The first project within the OMSI District has a green light. The Portland Design Commission on Thursday approved the design of a five-story, 100-unit affordable housing development, Los Colibris, on tract A of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry campus.

Holst Architecture designed the approximately 86,500-square-foot building planned at 1701 S.E. Water Ave. The project is being developed by Hacienda CDC and Edlen & Co. OMSI is the landowner. The project team also includes civil engineer KPFF, landscape architect PLACE, and Colas Construction.

Portland Permitting & Development values the project at $36 million. No specific construction schedule exists at this time, Holst Architecture principal and owner Dave Otte stated in an email. The project team will next look to secure funding.

Previously, the project team received design advice during a hearing in November 2025.

The site’s primary challenge is its location adjacent to Interstate 5. A large, multiuse courtyard on the east side faces away from the freeway to give residents a space shielded from traffic noise, the project’s narrative states.

Landscaping will be intense closer to the building, Holst Architecture senior associate Dustin Furseth said, adding that color will also be a key component.

“We think something bright and colorful next to OMSI adds to the beauty of that area,” he said.

The building’s name, Los Colibris (“The Hummingbirds”), ties into the design, Furseth said.

“Hummingbirds have a neutral palette often with highlights of color, which I think is a nice way of thinking about how to add color and vibrancy to a project,” he said.

Overall, the building will have a neutral color with hints of color at the windows and more vibrancy on the massing at the courtyard and entry.

Building materials will include primarily fiber cement with options for texture and paneled direction. Metal panels might have deeper texture folding like chevrons able to reflect color, Furseth said. The design team is exploring custom accent colors for fiber cement.

Layers of glazing are planned at the front entrance and the community room.

The roof will hold heat pumps and mini splits. Most of the rooftop equipment will be relatively low in sightlines, Furseth said.

Commissioner Brian McCarter added that he’d like to see a buffer around the children’s play area.

The commission’s approval came with five design modifications and 12 master plan amendments. One condition requires a landscape buffer of at least 10 feet maintained for the length of the building’s south elevation, at the northern side of the western half of the Bull Run pathway. Alternative configurations would be considered through a staff-level type II design review. This will preserve existing trees to screen the ground-floor units as the Bull Run pathway develops.

Modifications were approved for zoning code standards. These include providing approximately 57.5 percent of frontage and a wide courtyard to create active public space, creating an arcade along the east façade, modifying window standards and uses on the ground floor, and using 50 percent of the roof area for solar panels.

Master plan amendments include changing the timeline of development of open space 2, reducing the extent of the Bull Run improvements associated with tract A, removing the 20-foot building setback above 50 feet in height for tract A, removing the building pass-through at tract A and shifting vehicle access to the north, relocating the private wastewater treatment plant to a location to be determined, delaying provision of the OMSI identity framework, transferring 2,000 square feet of floor area to tract A from other tracts, removing the building line requirement from the north side of tract A, reducing the ground floor height requirement for tract A, and adjusting the Southeast Old Water Avenue right of way.

The wastewater treatment plant will likely be relocated to the south on tract A or tract F, according to OMSI.

Artwork will be included in the project; OMSI plans to be involved in the process.

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Two appeals of the Portland Design Commission‘s approval of a master plan for redevelopment of Lloyd Center were initially denied by the Portland City Council on Wednesday; the final vote is scheduled for later this month.

The appeals argued for preserving the Lloyd Center indoor ice rink and the entire mall. The two appellants include the Save Lloyd Ice Coalition and Jennifer Gilmore-Robinson for the ice rink and the Save Lloyd campaign/Matthew Henderson for the mall.

The Design Commission approved the master plan in March. The land use review included a voluntary Central City Master Plan for future redevelopment of the 27.1-acre site, which includes the mall.

The city council heard testimony during two hearings in June and received written testimony. Many of the comments expressed support for preserving the ice rink and mall.

“If the ice rink cannot be preserved in Urban Renaissance Group‘s master plan, it’s important that the city of Portland commit to a permanent, year-round replacement ice skating rink that is affordable and accessible to all residents,” the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association stated in its written testimony.

“I support thoughtful redevelopment of the Lloyd Center site, but redevelopment should not come at the expense of an irreplaceable community resource,” Portland resident Stacey Moy stated in written testimony. “If developers wish to move forward with their plans, they should be required to include a binding commitment to preserve, replace, or relocate the year-round ice rink within the development area before approvals are granted.”

If the appeals were granted, there would be no Central City Master Plan criteria required for the site. That would include open space, which currently amounts to about 6 acres, according to Urban Renaissance Group. The team would also still be able to proceed with demolition because it is a separate decision process, a city staff report states. The mall is scheduled to close on Aug. 8.

“I have listened closely to the hours of public testimony and felt the deep love this community holds for the Lloyd Center, especially the iconic ice rink that has anchored generations of family memories, first dates, and community gatherings,” Councilor Loretta Smith said. “Please know that my vote to approve the Central City Master Plan is not to dismantle that rich history, nor is it a validation of losing something that we all love. It is instead a difficult but necessary step toward securing a viable future to Northeast Portland.”

Smith also said that the council cannot vote to require an ice rink be included in redevelopment of the site.

The council voted no on the appeals, with a formal final vote slated for July 29.

The city council’s decision could be appealed to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. An appeal would need to be submitted to LUBA within 21 days after the city council’s decision, according to the city.

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The Portland Design Commission has approved design review of plans to replace the existing Ida B. Wells High School with a new 289,500-square-foot building on the south edge of the 35-acre site. The school is located at 1151 SW Vermont St., Portland.

The design review was approved last week with a conditional of approval that requires four public access easements, two press box options (a one-story and two-story alternative) and two options of either a textured or smooth thin brick for the building’s exterior.

Bora Architecture & Interiors designed the project for Portland Public Schools. The project team also includes Access Architecture of Vancouver, Washington (associate architect, Walker Macy (landscape architect), KPFF (civil and structural engineering), PAE Engineers (MEP), and general contractor Hoffman Construction.

There were three design advice request hearings on the proposal since 2024, with the last held last February.

The new high school building is proposed to be three stories with a fourth level on the west side, as the building form steps down the sloping site, the staff report states.

The new building will be built on the south edge of the site along Vermont Street. It will be constructed while the existing building remains open for students. The project will be developed in phases and some of the features of the site, such as a practice field, baseball field and tennis courts, will be relocated. A new track and field will be developed in the same space as the existing field.

An existing community swimming pool, operated by Portland Parks & Recreation, will remain open on the site. Becca Cavell, associate principal at Bora Architecture & Interiors, said the project will provide a new pool support building because facilities, such as locker rooms and showers, are currently in the existing Ida B. Wells High School. Portland Public Schools plans to coordinate with Portland Parks & Recreation for athletes to use the facilities when the pool is not open.

The final design of the new high school includes a thin brick combined with glass fiber reinforced concrete with both textured and non-textured options. The design team is pursuing the textured brick and keeping the smooth brick as a backup option.

“I think I’ve been convinced about the rough textured brick,” Commissioner Brian McCarter said. “It looks really, really promising in the renderings.”

Chelsea McCann, Walker Macy’s managing principal, said there will be two main outdoor spaces: at the main entry and a student courtyard and terrace on the west side.

“I think the part of the building with the main entry connecting visually and physically to the student terrace beyond is really compelling,” Commissioner Sarah Vaz said.

Pedestrian connections across the site will be improved and will include three north/south connections, including a sidewalk on the east side of the west parking lot between Rieke Elementary and the high school, a mid-campus connection between the football field and the pool facility and a third connection at the far eastern side of the campus.

There will be two crosswalks south of the main entry on each side of the intersection.

On the Rieke side, the design has provided some community access for bicyclists and pedestrians, while keeping safety in mind. Vehicles will not be able to use the Rieke driveway as a cut-through during school hours. For bicycles, there is a bike route around Rieke Elementary School. Outside of school hours, cyclists can either continue to use that route or share the roadway.

“I really appreciate the attention to public realm,” Vice chair Joe Swank said. “And I think the design team’s done a really good job of solving for Rieke Road in particular.”

On the north campus entry, there will be a raised, widened pedestrian crosswalk. There will also be some improvements to the back of the stadium, such as adding seating and signage.

Cavell said the design does not include a cover to the grandstands, due to cost, but is planning for a possible future roof, which would be part of a future land use review process.

There was some concern from Commissioner Sarah Vaz regarding screening of mechanical equipment on the roof and that the equipment might be visible in faraway views. Commissioners Swank and Chair Chandra Robinson felt that the equipment would not be visible.

Up next for the project is a Type III conditional use hearing that is for July 22 by the city’s hearings officer, as the project requires both design review and conditional use review.

Construction is estimated to start in December, with the new building being complete in summer 2029 and the athletic fields in fall 2030, according to Portland Public Schools’ website.

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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday got its first look at plans to develop Broadway Corridor‘s Parcel 6 with a 13-story mixed-use tower. The property is located at the northeast corner on Northwest Ninth Avenue and Johnson Street.

This is the second development within the Broadway Corridor Master Plan area to advance. The first, Block 4A, was presented to the commission for design advice last year and recently was approved by city staff, Portland Permitting & Development staffer Staci Monroe said.

The Parcel 6 project is valued at $95 million, according to Portland Permitting & Development.

Mithun is the project’s designer. The team also includes lead developer Related Northwest, co-developer Melvin Mark, and public partner/owner Prosper Portland.

The 140-foot-tall building would be an L-shaped concrete tower atop a three-story podium. The proposal is for 200-plus middle-income residential units for people earning 50 to 120 percent of the area median income. The building would include 4,000 square feet of retail/commercial space on the ground floor, structured parking for 100 vehicles, on-site loading space, and 100 bicycle parking spaces. Plans include the full design and partial development of the Park Avenue alley along the eastern frontage.

A net zero goal is proposed for the project. The southwest-facing L-shaped massing would reduce glazing costs and provide both sunny and shady areas for residents, according to the design team.

Exterior building materials would include metal cladding on the upper tower and brick below. Commissioner Brian McCarter said the differentiation in materials between the tower and the podium is strong and reads as a very simple material palette.

Vice chair Joe Swank said he believes the design of the tower and podium is strong on Ninth Avenue and Johnson Street but along the Park Avenue alley and Kearney Street, the brick and metal do not read as much like a podium. Team members believe the design is working so far on a conceptual level, Mithun partner Heidi Oien said, but they will explore it further. McCarter added that he believes there is good direction and as the design is refined, it will improve.

Active use is required on the ground floor along Johnson Street, where there will be widened sidewalks.

“The ground floor consists of commercial space, lobby, leasing office and back-of-house elements,” Monroe said of the proposal.

Vehicle access will be available on all frontages except for the eastern. There, the Park Avenue alley will be a 40-foot-wide public, pedestrian-only space spanning the length of Parcel 6 (Block 6) and Block 7. A creative space is planned for this area to draw people in, Monroe said; elements could include public art, plants, lighting, and materiality. Mithun is proposing an open, paved space. The design team envisions clusters of trees for shade, Mithun partner Dorothy Faris said.

Plans call for a two-way cycle track on the south side of Johnson Street and a shared bike lane on Ninth Avenue. Vehicle and bike parking would be along the frontages and in a parking garage. The garage and loading area would be accessed off Kearney Street.

The project team is proposing a modification to ground-floor window coverage along Kearney Street, because more than half of this frontage would be garage access, loading space, mechanical space and back-of-house space. The requirement is for 40 percent coverage by ground-floor windows, and Mithun is seeking a 15 percent reduction.

One portion of this frontage would be the bicycle room. The design team should seek a way to include glazing for the room but still ensure it’s private and secure for residents, McCarter said.

For public art, the master plan identifies six potential locations, two of which are adjacent to Parcel 6 – one at the northeast corner of Johnson Street and Ninth Avenue and one in the Park Avenue alley along the parcel’s eastern frontage. Public art is not identified on the proposed site plan; however, the project team plans to begin discussions with the city’s Office of Arts & Culture.

Weather protection is not yet identified in the proposal, but Oien said the team intends to provide something overhead along Johnson Street and could explore other areas if necessary. The commissioners suggested making sure canopies are adequate along Johnson Street and the Park Avenue alley.

If funded, ground is expected to be broken in late 2027.

The team will likely pursue a Type IX design review by staff, Monroe said. However, Type II or Type III are also options.

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Each year, the Portland Design Commission produces a report that details development in the city and highlights major projects.

This year’s State of the City report does that and a little more: It defends the design review process itself.

The report, prepared by commissioners led by Chairwoman Chandra Robinson, an architect, was adopted by the commission on March 19. It comes as the City Council has requested a separate report on design review with an eye toward reform — including a possible temporary suspension of design review requirements.

The report to the City Council, by staff of Portland Permitting and Development as well as Planning and Sustainability, is due on April 9.

Robinson emphasized the Design Commission’s flexibility, in presenting the State of the City on March 19. In recent years, the commission has adjusted to design overlay zone amendments in 2021, revamped historic resource codes in 2022, streamlined design review and neighborhood contact procedures in 2024, and implemented code changes to design and development standards in 2025.

“These are all intended to improve outcomes for development, right?” Robinson said. “We want to encourage it, and we want to make things simpler when we can.”

Robinson backed discretionary review, whereby commissioners are guided by design review standards but not limited to them.

“When we have discretionary review, we’re able to allow modifications that are not strictly allowed by the zoning code and by standards,” Robinson said. “So, it is helpful to come through the Design Commission if there are things in your project that do not fit standards.”

Commissioners pointed to their approvals of major projects including Hollywood HUB, a 222-unit affordable housing building under construction on Northeast Halsey Street; the Lloyd Center concert venue, and Portland State University’s 80,000-square-foot Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design.

Production of market-rate housing has plunged in recent years, and design review has come under fire for adding costly delays. Other cities have curtailed design review; in September 2025, the Seattle City Council suspended design review requirements.

But Portland design commissioners laid the blame for declining construction on market forces and not regulatory obstacles.

“Because of economic conditions and the cost of borrowing money, the cost of construction has been a real difficult obstacle over the last few years, and we’re seeing diminishing projects coming through and not very many cranes on the skyline,” Commissioner Brian McCarter said during the March 19 meeting.

“However, I think Design Commission always remembers that we are that body who is approving real projects that are going to be built out there, and they’re going to be basically the implementation of our vision of the city we want to be,” McCarter added.

In previous years, design commissioners have presented the report to the City Council in person during a public council meeting. No such presentation is scheduled this year amid the reform push.

“We don’t have dates scheduled for a presentation of the State of the Cities reports (for both the Design Commission and the Historic Landmarks Commission) to the City Council or one of its committees,” Permitting & Development spokesman Ken Ray stated in an email. “I do not know if a presentation will be scheduled or if the reports will be provided to the City Council by other means.”

Elliott Kozuch, spokesman for the city’s Community and Economic Development departments, noted that the State of the City report is not finalized.

“It is within council’s purview to determine whether they would like the information presented at an upcoming council or committee meeting,” Kozuch wrote in an email.

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A master plan proposal for redevelopment of the Lloyd Center mall received the Portland Design Commission‘s unanimous approval on Thursday.

The 27.1-acre site, in Northeast Portland, consists of the mall and a Regal Cinemas parking lot. The master plan divides the parcels into 14 areas with approximately 7 million gross square feet of allowed development, buildings as tall as 225 feet, and approximately 6.18 acres of public open spaces and new public rights-of-way.

ZGF Architects designed the master plan for owners Urban Renaissance Group and KKR Real Estate Finance Trust.

The vision of the master plan “transforms an aging mall that is no longer economically sustainable into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood with housing, retail, and open space where Portlanders can live, work, and play,” Tom Kilbane, managing director of Urban Renaissance Group’s Portland office, stated in an email.

“Lloyd Center will always hold a special place in the hearts of Portlanders,” he stated, “and now it’s poised to play a leading role in the city’s revitalization.”

Redevelopment will occur in phases. No specific plan for demolition exists yet, but it would likely be full demolition rather than a phased approach, because the mall shares centralized infrastructure for utilities. Because these utilities are fully integrated, it is not feasible to isolate or maintain services for one portion of the property while decommissioning another, according to a letter from the applicant’s attorney.

During the previous Design Commission hearing for the master plan, more than 50 people spoke, many in opposition. They lamented plans to demolish the mall and its indoor ice rink.

Commissioner Tina Bue addressed that public testimony, stating that the demolition aspects are outside of the commission’s purview. But she added that she believes the master plan has great potential in open spaces and neighborhood extensions.

“The community spoke loud and clearly about having a year-round ice rink and the importance of the mall being a third space,” she said. “I believe Portlanders will create something new.”

Commission Vice Chair Joe Swank added, “The Lloyd Center has really been de facto public space — public realm — for 65 years in the city. It really has, I think, a following and an ability to captivate people in that way.”

The small business space and the ice rink now in the Lloyd Center mall are community assets, Swank added. He encouraged stakeholders who are passionate about those spaces to follow the process of the Lloyd-Holladay TIF District with the city and track where funds are being spent.

Public art and facade expressions were not part of the master plan and should be considered as aspects of the development of the 14 individual parcels, Commission Chair Chandra Robinson said.

The master plan was approved by the commission unanimously, with conditions of approval attached. Conditions include proposed open spaces being subject to public access easements and allowing public access, designs of each proposed open space and accessway being evaluated through a type II design review process, and buildings in areas shown to have 50 percent ground floor use meeting city code. Several other conditions related to transportation, environmental service and water service were also added.

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Portland architect Chandra Robinson, known for designing a series of equity-focused projects, has struck out on her own.

Robinson recently left LEVER Architecture to start �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����. The time had come for her to start her own firm, she said.

“It just felt like I could generate more work for myself, and I could take it in a different direction and operate differently,” she said.

Robinson served for seven years at LEVER — most of that time as a principal, a promotion she earned after helping the firm gain new work as projects focused on racial and social equity proliferated in Portland.

Four projects on which Robinson led design opened last year: two Multnomah County library branches in North Portland and Albina, in the center of Portland’s Black community; and two affordable housing projects — the 94-unit Albina One project for Albina Vision Trust, and the 187-unit T. Joyce Phillips (formerly known as Dekum Court) project for Home Forward in Concordia.

“There are so many different types of projects that I’ve worked on that I’m excited about,” she said. “My favorite things are ones that actually have an impact in the place where they’re built, no matter what sort of project they are.”

Robinson said she’s interested in designing libraries, affordable housing buildings, cultural institutions and community centers.

Robinson has also worked extensively with mass timber on several projects, including the First Tech Credit Union headquarters in Hillsboro and the Meyer Memorial Trust headquarters in North Portland. Mass timber is also a focal design element in the 26,000-square-foot Williams and Russell business hub, which she’s designing in partnership with LEVER and which will offer affordable office space and retail space on the long-vacant Hill Block property.

Robinson is also designing, with LEVER, the new Jefferson High School.

Former colleagues said Robinson has pushed forward local sourcing, working with tribal and community groups, and reaching out to disadvantaged, minority-, woman-, emerging small business and service-disabled veteran owned (DMWESB) companies.

“She’s an absolutely amazing person,” said Jonathan Heppner, a LEVER principal who first worked with Robinson at the firm now known as Works Architecture and then later at LEVER. “She is extremely committed to the local community. Her perspective brings a new lens to the way architecture can be practiced in Portland.”

Michelle Vo, a Hennebery Eddy Architects principal, said Robinson excelled at considering how buildings would be used.

“In my experience with Chandra, I observed her to be very interested in understanding the needs expressed by stakeholders in her projects,” Vo stated in an email. “She demonstrated a commitment to tailoring design responses that addressed specific user requirements, whether it was through architecture or more of an artistic installation in the space.”

Robinson came somewhat late to architecture, starting at the Boston Architectural College at age 31. She later returned to the Portland area, where she had grown up in Rockwood.

Robinson’s professional experience in Portland has been peripatetic: She first joined Works Progress Architecture in 2010 before stints at Hennebery Eddy Architects and Hacker. The latter firm loaned Robinson to LEVER, with which she worked on the Meyer Memorial Trust headquarters.

It’s not unusual for architecture firms to let their employees work for other designers, Robinson said.

“We do that in Portland,” she said. “If projects are delayed or people need staff, it’s a good way to staff up your projects without having to vet and interview people, or if you are slow, not having to lose your employees.”

Robinson became invested in the Meyer Memorial Trust project and decided to stay at LEVER, where she gained experience working with mass timber and other advanced building materials.

Now, she’s starting afresh with Estudio �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����, doing business as �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����. The name reflects the English word “chromatography” and the Spanish translation, “cromatografía.” She retained the “h” in part because of her first name.

“I just really like the idea of having something that’s mixed up, and then being able to identify separate elements,” she said.

At �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����, Robinson wants to work with interesting partners. She’s designing a farm-and-garden project in Gresham for the Feed’em Freedom Foundation with Anyeley Hallova’s development firm, �����é, that is focused on food sovereignty in the Black community. Robinson is working on the design with James Gantz, a former ZGF Architects principal who recently returned to Portland after a stint in Washington, D.C. For the new Jefferson High School, with design led by LEVER and Bora Architecture & Interiors, she is working on placemaking alongside Colloqate Design.

Robinson is pursuing another, still-confidential project with �����é, which is also the developer of the Williams and Russell business hub.

Robinson said she’s not looking for a business partner to join �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����.

“I want it to be small because I want to collaborate with other small firms, right?” she said. “I want to work with other solo practitioners. I want to hire people on contracts where maybe the mix is different, the people who are working on different projects is different, and we’re not tied into a structure.”

Robinson identifies as a Black Latina. She quickly gained work as clients and developers sought to diversify their project teams in Portland. But one thing she does not want to do is be anybody’s token minority representation.

“What I’m not going to do is partner with a company that doesn’t have any diversity in their own firm — doesn’t have any Black leadership or women in leadership, and they’re trying to partner with someone who represents that so they can get a job,” she said. “I’m not doing that.”

Robinson does substantial volunteer work in the community for groups such as Architects Without Borders and Oregon Black Pioneers. She currently serves as chairwoman of the Portland Design Commission, which evaluates major building proposals.

She recently purchased a house in Netarts. She commutes into Portland for meetings and events when necessary, often using space at LEVER and staying with her mother in St. Johns.

Robinson hopes to do interesting work at �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����, on her own terms.

“People are many things,” she said. “You’re not just one thing. But you also have to focus to get somewhere.”

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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday got its third look at plans to replace Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School with a new 300,000-square-foot building.

The school is at 1151 S.W. Vermont St., in the Hillsdale neighborhood.

The project is being designed by Bora Architecture & Interiors. The project team also includes Walker Macy (landscape architecture), KPFF (civil and structural engineering), Rivero Design (civil engineering), and NBZ Consulting Engineers (structural engineering).

Plans call for redeveloping parking areas, athletic fields, field support structures and pathways on the 35-acre site. The swimming pool, run by Portland Parks & Recreation, will remain in the center of the site. The track and field will remain in the same location due to budget constraints, according to a staff report.

The Portland Public Schools project is valued at approximately $349.1 million, according to Portland Permitting & Development.

Currently, the design includes a plaza east of the school, Bora Architecture & Interiors associate principal Becca Cavell said. On the west side, a student terrace would connect to the student commons.

“Our entrance to the building is on the east side,” Cavell said.

The proposed three-story building would have a partial lower level to the west, and an overlapping four-story element as it steps down the sloping site. The difference in elevation from the site’s east side to its west side is approximately 60 feet, according to the staff report.

The design calls for enclosing certain parts of the site, including the athletic fields and the pool, with fencing and gates. Commissioner Joe Swank said he hopes the gates around the pool will be sizable and open during the day. Sarah Norman, senior director of school modernization for Portland Public Schools, said the gates are intended to be oversize. However, she didn’t know if they would be open during the day.

Gates are also planned on the north-south driveway – also known as Rieke Road – through the center of the site between the high school and Rieke Elementary School. Use of vehicles, including bicycles, will be restricted in this location during school hours.

“These gates are going to take maintenance and a bunch of other things,” Swank said. “I would challenge the landscape team, the design team, and PPS to think a little more creatively about how to separate those things.”

Commissioner Zari Santner acknowledged the much-improved design of drop-off and pick-up circulation.

Since the previous Design Commission hearing, the north entry has been widened to a 20-foot-wide crossing, Walker Macy managing principal and landscape architect Chelsea McCann said. Also, a seating nook and a monumental entry sign are planned.

Other design elements include a plaza space outside the swimming pool and carved walkways outside the after-hours gym entrance.

In the previous design, glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) was the sole façade material, Bora Architecture & Interiors associate and project designer Amelie Reynaud said. The design team was inspired by different colors of bark and ultimately, darker colors were preferred.

The updated design includes use of thin brick and GFRC woven together. The team is looking at two options for brick: a lighter, smooth one or a darker, textured one. The student commons would have a mass-timber interior.

Commission Chair Chandra Robinson said she likes the new choices for different reasons and that the textured look is more visible, adding that the textured brick is hard to clean. Swank said he would like to hear PPS’ analysis on cleaning the exterior materials.

The project team intends to submit for land use review and conditional use approval on March 12.

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The vision for redevelopment of Lloyd Center drew testimony from more than 50 people during a Portland Design Commission hearing on Thursday, and many expressed their opposition.

Most testifiers spoke about the value of the communities created at the mall in recent years. They asked for preservation of both the existing building as an indoor space out of the rain and the year-round indoor ice rink.

However, the project team is proposing to replace the building with interconnected mixed-use buildings and open space, including a seasonal outdoor rink.

“In light of all the testimony, most of it had to do with what happens inside of these buildings,” Commissioner Zari Santner said.

Thursday’s hearing was the Design Commission’s third look at redevelopment plans for the 27.1-acre site that consists of the mall and the Regal Cinemas lot south of Northeast Multnomah Street. Next month, the group is expected to vote on the proposal.

Both the Nordstrom building and the sky-bridge were demolished to accommodate construction of a new music venue. The mall will close later this year.

ZGF Architects designed the master plan for owners Urban Renaissance Group and KKR Real Estate Finance Trust. The project team also includes civil engineer DOWL, structural engineer KPFF, and landscape architect Field Operations of New York.

When Lloyd Center opened in 1960, it was exposed to the elements. Glass ceilings were added in the late 1980s, according to the project team’s report. The goal of redevelopment is to reverse the inward focus and build a neighborhood around open space, said Nolan Lienhart, a ZGF principal and its director of planning and urban design.

The vision for the area calls for integrating new residential, retail, entertainment, and employment space with a dynamic and connected public realm. Community gathering spaces would be accessible to all.

Approximately 20 percent of the master plan area must be dedicated open space for the public, senior city planner Ben Nielsen said. The master plan envisions high-density residential and commercial buildings framing a network of diverse but complementary connected open spaces, the applicant’s report states. It includes more than 6 acres of parks, open space, and plazas, said Tom Kilbane, managing director of Urban Renaissance Group. There would also be two pedestrian-oriented promenades. Any proposed open spaces will need to go through a design review process as part of a condition of approval for the master plan, Nielsen said.

The Design Commission’s vice chair, Joe Swank, asked where the team proposes to locate the seasonal ice rink.

“The market square seems like an obvious area, but it could be other places as well,” said Allison Rouse, a ZGF landscape architect.

The master plan area is expected to gain up to 7 million square feet of mixed-use buildings, including both affordable and market-rate housing. Utilities to support these uses would be located underground.

The project team is requesting two adjustments are requested with the master plan review. One is to remove the general required building line standards from three areas. Another is to remove required building line standards for sites with frontage on a street, except for three other areas. City staff recommend approving the two requests.

Santner asked the project team, when it returns before the commission, to give a general sense of what residential, commercial, retail and community spaces they will try to accommodate in the development.

The project team will return before the Design Commission on March 5.

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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday discussed a draft of the .

Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) staff presented an overview of approximately 18 potential amendments to the comprehensive plan, zoning code maps, zoning code use allowances and development standards that are intended to facilitate housing production and revitalization in the Central City. The draft will be open to public review through Feb. 13.

The project is responsive to other efforts to revitalize the Central City, BPS Chief Planner Patricia Diefenderfer said.

“BPS began to research ways to maximize housing, including the analysis of current density allowances, floor area ratios and maximum building heights, specifically on how to structure bonuses to encourage large multi-bedroom units,” she said.

Amendments to the Central City 2035 Plan could include increasing allowable heights in certain areas, providing additional floor area ratio (FAR) bonuses, and more. Since the plan was adopted in 2018, the downtown area has experienced unprecedented trends in retail and office vacancy, according to the project’s website.

Other possible changes include rezoning parts of the Central City to provide greater development flexibility and encourage new housing, expanding land use allowances in Central Commercial zones to accommodate a broader mix of uses such as light manufacturing, repealing prohibitions of housing in parts of Central Employment zones, expanding allowances for retail and other uses in Open Space zones to support parks, adding a FAR bonus to encourage the development of multi-bedroom units, expanding allowable locations of food carts and pods, and providing more flexibility for temporary surface parking.

Since the pandemic, there has been a desire by the city to let food carts operate outside of surface parking lots, Senior City Planner Troy Doss said.

“The reason food carts have been in surface parking lots for so long is because they are regulated as a vehicle,” he said. “They can only be in vehicle areas or legally created parking lots.”

The food carts in Pioneer Courthouse Square were grandfathered in before provisions were changed, Doss said. The proposed change would be citywide and not just in the Central City.

BPS also proposes changing the requirement of 60 percent coverage of eco-roofs in the Central City to allow a mix of eco-roofs and solar panels, Doss said.

Another possible change would be to reduce the coverage of prohibition of ground-floor housing units. Commissioner Zari Santner expressed concern about potential losses of active uses at ground level. A reduction in the number of streets with prohibition of ground-floor units would need to come something that addresses quality-of-life issues, she said.

Improving livability in a neighborhood requires additions of amenities such as retail spaces and health care facilities, Commissioner Tina Bue added. The main goal of the project is to make sure the zoning code is not standing in the way of such development, Diefenderfer said.

People can submit comments on the discussion draft through Feb. 13. BPS will then create a proposed draft in March.

The Design Commission on Jan. 29 will finalize ideas to incorporate into a letter to the Planning Commission and the City Council with its recommendations. The Design Commission plans to vote on the letter during its meeting on Feb. 5.

A Planning Commission hearing will take place in April. Any revisions will be included in BPS’ recommended draft, which will go before the City Council in late summer or early fall. A final decision on the draft is expected by the end of the year.

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