative would furnish 98 vehicle parking spaces, including 12 surface spots. Bicycle parking would total 345 spaces, including 219 in-unit spots.

There was some disagreement Thursday about whether the development met bike parking requirements when calculated separately with the five newest buildings, or overall. There are also limits to how many bike parking spaces can be provided in units, and even how far from the door they can be, Bureau of Development Services planner Grace Jeffreys said.

“We believe we fully meet code,” Johnson said.

Johnson told commissioners he and Leeb Architects would work to address their concerns.

“You’ve given us a lot of changes that we can incorporate to show respect for your opinions,” he said. “We will go back and attempt to do so.”

Most of the suggested changes were minor and could be accomplished, Johnson said.

“I thought this was a pretty purely design-driven discussion, and that’s something I respect,” he said.

The massing scheme of separate buildings means the project is not subject to inclusionary housing requirements, which apply only to buildings of 20 units or more. Johnson, who has criticized the affordable housing policy, said the site lent itself to the broken-up massing.

“It’s the right massing for the neighborhood to have multiple small buildings,” he said. “It’s just the right design response.

“Separate from that – I don’t think our inclusionary housing program is working.”

The NB30 Collaborative project team is scheduled to return before the Design Commission on June 2.

Johnson said he expects to use I&E Construction as general contractor. The Wilsonville firm built the Wilson Forest Park Townhomes.

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Portland developer Cairn Pacific is moving forward with plans to construct eight small multifamily buildings near Forest Park in Northwest Portland.

The Northbound Collective development would feature cutting-edge architecture and building materials in a unique checkerboard site plan to maximize open space and corner units.

The buildings would be constructed of mass timber – either cross-laminated timber or mass-plywood panels – and range from 15 to 19 units. In total, the development would have approximately 144 units.

The concept is for something better than a typical apartment box, Cairn Pacific principal Noel Johnson said.

“In a post-COVID world, people will value their home even more,” he said.

The proposed development is part of a roughly 3-acre group of properties Cairn Pacific has collected in the area of Northwest 29th Avenue and Roosevelt Street. Nearby, the firm is proposing to build 14 East Coast-style attached row houses. Those are being designed by local architect Richard Potestio.

For Northbound Collective, Johnson invited Waechter Architecture and Jones Architecture to split the design task. Each firm is designing four of the buildings. Each building is unique – similar to, but not quite like any other.

Johnson described the idea as “variations on a theme,” as in classical music.

Each lot in the checkerboard layout will have no-build easement to create implied property lines and space for window openings on adjacent buildings.

“What’s cool is that the combination of a scheme we worked on jointly – and then we each went our own direction in architecture – has resulted in something that’s much richer than we would have come up with collaboratively,” said – Alan Jones, principal at Jones Architecture.

About 70 percent of the units will sit on building corners, far more than in a typical apartment building, providing more natural light and views.

“We’re able to put window openings on that property line façade,” said Ben Waechter, principal of Waechter Architecture. “Even though these are zero-lot-line buildings, we’re essentially able to put windows on all four sides on all of our buildings.”

The buildings will be different than most. The Waechter-designed structures are arranged in a donut shape, with a central landing or atrium on each floor. That enables the apartments to have no hallways.

Johnson, who previously lived next to the site for about 10 years, said he’s eager to provide housing in a growing neighborhood near Forest Park and employment centers such as Montgomery Park.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to make this totally underutilized area into something cool since about 2004,” Johnson said.

It’s a different approach for Cairn Pacific: The developer, with Johnson and founding principals Tom DiChiara and Rob Hinnen, has been a major force in transforming the Slabtown neighborhood with large-scale mixed-use projects including the L.L. Hawkins and Leland James buildings.

Northbound Collective appears likely to become one of the largest multifamily projects to avoid Portland’s inclusionary housing ordinance. It requires developers of buildings with at least 20 multifamily units to designate a portion of them as rent-restricted or pay a fee in lieu.

“There’s no inclusionary housing encumbrance,” Johnson said. “The unit count was driven by design considerations that are unique to each building.”

Mechanical parking will be provided in a ratio of 0.45 spaces per unit.

On Monday, the Portland Bureau of Development Services sent other city bureaus a request for responses to the developer’s proposal.

For now, the project team is waiting on permission to extend roads in the area. Cairn Pacific plans to build portions of Northwest 30th Avenue, Roosevelt Street and Wilson Street around the development.

The streets were supposed to have been built out after a 1982 City Council resolution, but the Portland Bureau of Transportation simply never built them, Johnson said. Cairn Pacific must record plats for the new development, but can’t do so until the roads are built, he said.

The project team is in discussions with general contractors experienced in building with mass timber. The developer and architects are aiming to bring the efficiency, visual warmth and environmental benefits that mass timber has given large office projects to a residential scale.

“We think there can be quite a bit of efficiency using CLT in a smaller footprint,” Jones said.

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