A controversial proposal for a 23-story mixed-use building won tentative approval from the Portland Design Commission on Thursday despite opposition from Pearl District neighbors.

Commissioners voted 6-0 (Chairwoman Julie Livingston recused herself) to approve the design by Otak Inc. They will hold a final vote on Jan. 16 to adopt findings on the project.

The Hyatt Place and Allison Residences project would bring 160 hotel rooms and 113 residential units to a quarter-block site at Northwest 12th Avenue and Flanders Street. The building would replace a surface parking lot.

The 197,118-square-foot project is a joint venture of Seattle multifamily developer Vibrant Cities and hotelier The Sunray Companies of Madison, Mississippi. The project was valued at $66 million by the city’s Bureau of Development Services.

Plans were scrutinized by the Design Commission in two previous advice meetings and two review hearings, most recently in November.

Pearl District residents have objected to the project for months, lodging concerns about the planned height, mass and density for the small footprint. At 250 feet, it would be by far the tallest building in the south Pearl District under higher limits established by the Central City 2035 Plan.

Commissioners, city staffers and residents have also expressed concerns that traffic from the hotel and residential development would conflict with plans for the – a future path between the waterfront and Northwest Portland that would pass next to the building.

Commissioners did not directly address the largest issues. They said the building’s height and mass were within the zoning rules, giving the design panel little leeway, and potential traffic conflicts were an issue for the Portland Bureau of Transportation to resolve.

“The context issues – height and massing – are not something we can deal with anyway,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said.

The design has improved over time, Commissioner Zari Santner said.

“They have really done a great job of making the building far more coherent than it first was when it came to us,” she said.

Most recently, Otak incorporated warmer colors into the exterior palette and raised water fountains at the entrance. After objections from neighbors, the valet zone was moved from Flanders Street to 12th Avenue.

The Pearl District Neighborhood Association registered opposition to the project, as did the Pearl Neighbors for Integrity in Design – a private group that is distinct from the city-sanctioned association.

The neighborhood association, in a letter, objected to design elements such as metal cladding and the “near-blank wall” appearance of the east facade.

Bateman Seidel’s Carrie Richter, a land-use attorney for PNID, attempted to speak to the commission on Thursday. Commissioners declined to hear her testimony, saying the record was closed.

Patricia Cliff, president of PNID, said the building would bring intense use to the intersection, with valet parking and two loading docks competing with traffic from two neighboring residential buildings and the planned bikeway.

“It is not a user-friendly building, and it could be potentially dangerous for pedestrians, drivers and bicyclists,” she said.

Also on Thursday:

No vote yet on hotel project’s design

The Design Commission tackled review for the Proper Hotel, another Pearl District project at Northwest 12th Avenue and Irving Street.

Commissioners identified some issues with a vertical column, and a lack of a water feature. However, they were largely complimentary of the design for a nine-story building with approximately 170,000 square feet.

Past projects have met design guidelines for a water feature reflecting Tanner Creek with everything from poetry to sound. Commissioner Jessica Molinar said future projects should include water features that incorporate actual water.

“It’s not a deal-breaker this time, but it will be a deal-breaker for me in the future,” she said. “Please do not come back with another project that does not include an actual water feature.”

The project is being designed by ZGF Architects for Proper Hospitality, a Santa Monica, California-based company with hotels in California and Texas.

Commissioners did not vote whether to approve the project; the hearing is set to continue on Jan. 23.

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The design of the proposed Portland Proper hotel is on the right track, but a few details need to be worked out.

That was the gist of the advice delivered by the Portland Design Commission Thursday to the ZGF Architects team making its initial presentation for a nine-story, 170,000-square-foot building in the Pearl District.

“You still have some work to do in terms of coherency,” Commissioner Zari Santner said. “But in my view you’re 75 percent there, so you can get there pretty soon.”

The hotel project is being developed by Proper Hospitality, which operates luxury hotels in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica, California, and Austin, Texas. Proper Hospitality is an offshoot of LA-based The Kor Group.

Portland Proper will be built on a half-block site fronting Northwest Irving Street and stretching between Northwest 12th and 13th avenues. Along with hospitality space, it will have a ground-floor lobby and back-of-house spaces. There will also be rooftop amenity spaces and an eco-roof, along with one story of below-grade valet parking.

The hotel’s exterior will be clad almost exclusively in real brick – an aspect that drew praise from commissioners.

“You’re using brick in the way it can be used to make something special,” Commissioner Chandra Robinson said.

On the ground floor, large archways will highlight the hotel entrance and wrap around the corners to highlight ground-floor amenity spaces and activate the pedestrian environment.

While there appears to be little in the way of the design ultimately gaining approval, commissioners did ask for revisions to several areas prior to formal design review. These included greater consistency between proposed ground-floor arches when contrasted with rectilinear cutouts that would adorn the east and west building facades. Commissioners also want greater canopy coverage at ground level, consistency with surrounding buildings with regard to the height of an elevated loading dock running along Northwest 13th Avenue, and inclusion of a water feature or public art as required by the city’s River District guidelines.

While commissioners approved of the proposed material palette, some objected to the proposed archway framing the building entrance failing to line up with the piers on the floors above.

“In general, the context feels pretty comfortable with what’s going on around it; I think it’s entirely supportable,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said. “The arches I’m having a little more difficulty with.”

Also, the outline of a proposed ninth-story penthouse and mechanical suite will need to be revised to make them more consistent with the rest of the building. In addition, there were objections over the manner in which the valet parking ramp and loading dock dominate the façade along Northwest 12th Avenue.

Those details, however, are not expected to significantly delay the project.

“I’m really excited about the materials; they’re really simple and they look nice,” Robinson said. “The design in itself is coherent. It just needs resolution at the penthouse level and the arches we were discussing. But overall it’s really nice and it will be a nice building in the neighborhood.”

And unlike other hotel projects proposed recently for the Pearl District, Portland Proper also received backing from local residents.

“The siting of this development on a half block is well suited to absorb the traffic caused by a 226-room hotel,” said Patricia Cliff, president of the Pearl Neighbors for Integrity and Design. “This development should serve as a model of development and contrast with the siting of other hotels being proposed.”

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A pre-application conference has been scheduled with Portland planners to discuss a proposed 10-story hotel project in the Pearl District.

The applicant is ZGF Architects, and plans call for building the hotel on a half-block parcel at 1202 N.W. Irving St. The hotel would feature 10 above-grade stories and a single below-grade level of parking with access from Northwest 12th Avenue.

The targeted property currently has a roughly 17,000-square-foot warehouse built in 1976; it’s owned by Irving Street Investors LLC of Vancouver, Washington. The developer is EB5 Global, which is headed by noted Portland developer Homer Williams.

The applicants are requesting Type III design review with a yet-to-be-scheduled hearing before the Portland Design Commission. The first pre-application conference is set for 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, at 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave., room 4A.

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