The Portland Design Commission on Thursday green-lit plans for an 11-story affordable housing development in the Kenton neighborhood.

The 290-unit building, designed by Wright Architecture, will take hold of the 25,000-square-foot site at 1838 N. Argyle St., near the intersection with North Fenwick Avenue.

The project team nearly garnered approval at its previous design review hearing in March, but a couple of design details prevented advancement. However, this time around the plans received unanimous approval.

“I’m really excited about it because I’ll be able to see it all day long probably at my window,” Commissioner and LEVER Architecture principal Chandra Robinson said. “I think it’s a great addition.”

Plans call for the building to have mass-plywood floor panels, mass-timber posts and beams, and ceramic-coated siding. A pop of orange color was added to the building’s fins on the exterior.

“It kind of takes some of the sober quality away from it,” Commissioner Don Vallaster said. “(Black and white) tends to be just a little bit too serious looking. (The color) makes it a little more playful. I think that’s a plus for the tenants living there, plus people going by.”

The four sunken-grade units along Argyle Street that previously caused unease among design commissioners were redesigned. A recessed entryway that had the potential to create hiding spots was removed.

Instead, the ground-floor units were pulled up to where the second-level balcony deck ends, and a window was added. Also, landscaping will be added between the sidewalk and the window to create a buffer. Access to the units will be from one of the two-story grand entry plazas on each side of the building.

The development was approved with the request that the building’s fins be colored.

The project is valued at $35 million by the Bureau of Development Services. Funding sources include Oregon Housing and Community Services low-income tax credits, the Oregon Multifamily Energy Program, and a Metro transit-oriented development grant due to its to its proximity to TriMet‘s Kenton/North Denver Avenue MAX light-rail station.

The 11-story structure will replace a fourplex and a 10-unit apartment building; both were constructed in the 1940s. The site was rezoned for high-density housing because of its location near the MAX station.

The project’s developers are Rowen Rystadt of Attainable Development LLC and John Wolz of Portland, according to a Bureau of Development Services staff report.

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A large affordable housing development in Portland’s Kenton neighborhood is on track, but a couple of details need to be worked out before it can advance.

Wright Architecture‘s design for an 11-story, 290-unit building received praise, particularly for its context within the district, from the Portland Design Commission during a design review hearing on Thursday.

“I feel like it’s the right spot even though it doesn’t necessarily match other things right now,” Commissioner Chandra Robinson said. “Contextually, I think it’s going to be part of the new context.”

However, safety issues tied to the sunken-grade units on the ground floor need to be addressed, the Design Commission said.

“I feel like it’s just too easy for someone to kind of hide down there,” Robinson said.

The building is planned for a 25,000-square-foot site at 1838 N. Argyle St., at the intersection with North Fenwick Avenue. The property is zoned for high-density housing due to its proximity to TriMet‘s Kenton/North Denver Avenue MAX light-rail station.

As proposed, the building would have mass-plywood panels for floors, mass timber for posts and beams, and ceramic-coated siding. Plans presented Thursday called for each unit to include a balcony or outdoor space. Residents would also have access to a rooftop terrace.

However, the steep grade of Fenwick Avenue and Argyle Street means the building had to be nestled into a downward sloping corner. This caused four units along Argyle Street to be partly below-grade. The design presented Thursday included a split-entry staircase to those sunken-grade units and second-level apartments partially at-grade.

Commissioners pointed out that with the second-level balcony overhead, the ability to see down to the below-grade entryway would be obstructed and create a hiding spot to the side.

“They make me very uncomfortable,” Robinson said of hiding spots.

That statement was echoed by other commissioners.

The group urged the project team to reconsider the programming for the below-grade space or move the units further up Argyle Street. But due to zoning codes, the units cannot move without the building’s allowable floor area ratio (FAR) being exceeded. Units a certain percentage below grade do not count toward the FAR total, Wright Architecture project manager Nathan Day said.

Commissioners recommended removing the walk-up entryway or turning the unit into a two-story townhome.

Applicant John Wright of Wright Architecture said the team had hoped to need only one design review hearing, but it will rework the design.

Robinson said it was a testament to the design team’s attention that its members talked through every item and were stuck on only a couple of things.

Another design review hearing was scheduled for early April, when a vote will likely be called.

The project’s developers are Rowen Rystadt of Attainable Development LLC and John Wolz of Portland, according to a Bureau of Development Services staff report.

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Native Land Development is replicating its multifamily model around Portland.

The latest project calls for an 85-foot-tall modular building at North Minnesota Avenue and North Jessup Street. The project, Minnesota Places, would offer approximately 90 residential units in an eight-story, 54,000-square-foot structure.

Minnesota Places underwent an initial design advice hearing Thursday with the Portland Design Commission. The project will later go through a Type II staff review. It will not return to the Design Commission unless a decision by Bureau of Development Services staff is appealed.

Native Land Development has been busy. The Lacey, Washington-based developer also recently proposed an 11-story, 89-unit modular multifamily building for a property south of Portland State University. Earlier this year, the firm constructed two small stick-built multifamily buildings (one with 30 units and another with 28) along Southeast Milwaukie Avenue in Sellwood.

Minnesota Places would rise in a neighborhood of mostly single-family homes west of Interstate 5. Developers have added larger projects, however, such as Nomad, a seven-story, 130-unit building from Ethos Development and Works Progress Architecture. Nomad is nearly completed, with delivery expected in November, Ethos founding principal Paul Del Vecchio said.

The neighborhood is designed for dense urban development, said Tim Heron, a BDS reviewer. Killingsworth Station, serving the MAX yellow line, is nearby at North Killingsworth Street and Interstate Avenue.

Minnesota Places is being designed by John Wright of Wright Architecture. The structure would consist largely of mass-pressed plywood. The ground floor would have a lobby, community rooms and loading area topped by seven stories of apartments with one, two or three bedrooms apiece. BDS valued the project at $8 million.

An entry courtyard would have a colonnade using mass plywood along with metal or cementitious stucco.

The project will bring affordable housing to the neighborhood, said Austin Turner, a development consultant working with Native Land Development. Information on the affordability level of the apartments was not immediately available.

Commissioners on Thursday were largely complimentary of the design, particularly the H-shape. Commissioner Brian McCarter said the shape “does a pretty nice job of taking a building this big and breaking it down to a more human scale.”

Concerns centered on the durability of the mass plywood material in Oregon rain. Commissioner Jessica Molinar said the exposed plywood on the colonnade could present maintenance issues.

“You’re in a losing battle,” she said. “So unless the owner is willing to commit to serious maintenance of this, another option would have a much greater chance of success.”

Commissioners also took issue with the height of the ground floor and the design scheme of numerous small, vertically oriented windows.

“I am really concerned about the window-to-wall ratio,” Molinar said. “I’m worried that it will feel really institutional and not residential.”

Wright said the windows could be made about 6 inches wider without significant plan changes.

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