[MarkDaMan]

Design panel: Ione’s X marks the spot
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Alison Ryan
04/23/2007


Downtown Portland’s Ione Plaza Apartments are among the city’s few non-box-shaped structures. And members of the Portland Design Commission are pushing architects to consider the 15-story, cross-shaped building as a property with potential for historic designation.

Leeb Architects’ plans for updating the 1951 apartment tower, presented to the Design Commission on Thursday, called for sheathing existing balconies – made of corrugated concrete on three sides and open chain link on the fourth – with metal panels. But modernizing the balconies, commission members said, would change the face of an architecturally important building with historic designation possibilities.

Portland has few examples of international style architecture, commissioner Jeff Stuhr said, and few attempts at variety. And the existing concrete-and-link balconies, he said, use detailing similar to that used in Le Corbusier’s multi-family housing projects.

“These types of buildings are just as important to preserve,” he said.

The building sits on a full block, between Southwest Mill and Montgomery streets and Southwest 10th and Park avenues.

“It has a really important role in this city,” commission vice-chairman Michael McCulloch said. “It originally recognized the importance of the park blocks when others didn’t.”

The Portland State University-adjacent building, a popular choice for student renters, has seen wear in its 50-year lifetime. But ownership changes have meant new potential. In 2002, PSU lost a bid to buy the building; Idaho’s Aqua Investors Fund III LP picked up the property instead. Developer Jim Leguizamon in 2006 paid $35 million for the complex. In February, ColRich Multifamily Investments and Apollo Real Estate Advisors secured $45.5 million to refinance Ione Plaza and buy Park Plaza, a nearby 149-unit apartment building. The funding included capital improvement money.

Architect Charles Kidwell of Leeb Architects said the team was willing to pull back plans for the balconies and explore other possibilities.

“The real thrust of what we want to do is the work at the ground level,” he said.

Most of the improvements proposed Thursday focused on the plaza areas created by the building’s X-shaped footprint. The owners, Kidwell said, are dedicated to creating series of usable, pedestrian-oriented spaces.

“They saw the opportunity to really improve the connections,” he said.

While commissioners balked at balconies, the design team’s plan to reenergize the plazas drew support.

Lowering an existing brick wall, adding lush landscaping and benches, and putting a flowing water feature at the center of the Park Blocks-facing plaza will, Kidwell said, improve the space for both building residents and users of the Park Blocks. Three other building plazas are slated for similar improvements in landscape design, paving and accessibility.

“It’s going to make a difference in the pedestrian feel of that area,” commissioner Andrew Jansky said.

Neighborhood residents testified to the improvement’s benefit as well.

“The changes can only improve the ambiance of the whole area around that 50-year-old building,” neighbor Irwin Mandel said.

The commission did not vote on the project, asking for more detail on plaza elements and connectivity. The design team is expected to return May 3 to re-present.

McCulloch stressed the importance of preserving the building, likening the apartments to a wacky and oddly dressed but much-loved aunt.

“It’s an important function of architecture,” he said, “to take care of our maiden aunts.”

http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?recid=29319&userID=1

[puerco]

I say, yes. It's a time piece and shouldn't be messed with.

[65MAX]

Isn't Mid-Century "in" right now?
If it's representative of that period, then it should be preserved. Remember all the 50-year old buildings that were torn down in the 1960's? Those turn-of-the-20th-Century buildings were considered "ugly" then. Wish we had some of those back now, don't we?

[MarkDaMan]

Can anyone elaborate on the balcony thing? I think those balconies at that place are not only slummy looking, but look somewhat unsafe too.

Personally, I'm all for saving the place as a historic building, but I don't see why that would prevent renovations of the exterior. Look at the Meier and Frank block, although the vast majority of the building will be restored, the interior, and several exterior additions, will resemble nothing of the past building (metal and glass awnings, hotel entry, interior hotel). Why wouldn't the Ione be able to be placed on the register, but still upgrade certain features?

[mcbaby]

this seems a bit ridiculous. i've had friends who lived in that clap trap and it's about as historically significant as a rite aid. people should be more concerned about all the long term elderly and fixed income renters who were displaced when it went condo 4 years ago than bickering because the owner now wants to make it look better. there are a lot more historically significant structures that will be lost to the wrecking ball just blocks away that are far more beautiful than this building. it's probably one of the ugliest buildings on the park blocks.

[MarkDaMan]

I found a pic of the balconies...don't see how they are significant to the overall building.
http://www.newneville.com/images/Property_Photos/Ione%20Front%20Door.jpg

[pdxstreetcar]

This seems a little absurd to me, I think there are a lot more worthy buildings of designation than this one from this time period.

Why didnt the design board have any issues when the art museum butchered up the masonic temple?

[vjoe]

Those balconies are uselessly tiny. I went out there 2-3 times max over the one year that we lived there. It feels really oppressive with the two walls.
Ione went condo? I thought they are still apartment.

[puerco]

When I was a kid growing up in Irvington in the '60's I remember a couple of beautiful old Victorians on NE 15th being torn down and replaced with cheap ugly apartment buildings. I remember thinking at the time what a shame it was to tear down such big elaborate interesting homes. I guess most adults at the time didn't appreciate them and it was Portland's loss. Thankfully the preservationists started up around the same time and they succeeded in stopping the destruction of the few remaining Victorians in town.
It seems now that today's adults don't appreciate mid 20th Century buildings. Besides the Ione Plaza, Portland Towers, Park Plaza and King Tower are all examples of post wwII architecture. The apartment buildings of the '60's - Panorama (735 St Clair), the Fontaine, Portland Center (Harrison condos), Holladay Park Plaza have a decidedly different style. Even if they're not the most beautiful buildings in Portland they represent a certain era and should be preserved. I also think Lloyd Center never should've been renovated.

[MarkDaMan]

^The Harrison is being substantially upgraded but it hasn't lost the 60's era look. I don't understand why the design review board would give a shit about the balconies if the building as a whole is being preserved, and upgraded to make it hold more value.

oh, and I think they are still apartments, at least according to their website.
http://www.ioneplaza.com/index.php

[Drmyeyes]

I don't want the consideration made by the design review board to go un appreciated, but I find it kind of hard to dredge up much regard for Ione Plaza.

I've always thought it has made a kind of big, obnoxious presence on the Park Blocks and to its architectural neighbors. I can appreciate comments board members made about the corrugated texture of the concrete on the balconies. I like that texture, but overall, as an example of the international style, the Ione doesn't seem to be very good. It's just kind of bland. I've only really ever been aware of the plazas on the park side and on the southern side street, so I couldn't venture an opinion about how all of them together contribute to this building's integrity.

I tend to agree with the board in terms of how to approach this building, assuming it's going to continue being here. Unless the restyling idea is very good, messing with the building's original styling concept is likely to wind up looking very lame. Removing the wall and improving the landscape does seem like good thinking.

In general, this is an occasion when it would be nice if you could just easily take such a building down and start fresh, maybe even with a much better conceived and styled example of the international style. With a large building like this, and the number of people that depend on it for housing, that's a difficult thing to do.

[65MAX]

I see nothing wrong with upgrading a building that has some historical value as long as the overall style remains consistant. You can add energy-efficient windows and fixtures and fresh streetscapes in a way that doesn't diminish the original "look" of the building. If done right, it could even strengthen its International Style bona fides and make the building a more enjoyable place for its inhabitants.

[tworivers]

65, you just took the words right out of my mouth. Agree.

[zilfondel]

Answer to original question: No.

Should it ever become a parking lot? No.

[alexjon]

Le Corbusier's ideological art... has historical merits?

Fix the balconies, stop being so fussy.

[urbanlife]

I don't mind the building, I think the exterior should be historic. The interior is horrible, but the apartments themselves are nice. I crashed in one after a night of drinking when I first moved here.

From what I know, the building is still apartments.

[twofiftyfive]

The irony is too much. The reason the historic preservation movement exists is because after WWII so many beautiful buildings were destroyed and replaced with crap like Ione Plaza. Now we're supposed to believe that ugly mid-century modern eyesores are worthy of preservation because, as puerco says, they "represent a certain era". The parking lot that Pioneer Courthouse Square used to be represented a certain era, too.

[MarkDaMan]

how many X shaped building in Portland where there before this one? It might have a place in history being a first of its kind, leading to King Towers, Portland Towers and such, which are all non spectacular, but changed urban living in Portland. I hate to just throw away a building especially if it did serve a purpose in P-town history.

[65MAX]

The irony is too much. The reason the historic preservation movement exists is because after WWII so many beautiful buildings were destroyed and replaced with crap like Ione Plaza. Now we're supposed to believe that ugly mid-century modern eyesores are worthy of preservation because, as puerco says, they "represent a certain era". The parking lot that Pioneer Courthouse Square used to be represented a certain era, too.

Not all mid-century modern buildings that replaced older turn-of-the-century buildings are eyesores. The Commonwealth Building was the first of its kind in the world, beating the Seagrams Bldg in NY by a year. Aesthetically, I personally don't like the Commonwealth Bldg, but don't even think about tearing it down.... :whip:

[puerco]

The irony is too much. The reason the historic preservation movement exists is because after WWII so many beautiful buildings were destroyed and replaced with crap like Ione Plaza. Now we're supposed to believe that ugly mid-century modern eyesores are worthy of preservation because, as puerco says, they "represent a certain era". The parking lot that Pioneer Courthouse Square used to be represented a certain era, too.

I don't quite understand what you're saying. Because the magnificent Portland Hotel was torn down and replaced with Meier & Frank's parking lot they should do the same with the Ione Plaza?

[Drmyeyes]

I'm kind of rethinking some of what I said earlier about pulling down the Ione and starting fresh. I'll have to take a closer look at the building when I'm down there again. There is a certain studied mentality associated with the x configuration. I suppose part of the thinking was that this would avoid having at least some of the residents faced with the view they would be faced with in a conventionl square building: the side of another building.

Here, the arms of the x affords all residents some kind of view down onto their own plaza as well as a horizontal viewing angle that, in a more conventional apartment building setting would allow a more favorable view past other adjoining buildings. I'm not really sure, but I guess allowing for this kind of thing is part of the philosophy of the international style.

It's worth keeping such a building around for the lesson it offers. Also, aparrently it's a solid, working building. There's probably all kinds of things that could be done to correct weaknesses the building has. I suppose costs would be prohibitive, but larger balcony units could probably be built to replace those that someone commenting earlier said were too small.

[twofiftyfive]

I don't quite understand what you're saying. Because the magnificent Portland Hotel was torn down and replaced with Meier & Frank's parking lot they should do the same with the Ione Plaza?

No, I'm saying just because something is "historic" and represents a period of development, that doesn't mean it is worth saving, particularly when that era of development was a horrible mistake.

how many X shaped building in Portland where there before this one? It might have a place in history being a first of its kind, leading to King Towers, Portland Towers and such, which are all non spectacular, but changed urban living in Portland. I hate to just throw away a building especially if it did serve a purpose in P-town history.

Are you suggesting that it changed urban living in Portland for the better? If not, why preserve it? It isn't like some historically significant artifact that can be kept in a museum. It's a 150' eyesore on an acre lot in downtown Portland. After all the destruction of worthwhile buildings that was done after WWII, forgive me if I don't really care whether we preserve the monstrosities that replaced them.

[puerco]

There's no comparison between apartment buildings and parking lots. I'd like to see all parking lots torn down or put underground.
I believe the Ione and the others did alter urban living in Portland. They were most likely the largest apartment buildings in Portland when they were built. They definitely had a noticeable presence in Portland throughout the 50's-70's if not longer. My parents said there was a real shortage of housing during the war when the Kaiser shipyards were operating. And then in the post war years that followed. They're a part of that era's history. The M&F parking lot's only claim to fame is that it replaced the beautiful Portland Hotel.:shrug:

[MarkDaMan]

^I agree, and they now act a default affordable housing. The Ione is a bit more expensive than the X towers in the Goose Hollow, but they are all significantly cheaper than the Louisa, or 10th and Hoyt or the new Ladd Tower. When I moved back to Portland I was able to live central because of those X towers and the affordable rents. They served a purpose introducing high rise apartment living in Portland when they opened, and continue to serve the average people of Portland today. So, unless it is replaced with a moderately priced apartment tower, it's fine with me to keep it and see it upgraded.

[Dougall5505]

well looks like the PDC vetoed the stainless steel balcony railings but the building is getting a 35 million makeover
Park Blocks tower gains friendlier entrance
Thursday, May 17, 2007
By Fred Leeson
At 15 stories and 314 units, Ione Plaza loomed as Oregon's tallest and biggest apartment building when it opened in 1951.

The big concrete tower's footprint took the shape of an X facing the South Park Blocks. But despite its 1717 S.W. Park Ave. address, residents and visitors found the stairless back entry off Montgomery Street more convenient.

New owners would like to change that pattern -- or at least establish a better connection between the Ione's private entry plaza and the Park Blocks.

"The building is backward," says Graeme Gabriel, a principal with ColRich, a San Diego company that is the managing partner for investors who bought the Ione last year for $34.9 million. "We want to bring them in off the park."

Plans by Leeb Architects show two new stairways separated by a waterfall stepping down the eight-foot drop from the Ione's first-floor level to Park Avenue. A new glass canopy would protect pedestrians from the top of the stairs to the entrance.

A smaller canopy would be added at the Montgomery doorway, and new pavers and brick planters would provide a stylistic unity to three public plazas adjoining the tower in various places.

"There is definitely an idiom to this kind of building, built in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s," Robert Leeb says. "There's a simplicity and a clarity to the mass. We want to stick with that."

The new owner also wants to stick with something else traditional about the Ione: rental units. Portland State University once hoped to buy the building for use as a campus residence but lost out in a 2002 sale. Since then, several downtown apartment buildings have been converted to condos.

ColRich has been engaged in the condo development business for 20 years, but Gabriel says investors intend to keep Ione as a rental building. Target clientele includes students, young professionals and seniors.

ColRich investors also have purchased the Park Plaza at 1969 S.W. Park Ave., another 1951-vintage apartment building. Gabriel declined to discuss plans for the 149-unit building.

As for the Ione, he says, "It was a landmark building. It's not in that condition today." But he likes the building's layout, its Art Deco influences and terrazzo floor in the lobby. "There's a tremendous amount to work with."

Members of the Portland Design Commission persuaded the owners to drop plans to add stainless-steel cladding to upper-story balconies. But the commission unanimously endorsed the new entrance plan.

"If this could be used as a model for how to engage private space with public open space, the city would be better for it," member Michael McCulloch said. "This is the kind of project I hope to see more of."

The commission, which has stamped design approval on a river of condo projects in recent years, also was pleased that the Ione isn't converting. "I love the fact this will stay in the rental pool and that this group is not shooting for the high-end market," McCulloch said. "This balances our culture and our civilization."

Alas, there will be no rollback to historic rents. When it opened in 1951, the Ione's smallest studios rented for $65 a month. Spacious two-bedrooms: $144.

And now? Rents range from $630 to $3,000.

Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946; fredleeson@news.oregonian.com

[vjoe]

It looks like Ione plaza is getting a lot of bad reviews at apartmentratings.com.

http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/OR-Portland-Ione-Plaza.html

Most of the complaints have to do with rent increase since the new owner took over. I used to pay around $550 for a 1 bed room, 8 years ago. Now it cost $950 according to Ione's website. Is that affordable rental these days?
The 2 bedrooms looks like a better deal at $1,186.

http://www.ioneplaza.com/pages/floor3.php

[puerco]

It could always be worse. Studios in my building start at $1200. And it was built in 1926.

[pdxtex]

950 for a 1 bedroom in an old ass building?!! eek. sure its close to stuff but i would rather live with roomates at half the cost and still only be 5 minutes to downtown by bike....

[mcbaby]

these prices are ridiculous.

[zilfondel]

I cannot believe that developers claim they can't make a profit by building anything higher than 2 stories with rents like these. Don't they realize people would be lining up around the block for even a small studio if the rents are below 7 or 8 hundred bucks?! There is absolutely no reason for them to focus solely on 3-bedroom 3,000 ft^2 luxury units when there is a huge demand by normal people to live downtown!

Just reading about that new luxury apartment tower in SOWA, the Alexan, which will rent for $2/ft^2 - that's about the same price as my old apartment in NW, which I paid $600/mo for 300 ft^2! These prices aren't exactly out of the stratosphere... but neither can I afford a 1,000+ ft^2 unit, either! By comparison, a friend of mine attended school at UCLA and rented a 1-bedroom for $2200 a month.

And, just to note - I was a student! As are MANY of the people who live in the Ione. For them it is well worth the cost to be close to classes, the library, and everything else... particularly when you are spending $30,000+ on your education.

By comparison, shared studios (~200 ft^2) at the university of Oregon 6 years ago went for $700 a month - per person! That is $7 a square foot! (granted, that included meals... but everything was communal, including the bathrooms)

[mcbaby]

this is where the PDC screwed us. promising affordable housing and jobs and instead paving the way for overpriced condos in a hundred year flood plain.