Construction has started on the second, larger phase of the Press Blocks development in Portland’s Goose Hollow neighborhood, according to Security Properties, which is developing the project with Urban Renaissance Group.

The full-block project includes a 24-story high-rise with 341 apartments as well as a three-story, 30,000-square-foot commercial building with retail space, live-work units and creative office space. The development’s designer is Seattle-based Mithun.

There will be extensive rooftop amenities as well as subterranean parking for 473 motor vehicles and secured bike storage. A publicly accessible mid-block connector and plaza at the corner of Southwest 17th Avenue and Taylor Street will invite the public into the heart of the development.

Named after The Oregonian printing and distribution facilities that previously stood on the property, the Press Blocks comprise one and a half city blocks at 1621 S.W. Taylor St., near Providence Park. The eight-story, 140,000-square-foot Canvas office building was the first phase of the Press Blocks development; construction finished in summer 2020.

The subterranean parking garage will allow workers at Canvas to park beneath the residential building and walk through a climate-controlled tunnel below 17th Avenue to elevators within the office building. Also, a MAX light-rail station is nearby, at the corner of 17th Avenue and Yamhill Street.

Security Properties and Urban Renaissance Group worked jointly on the development’s debt and equity program, which includes a consortium of Japanese investors led by the Takenaka Corporation with financing through Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank’s New York branch.

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Canvas at Press Blocks, a nine-story building, is bringing 132,500 square feet of office space to market in Portland’s Goose Hollow neighborhood amid rapidly changing economic conditions.

The project from Seattle-based developer and property manager Urban Renaissance Group adds inventory to an urban office market weakened by a glut of supply, the COVID-19 pandemic and widely publicized destructive protests.

“It is a very competitive market right now, and tenants are considering all options,” URG CEO Patrick Callahan stated via email. “Our location will appeal to tenants looking at both urban and suburban locations, with plenty of parking and great transit access. For the right tenant, we’re willing to get creative.”

Canvas is the first of two phases for the Press Blocks. The second will be headlined by the Plaza Building, a 23-story residential tower with 342 units. A smaller, 30,000-square-foot commercial building will have office space, ground-floor retail suites and an outdoor public plaza.

The Press Blocks buildings were planned during the longest economic expansion on record that stretched for more than 10 years following the Great Recession. URG invested heavily in Portland. Other developers were investing, too: More than 1 million square feet of office space is expected to be delivered in Portland this year. Through the third quarter, 869,067 square feet had come online, according to JLL.

“There’s a lot of space coming online,” said Tim Harrison, research manager at JLL in Portland. “Any tenant looking for space is going to have the pick of the bunch. They’re going to have all of the options they need.”

Like other new projects, Canvas at Press Blocks faces economic headwinds that were hardly foreseeable when they broke ground. Total vacancies in Portland’s Central Business District rose to 15.9 percent during the third quarter, and rents fell 0.7 percent to $37.41 per square foot on average, according to JLL. .

in a recent report from PWC and the Economic Lands Institute, placing it significantly below average of the markets studied. Downtown rents have not dived yet, Harrison said. Instead, landlords are getting creative with concessions such as free-rent periods or ample tenant improvement budgets.

“Investors are pretty reluctant to decrease that face rate,” Harrison said. Nevertheless, he added, “landlords are getting creative where they need to be.”

Jordan Menashe, CEO of Menashe Properties, said the office market is already showing signs of a turnaround, and more tenants are asking about lease extensions. The family firm owns and manages more than 1.5 million square feet in the Portland area.

“I can say with confidence that we’ve hit the trough,” he said. “This will be the sharpest and quickest recession to date in American history.”

As downtown faces a glut of new office projects, the suburbs are seeing an uptick in leasing activity. “Beaverton is having its time in the limelight for sure,” Harrison said. He said he expects the fortunes of suburban and downtown office space to widen in 2021.

“The suburbs are healthy,” he said. “I wouldn’t say they’re booming, but they’re healthy, whereas the urban core will not be for at least the next 12 months.”

The move to the suburbs upends developers’ strategies during the recent expansion. Conventional wisdom held that young, talented workers preferred to live and work in urban cores close to amenities. That thinking drove projects such as Block 216, Eleven West and 250 Taylor.

Those projects balance office space with other uses. That may benefit Portland’s downtown core during the downturn, as relatively small chunks of office space are more readily absorbed, Harrison said. “150,000 square feet of office is not that big of an office building in the grand scheme of things,” he said.

Meanwhile, the suburbs have seen little to no speculative office development, resulting in tighter inventories, Harrison said.

Canvas at Press Blocks is part of a burst of development in Goose Hollow, which sits just west of downtown. As in the Pearl District, new higher building heights allowed by the Central City 2035 zoning plan contributed to increasing densification in what had been low-slung neighborhoods.

In addition to Press Blocks, the Providence Park expansion, Wood Partners’ 21-story ART Tower and Greystar Real Estate Partner’s eight-story building at 1715 S.W. Salmon St. have remade the neighborhood.

Canvas at Press Blocks is attracting interest, Callahan stated. Migration Brewing has taken a rooftop taproom. For office tenants, the building offers 19,000-square-foot floor plates.

“We’ve had several potential anchor tenants look at the building and would welcome the opportunity to do a deal with any of them,” Callahan stated. “We have one full floor built out in move-in ready condition and we’re ready to do a deal there, even on a short-term basis. We also have great retail space on the ground floor and are excited about activating the streetscape around Providence Park.”

The new project will also have to deal with changing perceptions of Portland’s urban core. Protests that have often resulted in shattered windows and graffiti have been shown on TV news channels around the world.

The months of protests “certainly has” had an impact, Harrison said. “Long term, I don’t think it has an effect. Companies are going to keep coming downtown.”

Callahan is among those who think it’s time for the downtown streetscape to return to a sense of normalcy. He noted that Goose Hollow hasn’t seen the level of protests that the downtown core has had.

“All the boarded-up windows have hurt the perception of downtown Portland,” he stated. “With the protests abating, it’s time for tenants and property owners to take down the plywood.”

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Though the Great Recession ended slightly more than a decade ago, Portland’s Goose Hollow neighborhood hasn’t since experienced much growth … until now.

Two buildings that until 2015 were used for printing The Oregonian newspaper on a daily basis are being replaced by a new mixed-use complex. The Press Blocks development will feature office, residential and retail space in three new buildings on one and a half blocks.

Lease Crutcher Lewis is constructing the first one – Canvas at Press Blocks – on a half-block directly east of Providence Park. The mixed-use building will feature ground-floor retail space, seven stories of Class A office space and ninth-floor amenity space; the designer is GBD Architects.

“This project means a lot to the neighborhood,” said Mike Sager, senior project manager for general contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis. “Goose Hollow is a forgotten part of the downtown area. And there’s a homeless situation here, and that contributed to what was previously undesirable real estate. This is the first big development to gentrify the area, and when they went through design review and pulled permits it was the first (post-recession) project in this area.”

The full-block portion of the development on a block east of Canvas will include a 23-story, 250-foot-tall residential tower and a three-story building with office and retail space. Those buildings are being designed by Seattle-based Mithun. Urban Renaissance Group, which is developing the project in partnership with Security Properties, will manage the entire complex upon completion.

Work on Canvas began in August 2018 with what Sager called the “super technical” demolition of the building at 817 S.W. 17th Ave. It stored rolls of newsprint, ink and other supplies used by The Oregonian.

“There were 60-foot-tall, clear spans inside the building,” Sager said. “60-foot-tall, freestanding concrete panels made up the walls, and they were tied to concrete, double-T roof panels that held each other up.”

To safely demolish the building, a temporary support structure was constructed to hold up the walls while the roof was removed. Then the temporary structure was dismantled and the walls dropped inside.

A below-grade tunnel used for moving materials and supplies between the two old buildings is being used during construction of Canvas. The tunnel will remain and connect parking areas.

“Across the street was the press building originally and on this side it was used for paper roll and ink storage for the printing operation,” Sager said. “They’d deliver stuff and store it in this building and drop it down onto robots on an underground tunnel on 17th (Avenue) and then over to the other building.”

Canvas is being constructed with post-tensioned concrete decks and reinforced concrete support columns. The exterior will predominantly be pre-cast concrete panels made by ARCIS Technology. The panels have deep window boxes that don’t articulate but provide a deep return leg to add texture and depth to the exterior. It’s a look intended to resemble the previous buildings.

“They wanted to honor the original building,” Sager said.

Lease Crutcher Lewis is using 3-D modeling extensively for this project. The contractor is using a robotic tool station to lay out building components as needed.

“In the last five years that’s been cutting-edge, and some people are doing more of that,” Sager said. “We’ve been doing it for a long time, and basically we take the design team’s model and take it over at a certain point. Then we re-detail the concrete and generate our own drawings, extract points from the embeds and export it all to the robotic layout equipment so our crews can efficiently lay out the building.”

Completion of Canvas is expected in late spring 2020. The construction schedule for the 23-story residential tower and the three-story office building will be determined once financing is secured.

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Demolition of a building formerly used by The Oregonian newspaper is under way in Portland’s Goose Hollow neighborhood. In its place will rise a mixed-use building, Canvas at Press Blocks, with 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, seven stories of office space and a ninth-floor tenant amenity space. The building is one of three being constructed as part of the Press Blocks redevelopment; also planned are a 23-story residential tower and a three-story office-and-retail building one block east.

Staton Companies is demolishing the 175,000-square-foot building, located at 817 S.W. 17th Ave., for general contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis. The structure formerly held large newsprint rolls, which were moved through the building by a large gantry crane and transported by tunnel to the full-block printing space on the adjacent block to the east.

The warehouse was constructed of double-T precast wall and roof panels, some of which are being supported through the demolition sequence by shoring braces installed by Omega Morgan; it’s performing welding work and crane assistance for Staton. The building’s concrete wall panels are being saw-cut at the top, after which the remaining gantry crane rail is cut and the loose panel is laid down on the ground and crushed on site. The removal of roof panels involves demolishing the concrete webs on either side of the double-T panel beams, and then cutting the beams to allow them to drop.

Demolition work is about halfway complete. The building will be taken down to grade by December, at which point shoring pile and deep foundation subcontractors will install temporary shoring so the site can be excavated for a single level of below-grade parking. The contractor estimates coming out of the ground around March 2019, then taking about 10 months to build the eight floors of post-tensioned concrete. A ninth-floor with amenity space, a terrace and mechanical penthouse will be constructed using structural steel. Substantial completion of the project is slated for mid-2020.

The site’s constraints – TriMet MAX lines to the west and the north, a bus line to the east, and occupied buildings on the block’s southern half – will require the project team to carefully orchestrate deliveries of materials.

“It’s about as just-in-time construction as it gets,” said Mike Sager, senior project manager with Lease Crutcher Lewis. “It basically comes off a truck and goes in the building. It’s all about logistics on this one.”

The Press Blocks project is being conducted in partnership between Security Properties and Urban Renaissance Group, which previously acquired and redeveloped The Oregonian’s headquarters building at 1320 S.W. Broadway. Invesco Real Estate is serving as an investment partner. GBD Architects designed the Canvas at Press Blocks building. Mithun is the architect of the two buildings on the full-block site, which does not yet have an anticipated construction start date.

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Goose Hollow will soon gain another major new building.

The Portland Design Commission on Thursday approved SERA Architects‘ design for an eight-story mixed-use building with 182 apartments and ground-floor retail space.

The building from Greystar Real Estate Partners, based in Charleston, S.C., will top out slightly below 85 feet. Located at 1715 S.W. Salmon St., the building will form a gateway with the rebuilt Lincoln High School bridging the West Hills and downtown.

Goose Hollow is seeing an explosion of projects, including the Press Blocks, the Providence Park expansion, a seven-story mixed-use building at 1440 S.W. Taylor and others.

The Greystar project had a relatively smooth trip through Type III design review. Commissioners voted 5-1 to approve the design. Tad Savinar voted against it; Andrew Clarke was absent.

SERA principal Kurt Schultz presented the design, which calls for a structure that hinges on a curved corner at Southwest Salmon Street and 18th Avenue; it’s reminiscent of the Flatiron building in New York City. Portland has other examples of this architectural style, including the McMenamins Crystal Hotel in the West End.

The corner will likely feature a ground-floor restaurant with some outdoor dining, a bench and stairs. Design commissioners indicated they would allow SERA to do away with a sculptural map of Tanner Creek’s historic course that met with a cool reception.

“I’d ditch it,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said. “It’s not doing anything.”

Chairwoman Julie Livingston agreed.

“On balance, you’re still meeting guidelines,” she said.

The retail space will have high ceilings – up to 20 feet in some spots, fronted by glazing. A curb extension will allow pedestrians to more easily cross the street to or from Lincoln High.

Savinar said the corner design was not successful. “Personally I think the corner falls down as a gathering space or even a well-functioning public space,” he said.

The project had previously been through two design advice meetings. The building evolved with cleaner lines and fewer balconies, although some were restored before design review. In the end, the building ended up with seven balconies per floor, with some inset and some projecting off of the building.

The Goose Hollow Foothills League did not object to the building. Jerry Powell, planning co-chairman, said the building was in line with what had long been envisioned for the property.

The project’s evolution was noticeable, Commissioner Zari Santner said.

“I have really witnessed the impact of the design advice requests on the outcome,” she said.

Livingston added, “The revisions have really pushed the coherency of the building forward in a strong way.”

Savinar thanked the developer for choosing brick rather than an inexpensive metal cladding.

The project was proposed after the city’s inclusionary housing policy took effect. Kristen Keipert, senior development manager for Greystar’s Portland office, said the project will comply with inclusionary housing rules, but Greystar has not settled on which option it will choose. Greystar is discussing the options with the Portland Housing Bureau, she said.

The developer could opt to provide 20 percent of units affordable at the level of 80 percent of area median income, or 10 percent of units at 60 percent of area median income, or pay a substantial fee to the Housing Bureau.

The project also will have mechanized internal vehicle parking and 278 long-term bicycle parking spaces.

Construction is set to begin in summer 2019, when Tanner Creek runs at its lowest level, Schultz said. Work will start by lining and rehabilitating the creek.

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Security Properties is moving forward with its superblock project at the site of a former PepsiCo bottling facility near Northeast Sandy Boulevard with a focus primarily on housing.

The Seattle developer recently requested a pre-application conference with Portland Bureau of Development Services staff to discuss zoning at the site.

“Most of the property is likely to be housing, but there’s likely to be significant amounts of both retail and office,” said John Marasco, chief development officer at Security Properties.

Security Properties bought the 4.7-acre property encompassing four city blocks from PepsiCo in August 2017 for $27 million, according to public records. The property encompasses four city blocks off of Sandy Boulevard between 25th and 27th avenues.

Security has forged a financial partnership with a Chinese firm, Beijing Jade Investment Group, for the project.

The property has 1.2 million square feet of developable area. The floor area ratio, which governs possible building heights, for the site is 5-to-1.

Marasco said he’s unsure how many housing units the property could support.

“We’re doing our homework to figure out how we want to allocate that density,” he said.

The superblock site is likely to be developed in phases, Marasco said.

“We really like how that neighborhood’s developing,” he said. “Because of the size of the property, we thought it would be a good idea to plan something where we could develop some of it now, and continue to develop it as the neighborhood continues to gentrify.”

Retail development in the Northeast Portland corridor and quick access to downtown will be attractive to future tenants, Marasco said.

Security Properties has shown an ability to develop big projects in Portland, including the Heartline mixed-use project in the Pearl District and the 24-story, 337-apartment Press Blocks tower set for Goose Hollow that has received the City Council’s blessing.

Security has worked with Mithun, a Seattle architecture firm, on each Portland project. Mithun is involved in the PepsiCo project as well, but Marasco said there’s a chance other architecture firms could be brought in later to design individual buildings.

Marasco, who grew up in Portland, said Security Properties has kept a close eye on growth here.

“It’s a market we’ve followed for quite some time,” he said. “It’s seen a lot of growth and has a lot of momentum, and we’re excited to be part of the new growth there.”

Since buying the property, Security has agreed to a lease-back arrangement with PepsiCo to give the soda bottler time to move its operations.

The proposal may be the first development subject to Portland’s Mixed Use Zones Project and Map Refinement Project as part of the 2035 Comprehensive Plan.

Developments of 2 acres or more can be awarded bonus height in exchange for providing affordable housing and public open space as well as adhering to other design guidelines.

Security Properties is the first developer to come to the city with a large-site project that would be subject to the master-planning process, said Marty Stockton, a city planner.

“We don’t have a lot of 2-acre sites in the city,” she said. “They’re pretty rare.”

Marasco said he’s eager to learn more from city staff.

“We’ve got a lot of questions because I think it will be the first project that’s gone through the master plan that would be subject to rezone,” he said.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story inaccurately stated the development would be subject to the Central City 2035 Comprehensive Plan. The project site is outside the Central City.

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GBD Architects hit the right combination of historical reverence and architectural beauty in its proposal for two seven-story buildings in the South Waterfront District, according to the Portland Design Commission.

Commissioners on Thursday praised GBD’s design for blocks 42 and 45, calling it a significant architectural asset to the area before approving the proposal with a 4-0 vote. Commissioner David Wark abstained.

“Now when we see anything else,” Commission Vice Chairman Tad Savinar said, “I am going to say, ‘Take a look at Block 42/45,’ because they are excellent examples of how you can build in this economy, and with these sites, to do something that is extraordinary.”

Cairn Pacific is developing the project for owner Prometheus Real Estate Group. Block 42 will have close to 200 market-rate apartments and Block 45 will have around 315. Each building will have approximately 14,000 square feet of retail space.

The development site is bordered by Southwest Lane Street on the north, Southwest Bond Avenue on the west, Southwest River Parkway on the east and Southwest Lowell Street on the south.

The two buildings were designed to reflect the area’s history of use by the shipbuilding and lumber industries. For Block 42, designers tried to give the appearance of wood stacks as they might have appeared in the early 1900s.

“We are excited about the rich character that (the building) creates along the street,” said Tye Bailey, an associate with GBD Architects. “Looking at lumberyards, you have the stacks oriented in all these different variations. So we applied that logic to the facade in a way that creates an alternating rhythm of texture and light and shadow around the building.”

Designers took advice from a previous hearing and reworked the live-work units and the retail space to create a larger shopping zone in the northwest corner. They also reconfigured a plaza to create more community space.

The end result left commissioners with little to criticize.

“It’s just what it needs to be a proud building,” Savinar said. “No tricks, just architecture.”

Design Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston was equally complimentary.

“The changes that you’ve made, while pretty subtle, really have turned this from a strong building with a big idea into an extraordinary building with a big idea,” she said.

Commissioners were nearly as complimentary of the Block 45 design. The concept aims to pay homage to the waterfront’s shipbuilding legacy.

“We tried to make the three buildings look like ships,” said Ashley Koger, an associate with GBD Architects.

The main issues commissioners had with the plans were the lack of canopies on the ground floor and placement of balconies on the east and west ends of the buildings.

Though the balconies became glass juliets and another foot was added to the recess for the retail space, in place of canopies, it wasn’t enough to win Wark’s vote even though he was complimentary of the design overall.

“The canopies are the thing for me,” he said. “I think these are exemplary projects in many ways. The projects will set a new level of quality for the South Waterfront with the exception of canopies.”

The lack of canopies wasn’t enough to dissuade other commissioners though.

“You have done a great job,” Livingston said. “Both of these buildings are great additions to South Waterfront.”

Other projects addressed by the Design Commission on Thursday included:

Multifamily building

An appeal by the Cathedral Park Neighborhood Association of Type II approval of SERA Architects‘ design for a five-story market-rate apartment building at 6620 N. Richmond St. was put on hold for three weeks. An attorney for the Union Pacific Railroad had requested the record be held open. The appeal will resume on Sept. 28. The project owner/developer is Ben Wood of North Crawford Partners/Mainland North Richmond LLC.

Mixed-use building

The Design Commission sent plans for a six-story mixed-use building at 1732 N.E. Second Ave., in the Eliot neighborhood, back to the design team for revisions. Works Progress Architecture is designing the project for developer Parker McNulty of ENT Ventures VI LLC. The project will return before the commission on Oct. 5.

Also on Thursday:

City Council finalizes two decisions

The Portland City Council issued final decisions on two appeals stemming from Design Commission decisions.

Commissioners unanimously overturned the Design Commission’s denial of developer Landon Crowell’s proposal to build a 17-unit, L-shaped building at 1122 S.E. Ankeny St. Development of a proposed 70-foot apartment building, around a single-family residence, will be allowed to go forward.

Commissioners also unanimously rejected an appeal by neighbors of the Design Commission’s approval of the massive Press Blocks project on 1.5 blocks in Goose Hollow. The Goose Hollow Foothills League opposes the three-building project from developers Urban Renaissance Group and Security Properties.

The decisions were expected after previous City Council hearings. Commissioners Nick Fish and Dan Saltzman were absent from the meeting, which lasted fewer than five minutes. – Chuck Slothower

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A neighborhood association’s appeal of a proposed three-building development in Goose Hollow was shot down by Portland City Council on Thursday.

The council’s 3-0 vote tentatively upheld a prior Portland Design Commission unanimous approval of the Press Blocks mixed-use project at 817 S.W. 17^th Ave. and 1621 S.W. Taylor St.

The appeal, filed by the Goose Hollow Foothills League Neighborhood Association, focused on the residential portion of the project.  People living in the area were concerned the mass of the 250-foot tower would block views and wouldn’t fit in with existing buildings, Jerry Powell, chairman of the neighborhood association, told the City Council.

“This is a good project,” Powell said during Thursday’s meeting. “We like the ground floor of the residential tower. We would like to see that tower achieve a bit more grace. It’s the mass.  It’s the bulk of that building.”

Powell added that his group had no issue with the project’s two smaller buildings, which would provide 41,500 square feet of office and retail space.

In its rebuttal, the Press Blocks project team pointed out the tower’s height was below the 325-foot maximum allowed for the neighborhood. Team members also noted that the project, which will replace a building that previously housed The Oregonian’s printing services, will bring jobs and 340 apartment units to the area.

“It was noted that this building replaces buildings that were actually dead buildings in the middle of an area that is being developed and revived,” Commissioner Nick Fish said.

In his testimony during the Thursday meeting, Design Commission Vice-Chairman Tad Savinar credited the Press Blocks design team of Mithun and GBD Architects for creating a design that reflects the character of the surrounding area.

“It is clear that the city is changing,” Savinar said. “This is a really interesting part of town. It can be active with a kind of an anthill or beehive kind of activity. It’s all over the place. This project actually designed the opportunity for that kind of activity within the grounds of the property.”

Ultimately, the City Council agreed.  Commissioner Amanda Fritz called it an exciting project and Mayor Ted Wheeler commended the Design Commission for getting the decision right.

“I think it lays down a very solid foundation for the future in terms of the kinds of development we would like to see in this particular area,” Wheeler said.

Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Chloe Eudaly weren’t present.

The project will return to the council on Aug. 31 for a final vote.

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The Block 290 mixed-use project continued its long and twisting path through the Portland Design Commission on Thursday. At the request of the Northwest District Association, the commission agreed to keep the record open for seven days to allow submission of additional testimony.

With more time granted for responses and rebuttals, Guardian Real Estate Services‘ Block 290 project won’t return before the Design Commission until Aug. 3. City staff has already recommended approval.

As designed, the horseshoe-shaped building would have two seven-story elevations and one four-story elevation with a rooftop amenity. The elevations would range between 57 feet and 79 feet. Retail space would occupy the ground floor, with residential units above. The floor area ratio (FAR) would be 2.7:1.

The design process has already dragged on for more than two years. The site at 1417 N.W. 20th Ave. is complex because it falls within the Con-way Master Plan. It requires that a public square be included in the project. The development team believes LRS Architects‘ design of the square meets requirements.

“We wanted a flexible square,” said Mauricio Villarreal, a principal with Place Studio, the project’s landscape architect. “We wanted to create a square that is lively and engaging and entertaining, and has whimsy if you will – a place that people want to come with their family, with their friends from out of town.”

Villarreal said he believes the 16,008-square-foot space would be comfortable for 50 people or 100 people. Also, an arcade would provide 2,922 additional square feet.

Neighbors have a decidedly different view of the square. Karen Karlsson, president of the Northwest District Association (NWDA) disputed nearly every assertion the development team made. The group claimed that only the portion of the square that had a view of the sky should count toward the Con-way Master Plan requirement for a public square. Project developers also counted square footage under an arcade to boost the total.

“The development needs to be this large in the opinion of the developer and the Design Commission,” Karlsson said. “You can’t fit that development in the envelope of that particular block, so something has to give.”

Neighbors were also upset with a 15-foot encroachment into a public right-of-way that was necessitated by the redesigned square.

“I believe the 15 feet here is sacred ground,” said Ron Walters, former president of the NWDS. “Block 290 was the core of the master plan. It was the fundamental idea of not building 3:1 (FAR) throughout the entire 17 acres.”

There was even some disagreement within the association about whether the group should even work with the developer.

“NWDA, I think made the mistake of opening Pandora’s box and trying to work in good faith with the developer,” Walters said.

In the end, commissioners seemed to reach a consensus that the redesigned square both met Con-way Master Plan requirements and followed city’s design guidelines. They also believed that other projects featuring more dubious uses of public space had been approved.

“To me this seems like an infinitely better situation than over at the New Seasons (Market),” Commission Chairman David Wark said.

Commissioners did express some concerns regarding planned bench types and placement, and other building materials. They encouraged developers to explore small adjustments before they return in August.

Appeal of Press Blocks approval on tap

The Portland City Council will hear an appeal of the Portland Design Commission’s approval of the Press Blocks project on Aug. 10 at 2 p.m.

The Goose Hollow Foothills League on May 31 filed paperwork to appeal the Design Commission’s approval granted May 5.

The project, planned as three buildings over one and a half city blocks, would include office, retail and residential space. The development would occupy lots at 817 S.W. 17th Ave. and 1621 S.W. Taylor St.

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Guardian Real Estate Services has tried for two years to find a financially viable plan for a mixed-use project on Block 290. The Portland Design Commission on Thursday told the developer and its new architect, LRS Architects, they still had some work to do.

“The challenge is, is there a sweet spot between the neighborhood and the development that is economically rewarding and feasible?” Design Commission Vice Chairman Tad Savinar said. “I keep racking my brain … Where is that sweet spot?”

The Design Commission decided to form a subcommittee to meet with neighbors and developers in two weeks to try to iron out some of the challenges.

Those development challenges are considerable. The site, at 1417 N.W. 20th Ave., is governed by the Con-way Master Plan as well as design guidelines. The current project would require amendments to the master plan, which envisioned a large public square. The Northwest District Association and multiple neighbors spoke against the project.

Development began in 2015, when three design advice hearings took place. It was scheduled for a formal review in May 2016, but was withdrawn a day beforehand.

The developers put the project on hold, and LRS Architects was brought in to find a viable design that former designer YBA Architects couldn’t. The development team said that the delays and multiple design iterations have cost the company more than $2 million.

“We just couldn’t find a financially viable solution before,” said Briana Murtaugh, development project manager for Guardian Real Estate Services.

LRS Architects Senior Associate Greg Mitchell presented a design that drew many of the same objections directed toward earlier versions.

As proposed, three sides of the building would wrap around an open square, with public access portals on Northwest 21st Avenue and Pettygrove Street. Also, a pedestrian walkway would offer portals to the square and large park east of the complex.

The biggest problem stems from the definition of a public square. Neighbors claim the design more closely fits the definition of a private courtyard than a public square. They claim it would be devoid of sunlight and closed off from the rest of the neighborhood.

The designers disagree, claiming the design meets the all the requirements in terms of open space. They argued that the commission should judge the design they presented.

“In terms of the sweet spot, we found it,” said Thomas Brenneke, president of Guardian Real Estate Services.

Commissioners debated a variety of changes that might add open space and sunlight to the square. The most likely solution they came up with was to reduce the height on some elevations of the structure and add height to the other elevations.

That would present its own challenges, according to the development team. The current design calls for a maximum height of 57 feet. Structures taller 77 feet must have more advanced fire suppression systems and faster elevators; structures taller than 125 feet must have even more advanced and faster ones. That would add to the project cost, requiring the addition of residential units. Adding units would mean also increasing parking garage capacity – possibly via more floors.

Developers were unsure if such a design could be financially viable.

Other smaller issues – such as how the position of power lines might affect the entire development’s location – also exist.

“It’s a Rubik’s Cube,” Mitchell said.

The Design Commission’s ultimate decision was to create a subcommittee consisting of Chairman David Wark, and commissioners Don Vallaster and Andrew Clarke. The subcommittee in two weeks will meet with the design team and neighbors to see if a revised design can meet the goals of both the developer and neighbors.

The results of that meeting will be reviewed at a hearing on June 1.

Also on Thursday:

Press Blocks

The Design Commission unanimously approved revisions for the Press Blocks project, which will sit on lots at 817 S.W. 17th Ave. and 1621 S.W. Taylor St.

The Goose Hollow project, spearheaded by Urban Renaissance Group and Security Properties, had support from many of the business and neighborhood groups in the area. Mithun, from Seattle, and GBD Architects came up with the design for the three-building complex.

Many of the issued raised by commissioners previously revolved around the proposed office building at Southwest 18th Avenue and Yamhill Street. The design did not reflect the prominence of the location, they said.

Revisions submitted on Thursday included lightening the building’s color, making the corner of the building less oppressive and including a more prominent balcony feature.

For the mid-block office building, the design team focused on creating more area for pedestrians.

Also, the residential tower’s north and south elevations were altered to blend better with the rest of the building. Colors were changed to more earth tones to make the building appear warmer and more residential in nature. The team also enlarged the entry to make it more prominent.

The changes received widespread praise from the commissioners.

“I think this is a really sophisticated addition to the Goose Hollow – all three buildings,” Commissioner Julie Livingston said. “This is a really good response to the guidelines.”

The new structure will sit east of Providence Park.

“The refinements are all positive and much appreciated,” Wark said. “It gives it that extra level of excellence that we want. Overall, it’s extremely successful.”

5615 S.W. Hood Ave.

A proposal for a cross-laminated timber, four-story office building with ground-floor retail space was approved by the Portland Design Commission via a 6-0 vote. The commission added three conditions: 1, expanding an elevator lobby; 2, adding a canopy to the lobby entry; and 3, moving the canopy up so it’s closer to the second floor’s underside.

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