Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Context suddenly an issue for Central Eastside project

By: Chuck Slothower//October 22, 2021//

Context suddenly an issue for Central Eastside project

By: Chuck Slothower//October 22, 2021//

Listen to this article
1025_550_se_mlk_01_web
A building proposed for 550 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. would have 132 residential units as well as ground-floor retail space and parking. The design is continuing to be refined. (GBD Architects)

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.”

1025_550_se_mlk_02_web
Ground-floor retail space is planned at the corners of a building proposed for Southeast Portland. (GBD Architects)

News

See All News

Commentary

See All Commentary

COMMUNITY CALENDAR