Time is ticking as the Portland Timbers prepare to play their 2019 home opener on June 1. Then the Portland Thorns play theirs the next day. Meanwhile, a team led by Turner Construction is working to finish an $85 million expansion project at Providence Park – the soccer teams’ home field. Crews started work in October 2017.

“I think we’re all ready to be done for sure,” Turner Construction project manager Brian Sabom said Tuesday at the stadium. “We’ve been doing this for 20 months now, and there’s a lot of hard effort that was put into it. We’ve had over 1,000 workers come through our safety orientation, so a lot of people in Portland have touched this project. We’re excited to turn it over.”

The highlight of the project, designed by Allied Works Architecture, is an addition to the stadium’s east side that holds more than 4,000 new seats. The grandstand towers over the field-level seating built in 2011 and features three tiers.

Other improvements include: a large LED scoreboard mounted on the stadium’s west side, new locker rooms for both home and away teams, and a number of other features to improve the fan experience.

“We’re ready; we’re in good shape,” said Mike Golub, the Timbers’ president of business. “As you walk around you’ll see things that still need to get done and that’s not uncommon for where we are, 25, 26 days out. But the really key, critical milestones we’ve been hitting all the way, so we’ll be ready to go June 1 for Timbers and June 2 for the Thorns.”

In terms of an improved spectator experience, the new scoreboard is just the start, Golub said. There will be an accompanying sound system installed, along with renovated concession stands, signage and lighting throughout the existing stadium concourse. Also, a new team store is being built on the stadium’s west side.

“The idea was for every fan, whether you’re sitting in these new stands here or in the old areas, when they come to the stadium on June 1, they’re going to hear, see and feel a lot of new things,” Golub said.

Chelsea Grassinger, an Allied Works Architecture principal, said the overarching intent of the grandstand design was to fulfill original plans that called for a U-shaped venue. It wasn’t a complete horseshoe when it opened in 1926 as Multnomah Stadium because of a shortage of funding.

“Ultimately what was built was the north side and the west side,” Grassinger said. “So what we’ve done here is to realize the original design vision for Providence Park.”

On the outside, a glass façade now reveals the structure to passersby.

“Part of our mission was to complete that original vision, but sort of enforce the visibility and lightness and connectivity to the city,” Grassinger said. “Pedestrians can also feel connected to the action and the activity in the stadium. And then creating that light, veil-like transparency of the façade and the whole height glass and visibility gives back to the city.”

Construction crews have completed most of the big tasks. These days, tradespeople are scrambling around the stadium to take care of the smaller stuff.

“We have a lot of work to do – a lot of finish work that we’re still working on,” Sabom said. “We’re trying to complete the roof membrane on the new roof we’ve built and there are just a lot of finishing touches to put on the project from a finishing perspective.”

Despite challenges, including a highly constrained job site, the project has remained on schedule throughout construction, Sabom said.

“Yeah, there have been challenges throughout,” he said. “But as of right now, everything that we expected of the project to be complete is going to be complete, and I think it’ll be a seamless (opening) for the fans and for the city of Portland.”

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The Portland Timbers are starting the 2019 season on the longest road trip in Major League Soccer history.

That’s because the club is waiting until June 1 to play its home opener at an upgraded Providence Park. Currently, construction crews are in the final months of an $85 million project to expand the stadium in Goose Hollow.

General contractor Turner Construction and an army of tradespeople are building a new, three-deck covered east grandstand designed by Allied Works Architecture and inspired by stadiums such as “La Bombonera” in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Intended to hold 4,000 additional spectators, the grandstand will boost stadium capacity to greater than 25,000. The new grandstand structure features 228 micropiles that average 75 feet in length.

Also, new LED lights are being installed throughout the stadium to replace aging HID fixtures.

“There are about 13 weeks remaining, and we should be receiving the final roof truss deliveries within the next week and a half,” Turner Construction project manager Brian Sabom said. “All the seating trays are ready, so all the seating is going to be going in. So it’s a lot of finishes at this point.”

Four more roof trusses remain to be placed. Then crews will finally be able to remove the two massive hydraulic cranes roaming the playing surface.

After starting the season with 12 matches on the road, the Timbers and their fans might be among the most appreciative of the pitch being cleared.

“It’s a tight schedule, and the cold weather has been killing us,” Sabom said. “But we’re scheduled to go, so it’s a sprint to the end.”

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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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Upgrades in materials and components should allow light-rail tracks near Providence Park to serve for up to 30 more years before needing additional overhauls.

The previous time repairs were made to the complex system of mechanical switches and sections of track around the stadium was the mid-1990s, according to TriMet project manager David Sauter.

“That’s pretty good considering we’re getting double the trains and it was last done roughly 25 years ago,” Sauter said Wednesday morning as he surveyed the job site along Southeast 18th Avenue in front of Providence Park’s east end.

There, general contractor Stacy and Witbeck is starting to replace MAX track switches and sections of rail. In addition, upgrades will be made to the track bed and drainage for the mechanical switch machines under the tracks.

Stacy and Witbeck previously worked on MAX orange-line infrastructure when it was built between downtown Portland and Milwaukie.

“We’re replacing three switches that make up a single crossover and a turnout to our special events track,” Sauter said. “The single crossover allows our trains to go from eastbound to westbound track, and the reason this is important is because often we need to juggle trains around the system, moving trains over from eastbound to westbound, or over to add service or rescue trains that have become stranded for maintenance issues.”

Finally, new rubberized devices known as boots will be installed next to the rails along this stretch to reduce concrete chipping, or spalling, as well as keep potholes from forming. To secure the rails in place, an elastomeric grout will be used; it’s also expected to impact energy dissipation and electrical isolation.

Such tools did not exist 25 years ago, which led to the steel rails being permanently affixed to the asphalt at that time. Over the years, vibrations through the rails have displaced them slightly, though usually only a millimeter or two. But that can nevertheless have a noticeable impact, according to Sauter.

“Back then, things were done a little differently than they are today,” he said. “Just a few millimeters of movement in the rail translates to quite a bit of sway in the train. So that’s one issue and one reason why this is a priority.”

When it comes to drainage, another outdated ’90s technique is being addressed. At that time, it was common to construct drainage systems featuring pipes that gradually became larger as they moved from storm drains to the wastewater system.

“This leads to problems because the pipes are grouted in together and the connections get frayed,” Sauter said. “Pressurizing them to clean them, you actually get blowback, and we actually can’t get good pressure on the pipes.”

So, a single-diameter drainage pipe will be installed through the length of Southwest 18th Avenue being upgraded.

Taken together, the poor drainage and degraded asphalt also led to false alerts in localized sensors that signal trains’ presence. But with better drainage and tracks, such malfunctions should be a thing of the past, Sauter said.

The project notably will disrupt service of blue- and red-line trains from May 6 through May 11. Some downtown streets and crosswalks have been closed since April 30 in anticipation of this work.

Also, orange-line service will be limited during commuting hours, according to TriMet, but disruptions overall are not expected to be as severe as previous ones in the area.

According to TriMet, automobile detours, shuttle buses and free bike rides on Biketown will be offered until MAX service is fully restored.

“During the project we will only have blue-line trains running on the west side between Hillsboro and Goose Hollow,” TriMet spokeswoman Roberta Altstadt said. “That means folks in that area will have fewer trains. But we are encouraging riders on the west side and anyone going through the disrupted area to plan an extra 30 minutes to their trips.”

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The Portland Timbers’ $44 million expansion of Providence Park remains on schedule as the club’s April 14 season opening match approaches. In this video, Turner Construction senior project manager Brian Sabom and Timbers President of Business Mike Golub talk about the project, which will be carried out between matches during the 2018 season and into the offseason.  Check it out:

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The public got a first glimpse Thursday at the Portland Timbers‘ long-awaited expansion of Providence Park, or at least the portion that is not already visible from Southwest 18^th Avenue.

A three-level seating deck boasting more than 4,000 new seats will take shape on the east side of the stadium during the coming Major League Soccer season. The project was designed by Allied Works and is being overseen by general contractor Turner Construction. It is split into two phases, the first of which will finish up during the next month. The second phase will begin in May, with completion of the project expected in time for the opening of the spring 2019 MLS season.

“The first phase was to complete the construction of the deep foundations down at the field level up through the first lift of columns,” senior project manager Brian Sabom told an gathering of media representatives Thursday. “Essentially, the completion of this phase is where we’re finishing prior to the first (Timbers) game on April 14, so now the stadium will be in a position where it can go back to occupancy.”

The $44 million expansion is being privately financed, primarily by club ownership, Timbers President of Business Mike Golub said.

Golub said the project is on schedule and proceeding smoothly as the club prepares to open the 2018 season with back-to-back matches featuring the Timbers and National Women’s Soccer League club Portland Thorns on April 14 and 15.

“Fans on this (east) side will see a couple changes,” Golub said. “They’ll be a couple portions of this concourse closed, one entrance will be slightly modified and there will be a temporary entrance. So we’re encouraging fans to come a little bit early who are affected (to) understand the changes.”

The second phase of construction will start mid-May, Sabom said, and will require a complex job of project management to allow the stadium to remain functional throughout the 2018 MLS and NWSL schedules. This phase will see the three-level superstructure start to take shape, from the first horizontal deck and up 75 feet with the second and third decks.

Throughout the stadium, signs of construction are evident. Raw materials are piled up and line the stadium concourses, and the clatter of construction equipment fills the air as crews place 39 new concrete support columns that will support the new expansion.

Construction crews will start and stop construction as the soccer season progresses to allow matches to be held. Sabom said work will not take place during matches.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges we have,” Sabom said. “Obviously it’s important for the city and for the Timbers to play the games in the stadium. This is a great venue for the team and so finding a way to intersperse building a 75 foot concrete structure during the season is definitely a challenge, but it’s definitely something we’re working with.”

The fact fans will watch the evolution of the new expansion at the same time matches are held makes this project stand out, according to Sabom.

“We’ll be taking different sections of the concourse and building vertical structure during the season,” he said. “(Fans) will definitely get to see the progression of the concrete structure during the season.”

When the season ends, he added, it will be a “rush to finish” the project.

That will involve taking off the existing roof canopy and building an enormous roof structure that cantilevers out 120 feet from the actual concrete structure on the east side. There also will be new club levels included in the expansion, while some 300 of the estimated 4,100 new seats will be standing room only.

“The essence of the design,” Golub said, “is to take what’s magical about the stadium and build on that, enhance the amazing atmosphere that we have and bring more energy and more people, and we think the design will achieve that.”

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The Portland Design Commission shot down the St. Johns Neighborhood Association‘s appeal of staff approval given to the Central Lofts project at 8608 N. Lombard Street, by a 4-0 vote on Thursday. Bureau of Development Services staff had approved the project during a type II review in October.

“The building is very richly detailed and the materials have been well thought out,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said. “My sense is this works pretty well in sense of the diversity criteria in the guidelines. In general you could put the building in my neighborhood and I’d be happy.”

Jones Architecture‘s vision for developer Farid Bolouri’s project is for a 44-foot-tall, 27,000-square-foot structure featuring cross-laminated timber. The ground level would hold a restaurant and retail space, and the upper three stories would hold six one-bedroom apartments and 24 studios.

The neighborhood association based its appeal on three concerns. First, the group said, the design failed to apply characteristics and traditions of the St. Johns/Lombard Plan area. Also, the main entrances were not prominent or interesting, and the development diverged too much from the area’s established architecture, according to the group.

“The neighborhood is generally supportive of this development and excited about the project,” said Josh Guerra, who spoke for the neighborhood association. “The stakeholder group determined that three of the guidelines were not met.”

Of particular concern were the building’s entrances. Their small size, the neighborhood association stated, could negatively impact both the streetscape and the plaza at the corner of North Lombard Street and Philadelphia Avenue. Various community activities, including a weekend farmers’ market, take place there.

Alan Jones, founder of Jones Architecture, countered that given the size of the lot and the likely tenants, the openings were appropriately sized. The entrances’ locations could be altered to suit the types and sizes of tenants, he said.

“It is very likely that retail spaces in St. Johns are going to be smaller spaces geared toward local business,” he said. “That dictates the entrances.”

Another neighborhood concern was that the project would not blend with its surroundings. Designers countered that St. Johns has an eclectic and diverse collection of buildings.

“(The St. Johns/Lombard Plan) goes as far as to say future development should go on the path of diversity,” Jones said. “We take that to mean that future development should be of the time period it is built.”

In response to a claim that this building wouldn’t be on the same scale as others nearby, designers pointed out other projects significantly larger than their proposal.

Overall, the commission sided with the development team.

“Ultimately it is about that corner,” Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said. “That corner is just fantastic and its relationship to the plaza is fantastic.”

Commissioners also failed to find enough discrepancy from the St. Johns/Lombard Plan guidelines to justify overturning the approval.

“Regarding the guidelines, they seem to be nebulous enough that either side can find support or not support for this design,” Vallaster said.

Also on Thursday:

550 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

The Portland Design Commission approved, by a 4-1 vote, Works Progress Architecture‘s design for a seven- or eight-story mixed-use building on Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Market conditions will determine which version of the building developers Beam Development and Urban Development + Partners decide to build.

Livingston was the only commissioner to vote no. She had concerns about the building‘s response to neighborhood context.

Providence Park

The commission approved, by a 3-1 vote, alterations to the Providence Park expansion that was approved in August. Allied Works Architecture will make several changes – the most notable being the type of roofing material and the viewshed.

Vallaster cast the lone dissenting vote because of concerns about how changes would impact the view of the field from outside the park.

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The Portland City Council threw its support behind a proposed encroachment into public right-of-way to accommodate a 4,000-seat expansion of Providence Park. The council voted 5-0 to follow the city engineer’s recommendation of approval.

The project team’s plan to use a cabling system that would extend 14 feet over Southwest 18th Avenue right-of-way last month received the Portland Design Commission‘s OK. That decision was forwarded to the city engineer, who prepared a recommendation to go before the City Council.

The engineer’s recommendation touted the benefit of a $50 million to $55 million voluntary improvement to the city-owned facility. It also stated that additional exits to the stadium and large sidewalks weighed in favor of the encroachment.

Some commissioners expressed concern that a covered arcade would become a haven for homeless individuals and could create new liabilities for the city. Portland Timbers officials said they expect the team to take responsibility for the area surrounding the stadium; currently, it maintains sidewalks there.

That wasn’t good enough for Robert Butler, a neighbor who spoke against the project.

“We are going to have a slum there,” he told commissioners. “What a sorry deal.”

That didn’t sway commissioners, who then approved the project to move ahead.

The plan is for the project to be completed in two phases during the next two off-seasons. The first phase would begin in October and finish in March 2018. The second phase would stretch from October 2018 and wrap up by March 2019.

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Allied Works Architecture‘s design for a 4,000-seat expansion to Providence Park was approved with conditions by the Portland Design Commission on Thursday.

The $50 million project will add a stack of seats to the stadium‘s east side, with a translucent rooftop curling overhead.

Commissioners questioned the design’s commitment to views into the stadium, which is used primarily by the Portland Timbers and Thorns pro soccer teams. Commissioners expressed skepticism whether a sidewalk encroachment would achieve any public benefit. In the end, the five commissioners present voted unanimously to approve the project.

Architects made a major change to the design from a prior iteration that went before the Design Commission for advice. The east grandstands were reduced to three floors, from four.

“The three-level scheme allows us to bring down the height of the building,” said Chelsea Grassinger, associate principal at Allied Works.

The roof height will be 93 feet, 3 inches. That’s still much higher than the existing stadium, which tops out at 49 feet.

While the latest design reduces the roof’s overall height from the prior iteration, it increases the floor-to-ceiling heights of each level. This was done to accommodate the 4,000 additional seats desired by the Timbers. The Major League Soccer team has sold out 118 consecutive games.

As a result, the new design pinches views into the stadium. Commissioners lamented the narrower view into the stadium from the sidewalk.

“I like having the view into the stadium, so that’s a bit of a loss from what we have today,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said.

Commissioner David Wark agreed, saying there are simply too many objects between the rear of the grandstands and the sidewalk in the design.

“What can you take away, what can you delete, what can you edit?” he said. “Because the view into that stadium for decades has been so important.”

Wark also complained that the design team didn’t tell the commission that the grandstands had been lowered. He had to notice it.

“That’s a bit of a bother,” he said.

In the end, commissioners added a condition that the grandstands begin 12 feet above the concourse to preserve views into the stadium.

Commissioners also wrestled with whether approving an encroachment into the sidewalk would yield adequate public benefit. A cabling system ties into the sidewalk to support the proposed roof structure.

Grassinger noted the renovated sidewalk approximately doubles the width of the existing sidewalk.

“It’s hard to argue that clear, organized sidewalk isn’t a public benefit,” she said.

The encroachment must be approved by the City Council, most likely at a late August or early September meeting.

Commissioners added a condition that the face of the south elevator and stair tower be given over to public uses, such as promotions for nonprofits.

Ken Puckett, senior vice president of operations for the Timbers, said the club would not object to that.

“I think the use of the towers for public benefit is a great idea,” he said. “I don’t think we would have a problem with that.”

Raising the bottom of the grandstands will require more architectural work to preserve the 12-foot aperture into the stadium. But Puckett said the commission’s mandated changes are achievable.

“We’ll figure it out,” he said.

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The Portland Design Commission gave its first impressions of the proposed $50 million, 4,000-seat expansion of city-owned Providence Park during a design advice hearing on Thursday. It attracted a large crowd of architects, neighborhood business representatives, team officials and soccer fans.

“Every time I hear the door squeak, it sounds like a Timbers horn,” said Tim Heron, senior planner for the Portland Bureau of Development Services. “I was anxious that this was going to be an interesting hearing.”

The proposed expansion of the 91-year-old stadium, which is home to both the Timbers and Thorns soccer teams, calls for the addition of two seating decks as well as concession stands and restroom facilities. Also, the existing 47-foot facade would be modified to rise to 92 feet, 10 inches.

One of the major reasons why advice was requested at this early stage of the design process is that the project owner has an aggressive timeline for construction.

“Their goal is to get first work started in the right of way in October,” said Bob Haley, senior planner with the Portland Bureau of Transportation. “That is a pretty optimistic schedule to get through a very complicated public works permit to do all the utility work in October. And then the following year I believe is when the structural work begins. It’s a very quick timeline.”

One of the major problems is that plans include a major encroachment into the public right of way on Southwest 18th Avenue. That will require approval of the Portland City Council, the Portland Bureau of Transportation and TriMet, which operates mass transit in the area. The Design Commission is expected to recommend that the City Council approve the encroachment request.

Project planners wanted the Design Commission to give advice on the overall concept before moving forward with discussions with other agencies.

“No one has a problem with building in the public right of way,” Design Commission Chairman David Wark said. “It seems like the major encroachment idea is supported. Now it’s about working out the messy details.”

Many of those details still have to be finalized. Project architect Allied Works Architecture is still working on plans ranging from crowd control to whether the proposed roof, extending over the grandstand, will be metal or fabric. Another issue is how Southwest 18th Avenue will be treated.

Currently, temporary barriers are used to direct crowds to transit options on game days. However, those barriers are often ignored as fans cross streets illegally. Commissioners and project officials discussed the merits of a permanent structure that would prevent jaywalking both on game and non-game days.

“It seems to be that there needs to be some idea of how to get out instead of just at the north and south area,” Wark said.

A permanent structure, however, would present its own problems.

“Adding thousands of people … if you build this fence, then you only have a 10-foot-wide sidewalk,” Design Commissioner Jessica Molinar said. “There are 3,000 people on the sidewalk; you’re sort of penning them in in this space.”

Discussions on Thursday also touched on project officials’ need to demonstrate a public benefit in order to justify the encroachment on public space. The Design Commission encouraged the team to look for ways to increase that benefit.

“Obviously there is economic benefit in terms of income,” Wark said. “You do have to pay to go in here, so it automatically limits the people that can benefit from this. It seems like there should be something in addition to the unseen public benefits.”

Overall, the design proposed was largely influenced by the vertical elements of stadiums in Europe and Central America. It includes an open steel latticework to create platforms for people. Tensioned cables lining the new facade would support a roof structure that will cover the new and existing seats.

“The expansion of Providence Park creates a new stadium type,” said Brad Cloepfil, principal and founder of Allied Works Architecture. “The design was conceived to amplify excitement, theatricality and intensity of the stadium experience.”

Also on Thursday:

Lloyd Center

The Design Commission got its second look at plans for CAPREF Lloyd Center LLC‘s renovation and expansion of the aging Lloyd Center mall. The design presented Thursday by Waterleaf Architecture‘s Bill Bailey was different in several ways from the one shown March 9.

Many of the changes focused on the plaza at the corner of N.E. Ninth Avenue and Multnomah Street. Commissioners previously recommended that designers use it to shape the building’s entry.

Overall, commissioners were complimentary of the changes; however, they said the plaza isn’t defined adequately.

“The plaza needs to take a firmer position on whether it’s public space or if it’s part of the mall,” Commissioner Julie Livingston said. “It should be more public and perform more like other public spaces in the neighborhoods do.”

Commissioners also advised designers to make sure the plaza would be useful at all times of the year. Currently, plans call for a lot of outdoor tables, planters and a water feature that could have limited use during winter months.

“The outdoor space needs to work when it’s raining on Tuesday in October,” Commission Vice Chairman Tad Savinar said. “It’s October on a Tuesday afternoon for nine months of the year here.”

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