A Japanese hotel chain’s early foray into the United States was met with mixed feelings by the Portland Design Commission on Thursday. While commissioners dismissed early designs as being far from ideal, they expressed a sense of hope for what the project could achieve.

Toyoko Inn, a Japanese company specializing in three-star economy hotels, has nearly 300 buildings domestically and across South Korea, the Philippines, Germany and France. The firm recently initiated plans to build hotels in three U.S. cities: New York City, Chicago and Portland. All building designs are done in-house.

The Portland hotel is planned at a corner of Southwest Oak Street and Third Avenue, where a 10,000-square-foot vacant lot abuts an existing building. Toyoko plans to pack 610 hotel rooms into 180,409 total square feet, in a tower rising 32 stories (357 feet tall).

As planned, the hotel would have no restaurants or shops, both to keep prices down and encourage guests to visit existing local businesses. The hotel would occupy only the lot’s western portion, while a courtyard or sort of public plaza would occupy the eastern portion.

A polished granite finish would be used near ground level, while the residential levels would be clad in aluminum. Each room would feature a PVC window able to tilt and turn away from the building.

The Toyoko design team provided a minimalist line rendering of the hotel, which lacked color or much detail, but otherwise mostly resembles their previous offerings in Japan. In images showing the building’s place among the city skyline, renderings displayed only a blank rectangle sprouting from the ground.

While the idea of a typical Toyoko Inn in Portland generated disapproval from commissioners, the simplicity of the design team’s presentation left it flexibility to respond to city guidelines and adjust where necessary.

Much of the criticism was directed at the building’s fit in the neighborhood. The area has several historic buildings, including the Portland Outdoor Store across Oak Street. To commissioners, this made the design extra sensitive to scrutiny.

“It’s not responding to the context at all,” Commissioner Chandra Robinson said. “Proportions don’t seem to match what’s in the rest of the neighborhood.”

One neighborhood resident, Robin White, showed up to testify in opposition to the project. She cited concerns about the proposed materials and height.

“My biggest concern is the historic area,” she said. “A 32-story building, right in the middle of that historic area, just seems like it’s being forced.”

There was also a lot of conversation about the public plaza. While commissioners said they usually like to see more ground-level activation, they felt the building should take up the entire lot.

“It’s a nonstarter,” Commissioner Samuel Rodriguez said about the courtyard idea. “It’s too small a block to leave it open.”

However, the project is in preliminary stages, with the design far from finalized. Commissioners acknowledged they were impressed with the number of hotel rooms being included in a tower of its proposed size.

Commissioner Don Vallaster said the Toyoko Inn, being so tall and in a historic neighborhood, should be an iconic presence in the city.

“What we’re really looking for is some design excellence; that isn’t happening right now,” he said. “I’m kind of looking at this as though it’s really the start of the conversation.”

The Portland Design Commission is in the process of scheduling a second design advice hearing for the Toyoko Inn project.

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The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is looking to tighten a historic zoning designation around the Police Block downtown.

Reducing the area would allow the proposed Toyoko Inn project to proceed through design review before the Portland Design Commission, rather than the Historic Landmarks Commission, according to BPS.

A boundary reduction would require the Historic Landmarks Commission’s approval. The request is slated for the commission’s June 10 agenda.

The Police Block consists of three buildings that were constructed between 1912 and 1955. Additions were built in 1944 and 1955. All three buildings were vacated by the city in 1984 after the completion of the Justice Center.

The block is bounded by Southwest Oak and Pine streets and Second and Third avenues. The proposed boundary adjustment pertains to the property at 209 S.W. Oak St., which is owned by Menashe Properties through a limited liability company.

Menashe Properties principal Jordan Menashe said he opposes the boundary change.

“Why should our city be punished by losing a historic block for a 2.5-star Toyoko Inn?” he said.

The Japanese hotel chain last year revealed preliminary plans to build a 19-story business hotel with 120,000 square feet and 486 guest rooms. The proposal has not entered the design review process. In October, Toyoko Inn requested a complex zoning analysis from the city to check on zoning rules at the site in a possible prelude to development.

The city decided to pursue a boundary reduction to reflect changes to the historic nature of the block over time, said Brandon Spencer-Hartle, historic resources program manager for BPS. “The character of the rest of the block has been altered beyond recognition from what it was during the historic period,” he said.

The request for the boundary change was not prompted by Toyoko Inn or any other party, Spencer-Hartle said.

Toyoko Inn purchased the quarter-block property at the southwest corner of the block from the Portland Development Commission (now Prosper Portland) for a little more than $1 million in September 2016.

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That fenced-off hole in the ground at Southwest Third Avenue and Oak Street, in downtown Portland, might not be around much longer if a Japanese hotel chain can win design approval for a new development.

Toyoko Inn is proposing a 19-story, 486-room hotel on the parcel. The hospitality group is scheduled to meet with Portland Bureau of Development Services staff during a pre-application conference on March 29.

The downtown Portland hotel would be Toyoko’s first U.S. location.

“It’s kind of a budget hotel for business travelers,” said Richard Kalb, a Chicago architect who is designing the project. “They basically market clean, efficient, economic quarters for the business guy, etc.”

Toyoko purchased the property for $1,024,000 from the Portland Development Commission (now Prosper Portland) in September 2016.

The property has some history. It was once a jail annex that neighbored police headquarters on the block. The city of Portland vacated the block in 1984, and then struggled for the next 30 years to find anyone to develop the southwest corner of the property. Those efforts were complicated by a 99-year lease on an underground parking lot. The PDC made annual payments to satisfy the parking encumbrance.

Meanwhile, the police headquarters building was redeveloped for office use and the Westshore Apartments, a subsidized affordable housing complex, was constructed on the block.

In 2015, the PDC marketed the remaining quarter-block property and entertained three offers before settling on the Toyoko Inn chain. It was identified in PDC documents as the largest hospitality chain in Japan, with more than 240 hotels in that country and elsewhere.

The PDC estimated the property would bring in more than $300,000 annually in property taxes.

Menashe Properties also bid on the property, said Jordan Menashe, principal at the family-owned Portland firm.

Menashe acknowledged Menashe Properties’ bid was lower than Toyoko’s, but said the PDC should have made a counteroffer.

“They should have come back, but they didn’t,” he said. “Now we’re going to have a very low-end hotel. … I don’t think the PDC chose the correct use for that area.”

The hotel would come after a rush of other hospitality projects, although none matches Toyoko’s budget business hotel model. Projects such as the 600-room Hyatt Regency Portland at the Oregon Convention Center and the Graves Hospitality boutique hotel in the West End are on track to be completed sooner.

The Toyoko design could be required to change as it enters Portland’s design review process. Some of the Toyoko hotels in Japan have large “toyoko-inn.com” lettering on the upper floors that may run counter to a guideline that says signs “should have only a minimal presence in the Portland skyline.”

No design renderings of the project were available, Kalb said. A Toyoko Inn official did not respond to an email message seeking comment.

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