The Portland Design Commission on Thursday declined to hold a vote on a land-use permit for the Pepsi Blocks development’s first phase because of unresolved issues with the Portland Bureau of Transportation. From a design perspective, commissioners favored plans; however, staff advised them to push back a vote until PBOT approves a loading zone and woonerf – a shared street designed primarily for pedestrians.

Located at 2505 N.E. Pacific St., near the Sandy Boulevard corridor, the development would arise on land that previously was long occupied by a Pepsi bottling plant. While most of the existing facilities will be destroyed, an iconic bow-truss structure at the entrance will be preserved; it is to become one or two restaurants.

A Seattle-based team has been working on the Pepsi Blocks for some time now, with owner Security Properties bringing in Mithun to design the 230,000-square-foot expanse of mixed-use buildings and KPFF Consulting Engineers handling the civil engineering duties. The project received its first design advice hearing in May, when it was met with mostly positive reception from the commission.

The first phase of the project involves construction of an eight-story, 87-foot-tall building with 219 residential units and 15,000 square feet of retail space. The first phase also includes two levels of below-grade parking, a landscaped public plaza with art and the woonerf.

Two problems are primarily keeping the project from moving forward. First, the applicants requested an adjustment to loading zone requirements. A main loading zone is required on-site, but the owners requested to place it off-site on an adjacent right-of-way.

Another issue is the woonerf. The city of Portland has only a few examples of precedent for the feature, which is a somewhat new trend adopted from Europe. Since many of the city’s codes predate the woonerf’s use in Portland, the designation is currently for a public street, which makes it liable for several other strict codes.

The applicants are trying to change its designation to an “on-site vehicle area.” That more accurately represents the woonerf’s purpose because it is designed primarily for pedestrians, but there must be vehicle access in case of an emergency.

PBOT has not yet approved these adjustments, and because of that, the Design Commission cannot vote unless it issues a denial, which would greatly delay construction. For this reason, commissioners opted not to vote, and instead rescheduled a future land use review. Then they used the time allotted to talk more about the actual design guidelines.

The Pepsi Blocks’ design was universally lauded. Special praise was given to the project’s integration within the neighborhood, as commissioners said it would create a lively and pedestrian-friendly environment that Sandy Boulevard hasn’t seen in a long time – perhaps ever.

“Public realm is where this thing is quite exceptional,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said. “It gives more back to the city than any project we’ve seen in a really long time.”

Commissioner Brian McCarter said the project sets a very high bar for the potential future of Sandy Boulevard, and Commissioner Jessica Molinar said she wished the project was built already. A few minor criticisms were directed at project aspects such as window tint and certain colors, but commissioners said they would not hesitate to approve the project following resolution of its more pressing issues.

“This is a great thing for the city of Portland,” Design Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said. “This is going to be a really great addition to the neighborhood.”

Pepsi Blocks plans will return before the Portland Design Commission for a land-use review on Sept. 19.

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If only Portland urban planners and developers could latch onto a concept that would further deter drivers while providing ample space for pedestrians and bicyclists to move through the city.

If only Seattle could have done it first, repeatedly and well.

If only it could originate in the Netherlands, lending the concept a sheen of Dutch good-government cool and a funny name.

Enter the woonerf.

At some point this year, Portland urbanists began talking about woonerfs – a shared-street concept popular in the Netherlands. They’ve hardly stopped since.

The word, pronounced “voo-nerf,” has injected itself into plans for two major developments. The concept is unfamiliar enough that planners and designers still say it with uncertainty. Woonerf, pronounced with an American accent, sticks out like a stroopwafel at a donut shop.

Woonerfs slow vehicle drivers and provide room for bicyclists, pedestrians and even riders of Portland’s proliferating fleets of scooters. Woonerfs, typically narrow streets with park-like amenities, tend to activate adjacent spaces; ideal placement would be beside food markets or other high-traffic retail spaces, or open spaces.

“It’s really a roadway that shifts the priority off the use of that space for cars or vehicles to pedestrians and bicyclists,” said Jake Woland, a woonerf designer with HEWITT in Seattle. “So cars are allowed on the woonerf, but (drivers) are meant to understand that they’re subordinate in that space and it’s for pedestrians and bicyclists.”

Woonerfs align with many of Portland’s stated goals, from cutting carbon emissions to reducing the number of drivers commuting into the central city. Woonerfs also are a piece of Portland’s efforts to make itself less car-centric.

The Portland Design Commission has been ground zero for the woonerf discussions. So far, two woonerfs are on the drawing boards in Portland.

Seattle developer Security Properties plans to build a woonerf at the Pepsi Blocks redevelopment along Sandy Boulevard. The woonerf would cut through the four-block site, continuing Pacific Street westbound with a slow-speed, one-way route. It would run adjacent to an open lawn. The large, flexible lawn could “spill into” the woonerf, with the goal of activating both spaces, Dorothy Faris, a landscape architect with Mithun of Seattle, told the Design Commission.

The woonerf would form the circulatory system for the 4.7-acre site, which is expected to have five buildings, beginning with two multifamily structures totaling 335 units and 28,500 square feet of retail space.

The second woonerf planned in Portland would be built downtown on Southwest Ninth Avenue between Washington and Alder streets. Part of the city’s Green Loop, the woonerf would run past the proposed 35-story Block 216 mixed- use tower and the newly renovated Woodlark Hotel.

The Block 216 project includes a planned food hall that would open onto the woonerf along Ninth Avenue, replacing existing food carts. The development team is led by Walt Bowen of BPM Real Estate Group.

The onset of the woonerf era has developers and city planners scrambling to figure out how to adapt the concept to local streets and regulations.

Woonerfs can be closed to auto traffic for festivals and other special events. But typically, they are open to auto traffic. Curves and narrow lanes provide visual cues that discourage drivers from entering.

“We do that for a couple of reasons – so that any cars on the cross streets get the sense that at the very least they need to slow down, but if they have another option that feels more direct, they need to take that,” Woland said.

Don Vallaster, a member of the Design Commission, indicated he would support keeping the Pepsi Blocks woonerf open to auto traffic.

“I don’t think you want to get rid of cars on the woonerf,” he said during the Sept. 6 meeting. “I think that’s part of the urban context also.”

So far, the woonerf concept has attracted enthusiastic support from city planners, developers and advocates of non-motorized transportation.

“They are a really good way to go where there’s a low volume of auto traffic and high volumes of other users,” said Jillian Detwiler, executive director of The Street Trust, a nonprofit group that advocates for bicyclists and other nonmotorized road users. “It makes for a very flexible space for people.”

Plantings, seating areas and low curbs are commonly used to provide a welcoming atmosphere for pedestrians.

“It really becomes a place for congregation as well for people on the street,” said Lori Mason Curran, spokeswoman for Vulcan Real Estate, a Seattle developer that is building two woonerfs.

One of Vulcan’s woonerf projects is for Facebook in the South Lake Union neighborhood. The woonerf will be on Eighth Avenue North between Thomas and Harrison streets.

“It is a street, so there will be cars, but they won’t be able to go very fast,” Curran said.

The woonerf will be pinched by twin buildings with 390,000 square feet of office space and ground-floor retail space amid a canopy of mature sweetgum trees.

Google will also have a woonerf in Seattle between two office buildings at Block 31, located at 625 Boren Ave. N. in Seattle. The through-block woonerf will connect Terry Avenue North and Boren Avenue North.

Tech clients are supporting the woonerf concept, Curran said.

“It is a design feature that Vulcan is very keen on,” she said. “As we sit down with these tenants on build-to-suit projects, it doesn’t take any time to get clients on board and to see the benefits for them and their employees.”

Another Seattle woonerf is Bell Street Park, which opened in 2014 in the Belltown neighborhood. Bell Street Park is an example of taking a street from cars and creating a park-like public space, Woland said.

“Where real estate is really expensive, the city always owns the roadway, and you may find a place where a woonerf is appropriate,” he said.

Seattle University also has a small woonerf situated between ballfields.

Pike Place, along the world-famous market, has one-way traffic over cobblestones, with cars proceeding at a crawl as pedestrians freely stroll in the street. The historic thoroughfare has all the characteristics of a woonerf, Woland said.

Meanwhile, Portland, ever sensitive to preserving its reputation as a leading city for urban planning, is sending a delegation of transportation officials to Seattle to learn more.

So as the trend catches on, is Portland about to become a series of intersecting woonerfs? Not likely.

Wide streets, for one, do not make appropriate woonerfs, experts said. A Portland street such as Broadway or Burnside is unlikely to ever go Dutch.

The other major stumbling block is that the infrastructure of American cities was not built with woonerfs in mind. Streets are designed so buses and fire trucks, with their wide turning radiuses, are able to enter them.

Designers must also be mindful of the maze of utilities that lies underground.

“The other challenge that we had pretty consistently is utilities are installed in roadbeds early in a city’s life and they have a rigorous logic that expects a rectilinear road grid,” Woland said. “If there’s a water main problem, the utility has to be able to get to that water main no matter what.”

Portland planners are working through the issues. The Design Commission devoted an entire meeting to the proposed Green Loop woonerf adjacent to Block 216. Then at another Design Commission meeting on Sept. 6, the Pepsi Blocks woonerf was discussed in passing. Some planners were hoping for more.

Kurt Krueger, development review manager for the Bureau of Transportation, left the hearing table as commissioners moved onto other topics.

“I was more interested in the woonerf,” Krueger said as he decamped.

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The developer of a planned 4.7-acre superblock property off of Northeast Sandy Boulevard is proposing a dedicated pedestrian path and a public plaza as part of the mixed-use development.

Security Properties, based in Seattle, is also proposing to retain the existing Pepsi Pavilion building after requests by neighbors and architecture enthusiasts.

“A lot of people think it’s a good idea to retain that if we can figure out how to do that,” said John Marasco, chief development officer for Security Properties.

The pavilion building would likely be used as retail space, Marasco said. “You might be able to do some mezzanine space, but really the idea is an open concept retail area,” he said.

The 1962 building with a vaulted design was included in the city’s 1984 Historic Resource Inventory as a significant example of “Fifties modern” architecture.

Security Properties and architect Mithun, also of Seattle, are scheduled to go before the Portland Design Commission on Thursday with preliminary plans for the site.

“We need to get in front of the design review board and see if they buy into our concept plan for the site or if we have to go back to the drawing board,” Marasco said.

Some previously unreported aspects of the project have emerged in public documents and interviews. Though subject to change, the early plans give an idea of the developer’s intentions for the vast site within reach of downtown Portland. The design advice hearing will deal with massing and site plans; designs for individual buildings will wait for a later hearing.

Security Properties is proposing a Woonerf – an active alleyway intended primarily for pedestrians that is common in the Netherlands – to enable access through the four-block site.

“We like the idea of reestablishing that east-west connection, but we don’t want it to be a cut-through for cars,” Marasco said. “So our idea is to do a highly landscaped Woonerf, which is where pedestrians and cars can cohabitate, but is mainly intended for people and bikes.”

Security Properties previously employed a Woonerf at Peloton Apartments on North Williams Avenue.

The developer is also studying how to incorporate affordable housing at the former PepsiCo bottling plant site. Marasco suggested Security is interested in providing units affordable at or below 60 percent of area median income.

The city’s inclusionary housing policy requires developers to provide 15 percent of a project’s units at 60 percent of area median income, or 20 percent of units at 80 percent of area median income. Developers also have the option of paying a significant fee in lieu of providing affordable housing on site.

“At this point, we haven’t made a decision,” Marasco said. “We’re actually looking at the potential to do housing at or below 60 (percent of area median income) as opposed to doing it at or below 80. The other thing we’re looking at is satisfying the entire low-income requirement in the first phase.”

The first phase would also have market-rate units, Marasco said. “What we’re looking at is truly mixed use and mixed income,” he said.

Security Properties purchased the superblock from PepsiCo in August 2017 for $27 million, according to public records. The property at 2505 N.E. Pacific St. encompasses four city blocks off of Sandy Boulevard between 25th and 27th avenues.

Financing is increasingly difficult to secure, Marasco said.

“Probably the most significant (hurdle) is how you finance it,” he said. “I would say because of the perception of overbuilding there that the lenders are a bit more cautious today. If you have any sort of weak financial statement, it’s going to be tough to finance a project.”

The Pepsi superblock project fits a trend of larger projects moving forward as developers look to achieve profitability with scale. Neighborhood groups have in some cases fought the developments, forcing delays and design changes. The Kerns Neighborhood Association did not respond to an inquiry regarding the PepsiCo blocks proposal.

Sandy Boulevard has seen more investment from developers looking to build housing and high-revenue office space in underdeveloped areas from Goose Hollow to the Central Eastside Industrial District. Security is awaiting building permits to begin work on a 24-story mixed-use apartment tower at the Press Blocks in Goose Hollow.

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