Beam Development is looking to build a trio of industrial office buildings to further cement the Central Eastside Industrial District‘s future as a home for creative jobs.

Beam was selected in May by Prosper Portland as preferred developer for the ODOT blocks – three parcels along Southeast Water Avenue. The Oregon Department of Transportation retains the western portion of each block.

Beam Development founder Brad Malsin and his son, fellow principal Jonathan Malsin, said they envision each block holding one building. Two would be mid-rise buildings, likely topping out at six stories. The ground floors may become hubs for light manufacturing or “maker” space, and be topped by five floors of creative office space.

Each building would include up to 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, likely for food and beverage. Each building is allowed to have up to 5,000 square feet of traditional office space, according to zoning under the proposed Central City 2035 plan; the City Council is slated to adopt the plan this week.

The middle building may include structured parking that could be owned by Prosper Portland, although plans for the ODOT blocks are in an early stage.

“We feel there’s that opportunity to work to the benefit of the city, to the benefit of the district, to the benefit of the businesses and the community at large,” Brad Malsin said.

Developers are flooding the Portland market with office space in response to strong employment growth. Construction crews were building more than 1 million square feet of offices during the first quarter of 2018, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. And new proposals keep coming, such as Platform – planned as a half-block building with seven stories of offices. That project from local developer Project^ recently received rave reviews in its debut before the Portland Design Commission. Meanwhile, Intrinsic Ventures of California envisions two potential creative-office buildings for the Lower Division neighborhood.

Rents for new construction have risen and pre-leasing has been strong. The Towne Storage building, converted into offices via an adaptive reuse project, fetched a local record $630 per square foot when it sold in April to CBRE Global Investors.

Beam Development will look to lease space in the ODOT blocks to a mix of large and small companies, the executives said. The firm hopes to lease the space to employers, and perhaps avoid adding to the surge of co-working space from fast-growing chains such as WeWork and CENTRL.

Beam seeks to differentiate from other office projects being delivered, Jonathan Malsin said. Industrial or manufacturing space could give users access to lab equipment or machinery.

Parking will play a major role in ODOT blocks development. Prosper Portland, in its request for proposals, asked for twice as much parking as office space. Beam’s proposal falls short of that, but the developer is looking to contribute a significant number of spaces.

“We are motivated to try to solve some of the parking constraints in the district at large,” Brad Malsin said. “I can’t tell you how many spots we’re going to be able to offer and what’s going to make sense, but we certainly want to address the fact that there’s a major parking shortage for the foreseeable future.”

Hacker and Mackenzie are on board to design the project. Colas Construction will serve as general contractor. It’s possible the three buildings will be built in phases, Jonathan Malsin said.

The buildings may be designed with mass-timber frames and concrete diaphragms and cores, he said.

The blocks are along Water Avenue between Taylor and Madison streets. The developable parcels are 34,809 square feet, 34,862 square feet and 25,601 square feet, respectively.

Prosper Portland paid $2.485 million for the ODOT blocks. ODOT acquired the properties decades ago as part of the right of way for Interstate 5. The state agency will retain those portions of the property for the foreseeable future, a spokesman said.

ODOT considers the site useful for managing water runoff from I-5. And it could come in handy if the agency at some later date decides to widen I-5.

“That’s always a possibility,” ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton said. “There’s nothing in the works on that right now.”

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Platform, a mixed-use building from Portland developer Project^ planned for the Central Eastside, enjoyed a rapturous reception from the Portland Design Commission on Thursday.

The eight-story building would occupy a half-block at 1100-1300 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., between Taylor and Salmon streets. The ground floor would hold retail space, including a café or restaurant at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Taylor Street. The top seven floors would offer office space.

Platform would also have two floors of below-ground parking, with access provided in the middle of the block on Salmon Street.

Thursday’s hearing was for commissioners to provide device advice. The project will return for a Type III design review hearing.

Allied Works Architecture‘s design essentially cuts the building in two on the upper floors, allowing light to pass through. The building is replete with decks, which the architects said serve to connect the building to the street below. Plans call for a cascading stormwater management system, with planters on each floor handling water descending from the floor above.

The design extensively uses glass and a bronze-colored metal material that would have a patina. The metal material has not been selected, but it’s likely to be aluminum, Allied Works associate principal Brent Linden said.

Platform is planned as the first phase of a two-phase development. The same landowner – listed in public records as William Floberg and EMCF, a limited liability company – also owns the block to the north. The area is zoned “EXd,” for central employment with a design overlay. (Project^ did not return Thursday a message requesting comment on development plans).

Platform, if built, would serve as a gateway to drivers coming to or from the Morrison and Hawthorne bridges and the Oregon Route 99E couplet. The site currently holds a one-story auto shop.

A city staff report listed a $30 million valuation for the Platform project.

Design commissioners blanketed the proposal with praise.

Commissioner Don Vallaster: “This is probably one of the best buildings we’ve ever had presented to us, at least in my tenure.”

Commissioner Tad Savinar: “Extraordinary. Could we have one of these (on) the west side? Yeah, I think it’s incredible.”

Commissioner Sam Rodriguez: “It’s a fantastic composition.”

Chairwoman Julie Livingston: “It’s just incredibly clear and thoughtful.”

Linden said he appreciated the positive reception from the Design Commission.

“I’m very excited about the comments,” he said. “I’m glad you guys like it.”

Platform is designed to connect well with other new construction in the burgeoning Central Eastside.

“We have a real passion for vibrant pedestrian neighborhoods and helping to create a more vibrant pedestrian neighborhood here in the Central Eastside,” Linden said. “There’s a lot of these disparate places on a pedestrian scale, but they’re somewhat disconnected.”

Platform would be the latest in a bumper crop of office buildings in the Central Eastside Industrial District. Projects including the proposed Hammer & Hand, Tree Farm and 120 Clay buildings seek to fulfill office demand in the district.

Average direct asking rents in the close-in Eastside rose to $32.41 per square foot during the first quarter, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle report. That was up 6 percent from a year earlier.

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