Pop Blocks – Daily Journal of Commerce /news/tag/pop-blocks/ Building and Construction News in Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest Wed, 02 Jul 2025 22:10:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.6 /files/2023/08/favicon.webp Pop Blocks – Daily Journal of Commerce /news/tag/pop-blocks/ 32 32 Splash /news/2025/07/02/splash-apartments-portland-pop-blocks/ Wed, 02 Jul 2025 22:10:20 +0000 /?p=510615 Splash Apartments brings 219 new homes, art, and sustainable design to Portland’s Kerns neighborhood as part of the Pop Blocks redevelopment.

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Photo credit: Hero Creative
Project name: Splash

Location: Portland

Completion: November 2024

Size: 335,000 square feet

Owners/Developers: , MetLife Investment Management

Architect:

Interior Designer: Bumgardner

Engineers: SSF Engineers, Tapani Plumbing, Patriot Fire Protection

General Contractor:

Submitting Company: R&H Construction

Other Key Participants: GTG Consultants, Marx/Okubo & Associates, City of Portland – Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and Bureau of Development Services, City of Portland Permitting & Development, Radler White Parks & Alexander

Subcontractors: Academy Specialties, A-Cut Above Concrete Cutting, A-Line Asphalt Maintenance, Alpha Construction, American Trash Management, Anderson Pool Works, Anderson Sandblasting, Architextures dba DLM, Authority Dock and Door, Bergelectric, BrightService Cleaning, Brix Paving Northwest, Builder Services Group dba JB Insulation, Builder’s Appliance Supply (BASCO), Canby Consulting, Concrete Inspection Services, Concreteworks Studio, Construction Specialties, CPC Equipment, Dallas Glass, DCI Engineers, Desert Sage WalL Systems, Dorothy Tester Sales, Eagle Striping Service, Frontier Door and Cabinets, Geopier Northwest, Graffiti Removal Services, Hills Wet Blasting, Interior Technology, Intuitive Engineering, IRS Environmental of Portland, Jack’s Overhead Door, Kent Crane Inspection Services, Klinger Masonry, Konell Construction & Demolition, LaRusso Concrete, Marion Construction, McDonald & Wetle, Mid-Valley, Morrow Equipment, Mt. Hood Steel & Wood, NessCampbell Crane, Northwest Scaffold Service, Ocean Park Mechanical, Oregon Commercial Painters, Pacific Excavation, Pacific Foundation, Pacific Green Protection, Pacific Stone Installers, Parker Concrete, Patriot Fire Protection, Paulson Floor Coverings, Pavement Maintenance, Performance Contracting, Pioneer Millworks, Pioneer Sheet Metal, Portland Fasteners, Proclean, Railpro of Oregon, Rapid Response Bio-Clean, Red Dog Fabrication, River City Environmental, Sawtooth Caulking, Sign Wizards, Specialty Metal Fabricators, Stealth Monitoring, Sunbelt Rentals, Superior Fence & Construction, Tapani Plumbing, Teufel Nursery, ThyssenKrupp Elevator, Tradebrothers NW, Uncommon Cabinetry, VPI Quality Windows, Westlake Consultants, Westside Drywall, Whirlpool, Willamette Building Services, WMX Construction

The corner of Northeast Sandy Boulevard in Portland’s has undergone a dramatic transformation with the completion of Splash, the first phase of the development on the former Pepsi bottling facilities site.

The Splash development is comprised of two main parts: a ground-up and the renovation of the adjacent . is an eight-story mixed-use building divided into two towers united by skybridges on six floors. The bridges feature a DMX controller lighting system that rotates patterns and colors every 15 minutes from dusk until dawn, creating a distinctive visual landmark. The building features 219 residential units in a mix of live/work space, market-rate apartments, townhouse units and affordable housing. The ground floor features commercial spaces.

The development includes 8,600 square feet of community plazas on the east and south sides, filled with planters, architectural wood benches and a 23-foot polished stainless-steel sculpture designed by Portuguese artist Michael Benisty. The 3,500-pound artwork, titled “Splash,” is one of the most significant pieces of quasi- installed in Portland in the last 25 years.

Splash was Portland’s first Planned Development and the city’s second five-over-three construction project. Project general contractor was R&H Construction and designer was Mithun.

The project preserved the iconic 1961 Pepsi pavilion, renovating the mid-century structure with its distinctive curved roof while maintaining the original architectural intent. After purchasing the site, Security Properties was given a stack of old drawings of the building, including the original architectural drawings done by Scott & Payne in 1959. Mithun was able to take that information and recreate the original design intent using modern materials. The renovated 8,000-square-foot pavilion is now lease-ready for commercial use.

Splash incorporated several sustainable innovations, including a water heating system using Nyle Reverse Cycle Chiller units that eliminate natural gas and use significantly less electricity than traditional electric water heaters. The system has garnered national attention, with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance monitoring its performance.

The development has received the largest incentive rebate check ever from the Energy Trust of Oregon and is on track to achieve Earth Advantage Platinum certification. Additional sustainable elements include 40 electric vehicle charging stations, drought-tolerant landscaping, ample bike parking and low-VOC construction materials.

Splash is the first phase of a larger master-planned redevelopment on the 5.5-acre site. A multi-modal woonerf was developed on the north side of the development, a nod to future phases of the site’s masterplan.

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Construction of Pop Blocks project poised to begin /news/2021/11/03/construction-pop-blocks-project-poised-begin/ Wed, 03 Nov 2021 21:27:15 +0000 /?p=261538 A $41.9 million construction permit was issued recently by the Portland Bureau of Development Services for a project at the Pop Blocks.

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, in Northeast Portland, will have a total of 219 units in two eight-story wings. (, courtesy of )

A $41.9 million construction permit was issued recently by the Portland Bureau of Development Services for work at the .

Splash Apartments will be an eight-story, 219-unit development at 875 N.E. 27th Ave., in the . Two wings, in a perpendicular layout, will be connected via seven sky-bridges – one each for floors 2-8. At ground level, there will be 13,000 square feet of retail space and approximately 200 parking spaces. Forty-four apartments will be reserved for residents at 60 percent (or less) of the area median income.

Seattle-based Security Properties is the developer and owner of Splash Apartments. Mithun‘s Seattle office is handling design. The development will rise on a 61,000-square-foot parcel that also holds the prominent, 59-year-old, bowstring-truss Pavilion Building. It will be restored and become mixed-use space; a separate, $2 million permit for work there was issued in late August. The site also will gain a woonerf (a Dutch-style multimodal street) as an extension of Northeast Pacific Street.

The Pop Blocks (formerly “”) development planned for five acres was approved by the Portland Design Commission in December 2018. Five distinct parcels were granted increases in allowable building height from 55 feet to 120 feet and floor area ratio from 3.0 to 5.0.

The contractor for Splash Apartments is . A construction start date will be announced soon, a Security Properties representative stated. Work is expected to finish in the first quarter of 2024.

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