A proposal for a seven-story mixed-use building in Portland’s Central Eastside won unanimous approval from the Design Commission on Thursday after changes were made to assuage commissioners’ concerns that the building would not fit within the neighborhood context.

The fourth Design Commission hearing for the project at 550 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. turned out to be the successful one. Commissioners voted 6-0 to approve GBD Architects‘ design (one commissioner, Jessica Molinar, was absent).

“The building looks really good,” Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said after the vote. “Thank you for your forbearance and the revisions that you made to kind of bring it more fully into the context of the Central Eastside.”

The five-over-two project, with 132 apartments, is from Urban Development + Partners. The ground floor will have retail space, residential amenities and approximately 60 parking spaces.

The latest design eliminated dark metal panels, regularized the windows and simplified the façade, said Marcus Lima, a GBD associate principal.

Commissioner Zari Santner urged the project team to get the details right.

“Some of us were not quite convinced this is the right setting for this building,” she said. “But if it really comes through the way it’s shown, it will be a great precedent-setting context. So as a citizen, not just as a design commissioner, I want to plea to you to pay attention to execution.”

In October, the Design Commission bounced back an earlier iteration of the design, largely because of neighborhood context concerns.

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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday essentially rejected revised plans for a seven-story mixed-use building at 550 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

At least three commissioners present at the hearing expressed opposition. The developer, Urban Development + Partners, and designer Marcus Lima of GBD Architects opted not to call for a vote, which would have likely resulted in a formal denial and teed up a potential appeal to the City Council.

Instead, UD+P and GBD representatives opted for a continuance, indicating they would rework the design in hopes of winning the Design Commission’s approval. A follow-up work session is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 4.

“I’m not eager to call for a vote,” Sarah Zahn, director of development for UD+P, told commissioners. “That’s not my style. That’s not Marcus’ style. We want to be collaborative.”

As proposed, the building would be a five-over-two structure with 132 residential units. The ground floor would have retail space at each corner, and a lobby space. Parking would be provided via 60 ground-level stalls.

Commissioners said context is where the proposed building’s design falls short. Many of their objections appeared to stem from the difficulty of fitting a primarily residential building among low-slung warehouses and office buildings.

“I’m kind of struggling with this one, because it is a nice-looking building,” Commissioner Chandra Robinson said, “but I’m not sure that it’s meeting the context – and it’s a tough context to meet because it’s historic on one side and Central Eastside Industrial on the other side.”

The site is within the Central Eastside Industrial District, and the eastern portion of it also overlaps the East Portland Grand Avenue Historic District.

UD+P has invested heavily in the neighborhood: Across Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, UD+P in partnership with Beam Development last year delivered District Office, a sleek, modern office building. The two developers also partnered for Hotel Grand Stark, which sits east of the 550 S.E. MLK project and opened in May. UD+P is the sole developer for the latest project.

“We’re not unfamiliar with this neighborhood,” Zahn said in an interview. “This is our neighborhood.”

UD+P’s development of the 550 S.E. MLK site has stretched on. Initially, UD+P proposed a hotel at the location. A pre-application meeting was held nearly a year ago, on Nov. 10, 2020.

Commissioners Robinson, Jessica Molinar and Brian McCarter indicated they were not ready to approve the project Thursday. Don Vallaster and Zari Santner spoke in favor, and Chairwoman Julie Livingston said she was a “swing vote.” Sam Rodriguez was absent from Thursday’s meeting, which was conducted via Zoom.

The project team appeared to be taken aback by the Design Commission’s opposition, given earlier meetings where the design seemed to be headed in the right direction.

“I’m slightly speechless,” said Lima, a GBD associate principal. “I’m at a bit of a loss,” he later added.

Some of the design choices stem from the building’s residential program, he said.

“We can’t have large windows like an industrial building or an office building,” he said. “We can’t be the building across the street.”

The building’s windows “need to be more regular,” Molinar said.

“You need to ratchet back a number of moves to be consistent with the context,” she added.

McCarter said the proposal needs to better fit among the surrounding warehouses.

“We don’t need to throw everything out and start from scratch,” he said. “I think something’s got to happen with the windows that bring it somehow into the realm of industrial warehouse architecture.”

Santner argued that the building fits within the Central Eastside’s evolving context.

“We know the nature of development in this area is going to change,” she said. “It is not going to remain industrial. It is not going to remain office. It is going to be more residential.”

In other neighborhoods such as Slabtown, where new buildings have hewed closely to context, the designs have become too much alike, Santner said.

“We rely so heavily on context,” she said. “After a while, it becomes like, gosh, this is all the same.”

Zahn, in an interview on Friday, said the team would work with Bureau of Development Services staff to update the design ahead of the November work session with commissioners.

“Not the outcome we expected,” she said. “We’re regrouping right now and discussing with staff the best path forward. I have a lot of confidence in GBD to respond to comments and frankly, we love our design, and we think it’s a beautiful building. And the commission loved the design. It’s about context.”

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PROJECT: Division 28 Homes

LOCATION: 2871 S.E. Division St., Portland

SIZE: 46,656 square feet

COST: not provided

CONSTRUCTION START DATE: August 2020

ANTICIPATED END DATE: November 2021

DEVELOPER: Urban Development + Partners

ARCHITECT: Hacker

ENGINEERS/OTHER ASSOCIATES: Hunter-Davisson, IES Commercial, Kittelson & Associates, Ohm Systems, Pacific Foundation, Tapani, Wyatt Fire Protection

CONTRACTOR: Truebeck Construction

SUBCONTRACTORS: Anderson Poolworks, Closet Factory, Columbia Drywall Systems, Columbia Millwork, Conco, D&R Masonry Restoration, Dallas Glass & Window, Eastbank Contractor Appliances, Fireside Home Solutions, Floor Solutions, Flynn BEC LP,  GeoTech Foundation Company – West, Ha’s Painting, Interior Tech, Jack’s Overhead Door, JB Insulation, KONE, LaRusso Concrete, Mari Design, Pacific Construction Group, Standard TV & Appliance, TerraCalc Land Surveying, Teufel, Timberland Construction, Westech Construction

SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT: Located on Southeast Division Street, the four-story Division 28 Homes cohousing development was designed to meet the needs of a close group of friends who wanted to spend their last years together. The building will have both common areas and privacy distinctly different than those of typical apartments and condominiums.

The facade integrates terra-cotta and green spaces, and the interior features cross-laminated timber. The first floor includes a community space with areas for retail and restaurants. Parking is below grade. Above, there are living spaces with high-end interiors and an extensive private patio with green space. Additional amenities include a wine cellar and a pool.

The goal of the project is to create a space that benefits both residents and people at the street level.

“Building Blocks” spotlights noteworthy projects either under construction or approaching the start of construction. To submit a project for consideration, please visit: djcoregon.com/building-blocks.

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The pandemic killed Urban Development + Partners‘ plans to build a hotel in Portland’s burgeoning Central Eastside neighborhood.

Now UD+P is back with a proposal for a seven-story building with residential units above a ground-floor café and other space at 550 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

A hotel development “essentially became unfeasible,” said Marcus Lima, a GBD Architects associate principal. Now GBD is working with UD+P on a new program – with a residential scheme.

Plans presented to the Portland Design Commission on Thursday call for approximately 120 residential units on floors two through seven. The ground floor would have a café, bike parking and other amenities.

The hotel project was approved by the Design Commission in 2017. With an essentially new project, the developer and architect must start the design review process anew.

The development will continue to change as the design is refined, Lima said.

“It has evolved and will continue to evolve before we come in for a design review submittal,” he said.

As currently designed, the building would be approximately 85 feet tall. Surface parking would be approximately 60 spaces. The site is slightly smaller than a half-block.

UD+P was thrown a curveball by a Portland Bureau of Transportation decision to designate the frontage along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as a pedestrian district, requiring a 3-foot-wide dedication. That reduced the footprint available for the building.

“So our site that was already kind of constricted is now even more constricted,” Lima said.

UD+P and GBD floated a potential modification to ground-floor active use design guidelines that require 25 feet of depth from the face of the building to the back of retail spaces. The proposal does not meet the guideline along 50 percent of its façade as required.

A majority of the commissioners said they would not approve a modification; only two were in favor of granting the exception.

“It shouldn’t feel like you’re walking next to a dead zone or alleyway,” Commissioner Jessica Molinar said.

The café would be open after hours to residents who want to work or gather there, Lima said.

Without a modification, the development would have to shrink, said Katherine Schultz, director of GBD Architects.

“The option is to lose units … or to lose parking spaces,” she said.

The building would rise in a fast-growing commercial area. New developments including District Office and Hotel Chamberlain are rapidly transforming the Central Eastside neighborhood into a modern commercial area.

The 550 MLK project would add an atypical residential element.

“It is really hard to land a residential project in a warehouse district,” Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said.

Commissioners critiqued the initial design. Zari Santner said the building needed a more distinct base, middle and top. Molinar and Livingston suggested the north and south elevations needed improvement so they wouldn’t appear to be sidewalls.

The building should have “one single, clear expression that wraps all the way around,” Livingston added.

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Urban Development + Partners is moving forward with plans for a three-building mixed-use development that would anchor the north end of downtown Lake Oswego.

The Lake Oswego Redevelopment Agency‘s board last month voted to authorize negotiations with UD+P for a memorandum of understanding and a disposition and development agreement for the project, which is expected to cost more than $60 million.

The Portland developer plans to construct three buildings on a 1.07-acre site that was cobbled together by the city of Lake Oswego to bring new development. The city spent $6.8 million to assemble the parcels, which are for now mostly covered by surface parking lots.

A 51-room boutique hotel would occupy the westernmost parcel at B Avenue and First Street, and come from the same people behind the Atticus Hotel – a luxurious wine-country retreat in McMinnville. The Lake Oswego hotel is likely to be part of the Atticus brand, said Sarah Zahn, UD+P’s development director.

Architect Nathan Cooprider designed the McMinnville hotel and is on board to design its Lake Oswego counterpart. Plans call for a four-story, 45,000-square-foot building, Zahn said.

The middle parcel would have a four-story, 45-unit apartment building.

The third parcel would have 30,000 square feet of office space. It would rise as three main floors, with a small fourth floor opening onto a rooftop deck.

“At UD+P, our major focus is really urban infill – walkable, community-based development – and we feel like this location in downtown Lake Oswego is a good opportunity to continue that focus,” Zahn said.

Hacker is designing the office and residential structures. DCI Engineers is also working on the project.

UD+P has not selected a general contractor. The developer will invite handpicked contractors to participate in a selection process, Zahn said.

For the city of Lake Oswego, the plan would fulfill a long-held goal to anchor the north side of downtown and to complement The Windward and other new developments to the south. Lake Oswego officials refer to the UD+P project as North Anchor.

“We’re really looking at something to energize a compact shopping district,” said Sidaro Sin, redevelopment manager for the city.

Four-story buildings are appropriate for the existing scale of downtown, Sin said.

“The key thing here is kind of a balance between a development that works and also fits within the character of Lake Oswego,” he said.

Zahn expressed hope that the boutique hotel would work in concert with – a new four-story, mixed-use building from the Haladay family’s 10 Branch development company that includes a 10,000-square-foot event center and wedding venue.

“We feel like there’s demand in Lake Oswego for all of these uses,” she said.

UD+P is Lake Oswego’s latest business partner for North Anchor. A previous request for proposals led to the city selecting Sturgeon Development Partners; however, the firm withdrew from the project last year. Sturgeon Development Partners had planned a somewhat different project, with a larger, 132-room hotel, but no multifamily or office space.

“They weren’t able to secure all the financing that they needed at the time,” Sin said. “It was amicable.”

Vanessa Sturgeon, a principal and founder of Sturgeon Development Partners, said local politics in Lake Oswego, including demands by one city councilor for affordable housing, sank the project.

“It ended up spooking our investors,” she said. “The Lake Oswego political environment is what killed the deal.”

Lake Oswego then launched a second request for proposals in late 2019 that led to the connection with UD+P.

UD+P is confident it will be able to complete the project despite the economic upheaval wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, Zahn said.

“We have our own investment fund that we bring to bear on projects, so our horizon is a long-term horizon,” she said. “This gives us some more flexibility.”

UD+P is not obligated to buy the land right away, Zahn said.

“We can work with the city,” she said.

The city and developer are on track to execute a memorandum of understanding in June, and a disposition and development agreement in September, Zahn said.

“We would start construction next summer,” she said. “So hopefully, from a timing perspective, we’ll be at a good time for starting a project and financing a project.”

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Division 28, a distinctive, modern condo building with potential to further the evolution of Southeast Division Street, was approved Thursday night by the Portland Design Commission.

The 37,000-square-foot building will be four stories, but with a significant step back from the property line. The building will have 10 condominiums and one floor of underground parking, along with two retail spaces intended for a restaurant and one or more boutiques.

The project is from Portland’s Urban Development + Partners, with a design by Hacker. It will be constructed at Southeast 28th Place and Division Street in a stretch that has been transformed in recent years with restaurants, boutiques and multifamily housing.

Division 28 had a relatively stress-free trip through the city’s design review process, with only a single previous design advice meeting taking place in August. Commissioners were largely complimentary of the design, although some voiced concerns about scale and shadows, because the building will tower over its neighbors.

Commissioner Jessica Molinar expressed unease about the building’s relationship to the context on Division Street.

“I had major issues with context (at the August meeting), and I still do,” she said. “Multiple houses beyond this building will be in shadow.”

But in the end, she was won over by Chairwoman Julie Livingston’s argument that the building met design guidelines on balance. Commissioners voted 7-0 in favor of the project.

“This project shows there’s more than one way to meet the design guidelines, and they’re doing it in a very novel and innovative way,” Commissioner Brian McCarter said.

Most of the condo units will have two bedrooms, and range in size from less than 2,000 square feet to approximately 2,800 square feet. The building also will have common spaces.

“Compared to a typical condo, they have a little more robust common area on the fourth floor,” Joren Bass, senior development manager for UD+P, said in an interview.

The project came about when a tight-knit group approached UD+P about constructing them a condo building that they intend to occupy. The result was Division 28. All 10 condos have been spoken for, Bass said.

“It’s a group of family members and friends who have come together to develop a building that allows them to age in place and age together,” he said.

The property is owned by a limited liability company with an address in Los Angeles.

The building’s facade will be primarily glass and terra cotta, with landscaped terraces spilling over each story. One retail space – likely to be a restaurant – will front the corner of 28th Place and Division Street. A second retail space of about 1,350 square feet will front Division. The retail space is divisible, Bass said.

“We’ve found in our experience on Division, the 600-square-foot boutique space works well,” he said.

One resident testified with concerns about the project. Heather Flint Chatto, chairwoman of the Richmond Neighborhood Association land-use committee, said the Southeast Division corridor had been transformed by a small number of developers.

“While it is a cool and interesting building, the character of our corridor has been redefined by about four people, or groups,” she said. “That’s a lot of power.”

UD+P hopes to break ground on the project in summer 2020, Bass said. He declined to reveal the project budget.

In addition to Hacker, the project team includes DCI Engineers, Vega Civil Engineering and Bend-based SZABO Landscape Architecture. Siteworks Design-Build is on board to serve as general contractor.

“Obviously it’s a very walkable neighborhood,” Bass said. “It’s close to downtown, but also offers all the benefits of being on Division with restaurants, shops and retail as well.”

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In Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District, construction of a six-story mixed-use building is progressing quickly.

District Office will have 90,400 square feet – five stories of creative office space above ground-floor retail space. There will also be one level of below-grade parking. Work began in May 2018 with . Then Timberland Inc. carpentry crews flew the first cross-laminated timber panel into place a year later, and the building was topped out barely three months after that.

Beam Development and Urban Development + Partners are developing the project, which was designed by Hacker. The general contractor is Andersen Construction.

A pair of concrete building cores will house elevators and stairwells as well as mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Glulam beams and columns are being used, along with CLT floor panels manufactured by DR Johnson. A 3-inch topping slab on each floor will provide additional horizontal shear strength, while floor-to-ceiling glazing will let in generous amounts of natural light.

“The timber structure is fully up, the topping slabs are done, framing is up and going on all elevations two through the roof, and the roof starts going in today,” Andersen Construction project manager Katie Hoyt said late last month. “Fiberglass windows are done on the east elevation, they are a good portion of the way done on the south and they’ll be starting on the north side today, as well.”

The exterior will feature brick cladding, fiberglass windows and aluminum storefronts. The main entry will front Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Upon delivery, Hacker will occupy space on the sixth floor and part of the fifth; other tenants have not been named. Much of the building, at 525 S.E. MLK Jr. Blvd., will be shell space initially.

Power issues have complicated the project.

“Everywhere you look we’ve got live power lines,” Hoyt said. “And our temp power line for the job is coming across the street.”

There is a streetcar line on the east side of the project site, power lines on the north and south sides, and two buildings on the west side.

“When we’re done, our power into the building will go under Stark (Street); they’ve already done the excavation for that,” Hoyt said. “It will go into a switch vault and then into the building. So when we’re able to turn the live power on, then they can disconnect the temp power. But live power is predicated on having the electrical rooms done and signed off and lockable – all that good stuff.”

The project’s tower crane is set to be dismantled in November. Project completion is expected by the end of the year.

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A planned 10-unit mixed-use building in the Richmond neighborhood features a unique design intended to foster a sense of community in residents. The Division 28 Homes, designed by Hacker Architects for Urban Development + Partners, blends aspects of single-family design into a multifamily structure.

The building would contain eight two-bedroom condominiums and two one-bedroom units, as well as restaurant and retail spaces, as well as a below-grade parking garage.

To avoid the isolating effect of boxy designs and vertical integration, the building’s massing steps back as it increases in elevation, giving the structure a staggered form and minimizing its impact on neighboring buildings. The massing provides a connection between the outdoor terraces included with each unit, providing an opportunity for interactions between neighbors spending time outdoors. Further communal interactions would be fostered by fourth-floor tenant amenity spaces including a community kitchen, game room, gym, indoor swimming pool and an outdoor spa.

The project went before the Portland Design Commission for the first time Thursday for design advice. Commissioners were generally excited about the design itself, but wanted to see some tweaks made in the direction of a greater experience for pedestrians and the public realm.

The building lacks canopies, which means those walking by won’t be able to seek refuge against the project’s walls in inclement weather. Furthermore, the restaurant patio is the only defining outdoor characteristic at ground level, which means a lack of noncommercial public space.

“Really good design is not a hall pass on public realm response,” Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said. “There’s got to be a way to integrate public benefit.”

Livingston said she would like to see some kind of area for passersby to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of a street as busy as Division is. Commissioners Jessica Molinar, Don Vallaster and Sam Rodriguez also took issue with the restaurant corner, saying they want to see more of the building’s massing taken up at the sidewalk, instead of the currently set-back second floor.

The design of the building itself, however, was never at fault. Commissioners praised the aesthetic, the shape and the use of materials. Commissioner Brian McCarter said the building will add to the richness Division Street is trying to cultivate, and that he hopes the design will go relatively unchanged by the time it receives a land use review.

Commissioners also expressed excitement at the idea of a new residential building that doesn’t involve flat, rectangular facades.

“It’s absolutely thrilling when an applicant brings in great architecture,” Livingston said. “This is really lovely architecture.”

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Construction of District Office, a six-story, 90,400-square-foot mixed-use building on the rise at Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Stark Street, began in May 2018 with demolition of the former home of Portland Music Co. One year later, crews are installing cross-laminated timber elements.

The building will feature a structural framework of glulam columns and beams and CLT floor panels around a pair of concrete building cores. One level of below-grade parking is topped with a post-tensioned concrete deck, but then it’s all wood until rough-in.

“There was a lot of conversation early on about trying to do them at the same time as we do timber,” Andersen Construction project manager Katie Hoyt said. “But the cores require so much of (a) crane that you really have to dedicate the crane to them.”

Andersen Construction is building District Office for Beam Development and Urban Development + Partners. Hacker designed the building to hold five stories of creative office space above ground-floor retail space. The exterior will feature brick cladding, fiberglass windows and aluminum storefronts at the main entry fronting Southeast Martin Luther King Boulevard.

District Office is one of a growing number of mass-timber buildings in the Portland area. The structural component has continued to gain acceptance among both builders and, more importantly, the International Building Council. Its code now makes provision for mass-timber construction up to 18 stories.

One of the biggest advantages of mass-timber construction is the time saved via use of prefabricated beams, columns or panels – or all three together. In the case of District Office, DR Johnson of Riddle manufactured every single beam, column and CLT floor panel before a single piece arrived at the job site. This allowed truckloads of columns and beams to arrive on-site to be installed immediately by a small crew of carpenters from Timberland Inc. Then 42-foot-long CLT floor panels are flown into place with the tower crane.

“The whole building is fabricated, and a small part of it is here and the rest is in Riddle,” said Brad Nile, a project executive with Andersen Construction. “It’s pre-cut and ready to go.”

A three-inch concrete topping slab will add support on each floor once mass timber is in place. Gaps between CLT floor panels will facilitate other work.

“The intent is that all mechanical (systems), be it electrical or whatever, fit in those gaps to keep it clean,” Hoyt said. “It’s all open and accessible.”

This is the first mass-timber project Hoyt has managed. The biggest difference between a traditional concrete-and-steel-framed structure and a mass-timber one, she said, is the savings of time and manpower that come from prefabrication.

“Basically, it’s a whole, complete system that when it all goes and clicks together you’ve created a floor in a pretty quick time frame,” she said. “They fabricated it from the top down and put it into storage, and as they pull it out it comes out from the bottom up in order.”

Significant time was also spent modeling shipments three-dimensionally to ensure efficient delivery to the job site. Once on site, materials are lifted straight from the delivery truck to where they need to go.

“You have to strategically place materials on the truck so they come off in somewhat of an order,” Hoyt said.

The use of mass timber is only likely to grow, Nile said, but added that a maturation process is necessary.

“We need scale and efficiency and just the supply chain growing up to the point where it’s real,” he said. “It’s been a lot of work to get here. It’s all 3-D models, and every component is analyzed so you can do all this off-site fabrication very accurately. And it’s a fun way to build, but I think the supply chain needs to grow up a bit. It’s much more mature in Europe.”

Construction of District Office is expected to finish by the end of 2019.

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A three-building portfolio in the heart of Southeast Division Street’s commercial district has sold for $28.75 million.

SENTRE, based in San Diego, purchased the mixed-use buildings at 3330, 3339 and 3360 S.E. Division St. The buildings include 93 residential units and nine retail spaces totaling 12,350 square feet. Retail tenants include Salt & Straw and St. Honoré Boulangerie.

The seller was an entity associated with Urban Development + Partners, the Portland developer of the properties.

SENTRE said it will rebrand the buildings as Anthology on Division and will invest $1 million in interior and exterior renovations.

“Southeast Portland is a vibrant, growing neighborhood and the epicenter of the city’s culinary scene,” Doug Arthur, president and CEO of SENTRE, said in a news release. “SENTRE looks forward to investing in the neighborhood by creating an authentic live, work and play environment at Anthology on Division for the new generation of professionals settling in the area.”

The purchase was SENTRE’s second in Portland after picking up The Thornton on Northwest Overton Street last year.

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