Construction of mixed-use apartment development is under way on a lot abutting the Willamette River on Northwest Front Avenue. Riverscape Lot 8 is being built by Fore Construction, a subsidiary of Las Vegas-based developer Fore Property Company. The developer completed construction earlier this year on Waterline, a four-building, 243-unit apartment project on an adjacent lot south of Riverscape Lot 8, and recently began work on a six-story mixed-use project nearby on Riverscape Lot 1.

SERA Architects is the designer of the two-building development, which consists of five stories of wood-framed construction over two stories of concrete, including one level of below-grade parking.  The project’s 260 residential units include studios, lofts, and one- and two-bedroom apartments. The buildings will have a 1:1 parking ratio with 260 spaces, as well as bicycle storage, a retail space, a separate boat rental/retail space, fitness and yoga rooms, and a common area.

Views of the Willamette River will be available via a ground-floor courtyard and a rooftop deck.  Crews broke ground on the project last March, and completion is slated for September 2016.

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Rooftop terraces at Portland multifamily developments are becoming more than merely planters and outdoor furniture. Now, as high-end outdoor amenity spaces, they are intended to attract prospective tenants in a competitive market.

“These are amenities that renters are looking for and also expecting,” said Steve Shapiro, principal with Portland-based Shapiro Didway. “Designers and developers are trying to create these spaces that are very resort-like.”

Shapiro Didway is among Portland-area landscape architecture firms designing ritzy rooftop terraces with features such as fire tables, barbecue grills, outdoor kitchens or wet bars, dog runs, vegetable gardens, movie screens and hot tubs. Terraces, roof gardens and green roofs previously represented ways to meet city stormwater management requirements; now they’re desired by prospective tenants.

“It’s a high percentage of the work that we do,” Shapiro said. “It just makes for a better living environment for everybody.”

Construction of outdoor amenity terraces can be expensive because the process often involves using a crane to lift components. However, they’re often a worthwhile investment, said Steven Koch, a principal with Portland-based Koch Landscape Architecture. Much of the firm’s commercial work involves designing outdoor amenity spaces for apartment buildings. Recent designs include rooftop decks on Mill Creek Residential Trust‘s Sky3 Place under construction in Southwest Portland, and PHK Development‘s Marvel 29 completed recently in St. Johns.

“It’s more capital outlay for the owners,” Koch said. “Some developers are finally realizing their value as marketing tools … They get their value back because there is an added level of appeal.”

The added cost of building a rooftop terrace is often worth it when the completed development rents out quickly, said Lee Novak, vice president of Las Vegas-based Fore Property Co., which is developing several multifamily projects in Portland. Fore’s Waterline luxury apartments in Northwest Portland, slated to be complete next month, will feature a rooftop deck with a wet bar, an outdoor movie screen and prime views of the Willamette River and Mount Hood, he said.

“It’s just a really fun space,” he said. “It maximizes the location we have. It’s a very nice amenity that prospective residents have commented on and asked about.”

Two other apartment projects the company is developing north of the Waterline and in John’s Landing will also include rooftop terraces. The trend toward offering these outdoor spaces on large-scale apartment developments will likely continue as developers compete for tenants, Novak said.

“It’s going to become more and more common as people try to differentiate themselves,” he said. “All of the amenities are in a way trying to create a better quality of life for residents. A roof deck is one of those amenities that hits that (mark).”

Challenges for landscape architects and architects designing rooftop terraces include paying careful attention to the weight of soils and plants, and waterproofing against moisture seeping into the level below. The added weight of a terrace is one reason why spaces often are placed on the second story, atop the sturdier concrete ground-story or podium level, instead of over wood-frame upper stories, Koch said.

“We can’t plant giant sequoias,” he said. “There is a need to be cognizant of the weight of larger plants like trees.”

Often, an outdoor amenity space will complement a green roof installed to manage runoff, Shapiro said. This was the case with outdoor amenity space Shapiro Didway designed for Mill Creek Residential Trust’s 1420 Pearl Apartments in the Pearl District. The planned 290-unit, U-shaped building, designed by Portland-based SERA Architects, will have a central courtyard, two roof decks and a 24,000-square-foot eco-roof. The rooftop amenity space will include a fire table, a custom spa and enclosed seating for protection on rainy days.

“The green roof was for environmental reasons,” Shapiro said. “They have an environmental benefit and they have a visual benefit. These are people’s homes and it’s kind of like their backyards.”

Another advantage of terraces is offering a private outdoor space to apartment tenants living in tight infill developments that can’t accommodate a courtyard, Shapiro said.

“There’s not enough space to put something on the ground,” he said. “(A terrace) becomes part of the architecture.”

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The first phase of the Waterline apartment project on Northwest Front Avenue, just north of the Pearl District, continues to rise. CANV/NC LLC, a subsidiary of Las Vegas-based owner/developer Fore Property Co., is the general contractor on the project. The Leeb Architects-designed project consists of a series of four five-story buildings with 244 apartments and three subgrade parking garages.

The site’s proximity to the river is being used as a selling point by the owner, which is including kayak storage and an access ramp to the waterfront as amenities in the project. Other amenities include a rooftop deck with a wet bar and outdoor big screen, a fitness room, yoga/pilates studio, and pet and bike washing areas.

Completion of the project’s first phase is slated for Spring 2015. The development will continue with construction of three SERA Architects-designed buildings totaling around 400 units on adjacent lots in 2015.

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Work is under way on a series of apartment buildings on the northern edge of the Pearl District along Northwest Front Avenue. Las Vegas-based Fore Property Co.‘s 244-unit development consists of four 5-story apartment buildings totaling 244 units and three parking garages, one of which will serve two of the buildings.

The Waterline, formerly called Riverscape, is being built by CANV/NC LLC, the contracting subsidiary of Fore Property Co. The apartments range from studios to two-bedrooms and were designed by Leeb Architects. Amenities include kayak storage and an access ramp to the nearby Willamette River, as well as high-end finishes, a clubhouse, fitness facility, rooftop deck, and kayak storage.

Work is scheduled for completion in March 2015, at which point the developers plan to build a pair of six-story apartment buildings on nearby lots on the east side of Northwest Front Avenue: a 150-unit building just north of the Fremont bridge and a 270-unit building due north of the current project.

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Opportunity is being pursued along the waterfront in Northwest Portland.

One multifamily project is in the works and potential exists for two others along the quarter-mile stretch of Northwest Front Avenue between the Fremont Bridge and Northwest Sherlock Avenue. Altogether, the developments could total nine buildings and more than 400 units.

Plans are preliminary for two of the projects, but Lee Novak, the director of development for Fore Property Co. in Las Vegas, sees his as the next link in the Pearl District’s evolution.

“We really think the Pearl District is moving to the north end,” he said. “This is really a special opportunity to connect the Pearl and the Northwest to the riverfront and expand those connections.”

The company is planning to build four five-story, 55-unit buildings between Northwest Front Avenue and Riverscape Street. The buildings will abut the Riverscape townhomes, which Apollo Development built in 2005.

Fore is under contract to purchase the four lots from the Holt Group, which also owns the vacant lot directly north of the Fremont Bridge. In September, Holt presented the city a proposal to construct a six-story, 149-unit multifamily building on that site. However, Scott Miller, vice president of land acquisitions for the company, said Holt has no intention of moving forward at this time, and would likely look to sell the property to interested developers.

Charlie Kleier, a principal and director of Vancouver, Wash. production for NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, was involved in listing the lots. He said Holt has an investment pool it uses to make quality purchases of distressed properties.

Holt, via the Holt Distressed Property Fund, in 2010 began paying between $1 million and $3 million for the distressed parcels, according to PortlandMaps. Kleier said the lots were slated for development by previous owners, but those plans fell through.

A multifamily development also is being considered for the triangle-shaped parcel bound to the west and east by Northwest 17th and Front avenues. Initial concepts envision four buildings with residential, commercial and live-work units, and below-grade parking for approximately 200 vehicles, according to a pre-application conference notice filed with the city. That meeting is scheduled for March 26.

Meghan Hill, director of marketing for Guardian Real Estate Services LLC, a real estate development and investment firm in Portland that is serving as the project owner’s representative, said the concept is preliminary and could change as various options are weighed. The project’s designer is Myhre Group Architects.

The Riverscape project will be Fore’s first foray into the Portland market. The company specializes in multifamily development.

“We think it’s an up-and-coming opportunity that has been overlooked by a lot of the national developers,” Novak said of Northwest Portland. “It has not gotten the attention like, say, Seattle … so we think it’s an overlooked and underappreciated market.”

Novak said the plan is to price the units for a bit less than comparable apartments in the Pearl. Each building will have underground parking with slightly fewer than one parking space per unit.

Robert Leeb of Leeb Architects said the four buildings’ exterior facades will feature a combination of fiber cement, brick and galvanized metal to play up some of the neighborhood’s industrial motifs. Leeb also is working with the Regional Arts & Culture Council to incorporate public art at the site.

Mark Walhood, a planner for the Bureau of Development Services, said Fore’s development will actually be the first in the city to take advantage of a floor area ratio bonus that was created in the early 1990s. Through the program, developers who spend 1 percent of their budget on public art qualify for a one-to-one boost in FAR.

Fore is planning to invest $250,000 to $300,000 in public art for its $25 million to $30 million project, and will be able to expand its total square footage from approximately 158,000 to 230,000.

Leeb said the idea is to connect the development with others to the west.

“I think that as the Northwest develops … over by Con-way, and as the Northwest starts growing toward Front Avenue, I think it’s going to be an east meets west kind of thing,” Leeb said. “17th (Avenue) is really a connection to the neighborhood, and I think that’s going to make the river seem a lot closer to all the commercial development that is happening in the Northwest.”

Initial reviews from neighborhood stakeholders have been mixed. John Bradley, planning committee chairman for the Northwest District Association, said neighbors thought the design was attractive but that they wanted the riverfront theme to be more prominent and help create a sense of place.

“It doesn’t really relate very well to the water and its setting,” Bradley said.

Those thoughts will soon be vetted by the city. Fore and Leeb Architects on Thursday will present the project to the Portland Design Commission. Walhood said the city, in a staff report to the commissioners, recommends that the project be approved entirely.

Novak said he hopes to break ground in mid-June, with units available for lease 14 months later.

“Hopefully it’s the start of quite a few (projects) in the area,” he said.

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