[pdxstreetcar]

Design Review (with rendering and elevations):
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=151864


While not exactly the most attractive exterior, this project will provide a new hotel in several empty office buildings in the somewhat dead area around the US Bancorp Tower. The tower being renovated is that brown 1970s office tower at 6th & Oak. The Hotel is part of Sage Hospitality and the architects are SERA.


Proposal:

The applicant seeks design advice on the potential renovation of two existing downtown office buildings to be incorporated into a larger hotel complex. An existing 121,800-sq. ft., 13-story office building with 70 spaces of below grade parking, coupled with an abutting 8,900-sq. ft., 3-story office building, is proposed to become a new 187,280-sq. ft. 16-story hotel complex with below grade parking.

The larger of the two buildings occupies a quarter block lot and is located at the corner of SW Oak Street and SW 6th Avenue. The smaller building is located on a 5,000 square foot lot, mid-block along SW Stark Street. Three new full-plate floors are to be added to the 13-story office building, while the existing 3-story office building is to be demolished and a similarly sized building built in its place. The new hotel complex will house 256 units and a ground floor restaurant, with 70 below grade parking spaces accessed off SW Stark Street. No new parking is added by the proposal. An existing loading space along SW 6th Avenue will be removed and a new space added along SW Stark Street. A modification may be required for backward-motion loading for the relocated loading space.

A second modification may be required for ground floor window standards for the SW Stark Street and SW Oak Street facades. The height of the larger of the two renovated buildings will reach approximately 188 ft, including new rooftop mechanical equipment.

The ground floor of the building at SW 6th Avenue and SW Oak Street will be re-clad with a new stone veneer panel system and new aluminum storefront windows. The entrance to the hotel lobby on SW Oak Street will incorporate a wood panel arch, while the restaurant entrance on SW 6th Avenue will exhibit a tiled alcove. Metal canopies will help define the entrances along both streets and provide a datum for signage. On the upper floors, a new metal panel system incorporating new fiberglass windows will be applied to a portion of the original building. The new cladding will be pulled back from the northwest corner allowing the original building skin to define the corner and the upper floors. The three new floors will visually match the original building skin, and incorporate metal panels with fiberglass windows. A metal cornice, similar to the new ground floor canopies, will be added to the 16th-floor and pulled back slightly from the building’s northeast and southwest edges.

A new 13-foot tall elevator machine room will be added to the roof and clad in a metal panel screen system.

The smaller building fronting SW Stark Street will incorporate 3-floors, with the majority of the ground floor composed of garage doors within a stone veneer panel system with an upper band of aluminum storefront windows.

The second and third floors will be defined by the metal panel and fiberglass window treatment used on the SW 6th Avenue and SW Oak Street building.

[pdxskyline]

In case anyone is wondering what the existing building looks like, here's a photo I shot of it a while back. Not one of my best...

http://www.nwvirtualtransit.com/webshots/sixthandoak.jpg

I've been wondering what the heck they were going to do with this eyesore!

[MarkDaMan]

That building has sat vacant for as long as I can remember. It seems like a strange place for a hotel though...must of got the building for dirt cheap! Is the 3-story building next door that old bank?

[Chicago3rd]

^^That building was vacant for almost 2 decades? At least the early 1990's. Something was structurally wrong with it or something...for a long time there was scaffolding around it on the sidewalks.

Wish it luck....or the wrecking ball....

[brandonpdx]

yes, and yes. The owner bought it in 1993 for about $300k
he had everything in place to put a Sheraton there in the late 90s but then the hotel market sank, so the building sat. He thought about putting condos there awhile back, but the market has passed that idea by now too. So, now it looks like it actually might become a functioning building again!

[designpdx]

Finally, this is such an eye sore downtown. My office over looks the Stark street section of this project. It will be interesting to watch the construction should this project go forward.

[MitchE]

Good to hear. There is going to be a MAX stop across the street so with that and the hotel it might bring a little energy to those blocks. Maybe some of those empty storefronts across from big pink along 6th ave will fill up.

[PDX City-State]

The owner was trying to find investors to turn this building into condos just three or four years ago. He had talked about adding floors. Anyone remember?

[zilfondel]

This is great news - recycling what was an otherwise fugly building (particularly the ground floor, which they are addressing in the remodel) into a functional one. And the boxy 'corporate' architecture seems to be more than a bit appropriate for a hotel...

Kind of interesting how it uses a smaller side-building for services, like in the ZGF tower.

[zilfondel]

http://portlandmaps.com/shared/cfm/frontage_photo.cfm?id=1451&small=yes
Portlandmaps

It was built in 1982. Right now I believe that there is a big truck parked in the setback in front of the ground floor windows.

====================
Building next to it - east on oak:
http://portlandmaps.com/shared/cfm/frontage_photo.cfm?id=1459&small=yes
Built 1988 - brick appears to be the same used on the KOIN.

3-story building to be torn down:
http://portlandmaps.com/shared/cfm/frontage_photo.cfm?id=1477&small=yes
Built 1890. I think it's ugly, actually.

Building on SW corner of block that is to remain:
http://portlandmaps.com/shared/cfm/frontage_photo.cfm?id=1473&small=yes
1925 Neoclassical - quite beautiful, imo.

[PacificNW]

It is good to see this tower scheduled for a re-do. I have always disliked the exterior finish. Once MAX is running on both 5th and 6th I think that whole area between PSU and Union Station will be in for some huge changes and activity.

[PacificNW]

Is that 1925 Neo Classical going to be part of the hotel project? I am happy that it is remaining.

[MarkDaMan]

on a side note, the company I work for was one of the last tenants in the building. They then moved to another building that has also been vacant since we moved to our current home. The WillyWeek wrote up something about it a year or two ago about us being a curse. I think the story was something like 'Lonesome Looking for Long Term Relationship'. Might be the story PDX City-State was talking about...

Some of the long timers at my employer said they could roll a marble from one end of the room to another, and that desks had to be set a certain way so the drawers didn't fall open...

[WonderlandPark]

Finally! IMO that building is the _ugliest_building_ever_ in downtown. I also heard it was structurally unsound. Personally would like to see something taller there, so that Big Pink isn't all alone, but something is better than nothing.

[urbanlife]

that is actually really cool news. I do hope that they do a good job on the new exterior of these buildings cause the current office building look just blows.


So do we know when they will start on this and be finished with it?

[zilfondel]

16 story building isn't exactly a slouch... will be almost as tall as the ZGF tower, right? Only about 40' shorter...

and PACNW, the Neoclassical building will remain, but not as part of the project. It's kinda going to sit at the corner operating by itself.

and Urbanlife - I'm surprised! Thought you would be on top of a hotel project, right? :D

[65MAX]

This is great news. One more underutilized site reclaimed. Can't wait to see renderings.:cheers:

[sirsimon]

65: There are B&W renderings in the link at the top of the page. :)

Looking at the renderings, I am having a hard time deciding how this will look. I like the final rendering (3/4 view, page 10), but am a little apprehensive about the existing cladding and (very 70s/80s) windows remaining at all.

I have no doubt that it will be an improvement over what's there now though.

[PacificNW]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v120/PacificNW/Portland3/NewHotel.jpg

[sirsimon]

Thanks PNW! :)

[robbobpdx]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v120/PacificNW/Portland3/NewHotel.jpg

I used to work in this neck of the woods when this building actually had tenants too. What a huge hole it's been to downtown, just sitting there vacant for so long. I'm overjoyed the Dunham and Bates building will be saved.

Anyone but me see the resemblance between this rendering of the hotel (the tower portion) and the Portland Building? Minus the ribbons and bows at the top (on the PDX bldg), of course.

It will be great to see this come to life, and it can only mean good things for this part of downtown that has had sort of a dead feel for quite awhile, IMO.

[PacificNW]

I can see the similarity. Has anyone heard what hotel chain might be interested? Will it still be a Sheraton?

[zilfondel]

65: There are B&W renderings in the link at the top of the page. :)

Looking at the renderings, I am having a hard time deciding how this will look. I like the final rendering (3/4 view, page 10), but am a little apprehensive about the existing cladding and (very 70s/80s) windows remaining at all.

I have no doubt that it will be an improvement over what's there now though.

I am a little too, but I don't think you'll really notice it as the most important part - the bottom couple of floors - will be completely redone. :tup:

[pdx2m2]

Getting this dog of a building re-done is fantastic after decades of deadness...and it will surely help this part of town.

That said i'm not as excited as many of you are...I"m hoping the design commission requires them to amp up the design...to me it looks like we could have a larger ugly building with people in it...not a huge improvement..certainly not a large enough improvement to be excited yet.

[65MAX]

Thanks for posting the rendering....

Can't say it's a great design, but it will definitely be an improvement over what's there now. Hopefully they'll put a little more umph into the ground floor than what they're showing here.

[asher519]

Finally, this is such an eye sore downtown. My office over looks the Stark street section of this project. It will be interesting to watch the construction should this project go forward.


My office also has a view of the Stark Street side. Regardless of the merits of the design, it'll be a treat watching the extra floors go up.

[Inkdaub]

I love that 3 story building and I'm glad it's sticking around.

Sage is the company behind Starwood's Luxury Collection Hotel, The Nines, that is being built on top of Macy's.

[MarkDaMan]

Room for more hotels?
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Alison Ryan
04/04/2007


A proposal for a new downtown hotel showed up last week on the city’s public meetings schedule. Portland could use another, industry sources say – but success of any new venture would depend on what type of hotel developers plan.

Fountain Village Development Co. and Sage Hospitality Resources propose a new hotel complex at Southwest Sixth Avenue and Oak Street that would involve renovations of and a three-story addition to a 13-story office building at 300 S.W. Sixth Ave. The project also would replace an existing three-story building at 521 S.W. Stark St. The new complex would house 256 hotel units and a ground-floor restaurant.

Hotel industry sources say success of the project, which is scheduled for design advice from the city of Portland’s Design Commission on April 19, will depend on what type of hotel Fountain Village and Sage slate for the space. Neither company could be reached for comment Tuesday.

In the upscale luxury market, said Aaron Babbie, corporate director of sales and marketing for Provenance Hotels, Portland doesn’t have a lot of room. The Nines, a luxury 330-room hotel atop the historic Meier & Frank building in downtown Portland, is scheduled to open in 2008 – and that, Babbie said, would pretty well fill the market.

“From a demand standpoint, we think there’s about 330 rooms left of new, needed demand,” said Babbie, whose Provenance Hotels owns and operates Hotel Lucia and Hotel Deluxe, said.

The central city hotel market, which includes 26 hotels, is strong – thanks in part, Portland Oregon Visitors Association officials say, to the city’s reputation. Vacation guide Frommer’s named Portland one of the world’s top travel destinations for 2007. The Food Network this month will name Portland the country’s best eating destination. And the city’s picked up other superlatives from magazines such as Men’s Journal and Cooking Light.

“All those things sink into people’s minds,” said Deborah Wakefield, spokeswoman for the Portland Oregon Visitors Association, “and when they’re thinking about places to visit, it doesn’t hurt to have good PR.”

Numbers back the word-of-mouth buzz. Year-end hotel occupancy figures for the central city, which includes the Lloyd District, are strong – 74.6 percent, according to Smith Travel Research, an industry data provider. Year-to-date numbers for 2007 are also up, with the 63.9 percent central city figure a 2.2 percent increase from 2006. The national occupancy rate for January through November 2006 was 64.6 percent.

“There is room in the market for another hotel, and maybe two more hotels, depending on project type,” said hotel broker Ed Dundon of the Dundon Co., who has brokered the sale of downtown hotels such as the Heathman Hotel and the Governor Hotel.

More hotels are opening or in the works. The Nines is scheduled to open in 2008. The Ace Hotel, which caters to creatives on a budget with an eclectic vintage vibe and rates starting at $95, opened its doors in February. And plans for a Headquarters Hotel near the Oregon Convention Center are rolling forward, said Scott Langley, president of developer Ashforth Pacific, with a kickoff meeting between new project manager Metro and the development teams scheduled in the next few weeks. And, Langley said, he sees room for all.

“My sense of the HQ hotel and this proposed hotel is they’re apples and oranges,” he said. “The HQ hotel caters to a totally different market.”

The hotel market is good, Dundon said. But it’s also, he said, very difficult to build hotels downtown. The challenge has been, he said, the cost of construction versus market rates, as well as property costs.

“There’s not a ton of opportunity,” he said. “A developer has to be selective on what he’s building, where he’s building, and what kind of product.”

http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?recid=29225&userID=1

[urbanlife]

16 story building isn't exactly a slouch... will be almost as tall as the ZGF tower, right? Only about 40' shorter...

and PACNW, the Neoclassical building will remain, but not as part of the project. It's kinda going to sit at the corner operating by itself.

and Urbanlife - I'm surprised! Thought you would be on top of a hotel project, right? :D

actually I am, I talked to my teacher about this today.

[MarkDaMan]

pre-app review with renderings:

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=152187

[brandonpdx]

based on the rendering it looks like the hotel is a Marriott Courtyard

[MarkDaMan]

Hotel conversion may change building's luck
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Fred Leeson
The Oregonian

Thirteen proved unlucky after a Canadian developer opened a 13-story office tower at 300 S.W. Sixth Ave. in 1980.

Within a decade, the developer went bankrupt, tenants moved out claiming shoddy workmanship, and city inspectors warned that aggregate panels on the facade could fall off and kill people.

Additional bolts solved that worry, but tenants never came back. Now, after sitting vacant 17 years, the grim structure originally called the TN Building awaits new life.

Sage Hospitality Resources of Denver, the firm converting the top nine stories of the former Meier & Frank store downtown into a luxury hotel, plans to add three stories to the TN structure and rework it inside and out.

Plans call for 256 guest rooms, with the ground floor devoted to the lobby and a major restaurant that opens on Sixth Avenue. Entry to the Courtyard Marriott, as it will be known, will be on Oak Street.

"To enliven the city with restaurant activity, we'd like to have seating outside on the sidewalk," says Fernand Banna, a project manager for SERA Architects. It's not clear yet whether that will be compatible with bus operations when the new transit mall opens on Fifth and Sixth.

Downtown has added no hotel rooms since 2004, though demand is growing. Downtown's occupancy rate last year was 76 percent, ahead of 70.5 percent for the rest of the Portland market and 69.8 percent for the top 25 national markets, according to the Portland Oregon Visitors Association.

"It's good news for downtown," says Veronique Meunier, an association spokeswoman. "We have lost some conventions because there weren't enough hotel rooms."

Renovation will include replacing the facade and bracing the structure to meet modern earthquake codes. Last week, SERA architects presented several possible exterior plans to the Portland Design Commission.

All designs showed a more vertical emphasis, replacing the original horizontal bands of windows and panels. When a final design is chosen, it's likely to include glass, thin metal panels or fiberglass-reinforced concrete panels. The facade must be thin and lightweight to accommodate space and structural limitations.

The project is on a fast track. "We want to have mints on the pillow by February 2009," says Don Eggleston, a SERA partner.

Demolition is expected to begin in August, and installation of the new "skin" could occur by next February. In all, the work should be completed in 20 months if city permits can be issued in time.

The project should perk up a quiet corner of downtown. Redevelopment also could help land a tenant for the mostly vacant former Bank of California building, a historic landmark next door.

But most of all, it erases the nightmare of the TN Building. "It's such an improvement to the existing building," says Noelle Elliott, a city design review planner. "I think it's going to be a great project."

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

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1177111526174660.xml&coll=7

[pdxstreetcar]

how can such a relatively new building be so poorly built that it remains vacant for 17 years? i know houses have poor construction issues quite often but such a major building with all of its extra codes and inspections???

anyhow i very much look forward to seeing this project happen

[edgepdx]

how can such a relatively new building be so poorly built that it remains vacant for 17 years? i know houses have poor construction issues quite often but such a major building with all of its extra codes and inspections???

anyhow i very much look forward to seeing this project happen

I was thinking the same thing, but this building would have been under construction during the late 70's and if there was a time this type of thing could happen, it was then. Nothing says quality quite like the 1970's. :haha:

[CouvScott]

Nothing says quality quite like the 1970's. :haha:

Hey, I consider myself quality. :cheers:

[PacificNW]

That multi-level office building across the street from the Bank of America tower and Four Points Sheraton is also poorly designed. It should have been demolished years ago.

[MarkDaMan]

^With the semi-parking garage on the other quarter block behind that building your were referring too, we could get an attractive tower there if all was demolished! The skin looks as though it was made from left over mobile home materials.

[MarkDaMan]

New hotel planned for downtown Portland
Portland Business Journal - 1:26 PM PDT Monday, April 30, 2007

The former TN Building in downtown Portland has been bought by partners who plan to transform the office building into a 256-room Courtyard by Marriott Hotel.

JER Partners, the private equity investment arm of J.E. Robert Cos., and Sage Hospitality Resources, acquired the building at 300 S.W. Sixth Ave.

The redevelopment plan calls for a complete interior renovation and construction of three additional floors. The facade will be renewed and an adjacent building is to be rebuilt as well. The hotel is expected to open in two years.

The site is adjacent U.S. Bancorp Tower, the largest Class A office building in Portland.

"Portland is one of the few major urban markets where there are no upscale limited service hotels," said Cia Buckley, president of U.S. fund business for JER. "This important hotel segment caters to business travelers and has done extremely well in other central business districts. We believe the addition of a Courtyard by Marriott to Portland's downtown will be extremely well received by the city's residents and business travelers alike."

Denver-based Sage, which is currently redeveloping the top nine floors of the former Meier & Frank building into a 331-room luxury hotel, will develop and manage the new Courtyard.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2007/04/30/daily11.html?f=et75&hbx=e_du

[zilfondel]

After walking by this building yesterday, I seriously hope they rip off that fugly facade... there is no way that it will EVER be attractive.

[ATR]

Fugly facade's going...and the patterning of the new one's going to be a major part of the design statement. The restaurant (which New York firm D-ASH is designing) should also really add to the street life on that corner...

There's a little bit more about the project (I had some notes from a Design Commission DA session) at builtpdx.blogspot.com/

[MarkDaMan]

Hotel proposal checks in with design panel
Daily Journal of Commerce
by Alison Ryan
06/25/2007


The design that will turn a long-vacant office building in downtown Portland into a hotel and restaurant is almost where it needs to be, members of the Portland Design Commission said last week.

“While the design itself may need a little more refinement ... my initial reaction is they’re doing the right thing,” commissioner Tim Eddy said.

Rehabilitation of the 1982 TN Building means working within existing constraints. Developer Sage Hospitality Resources’ pro-forma, Sage’s Jerry Meyer said, wouldn’t allow teardown of the problem-plagued building. But the 13-story tower, with its strip windows and pale red cementitious panels, looks like an office building – not like a potential spot for a 256-unit Courtyard by Marriott.

SERA Architects’ solution for the building uses a thin-shell concrete façade to create a simple geometry of void and fill on the upper stories of the quarter-block tower. On the building’s corners, windows edge up the height of the tower, to which developers plan to add three stories for a total of 16.

“It’s a very simple cubic form,” SERA design principal John Echlin said of the existing building, “and we think the building benefits from strengthening that form, not weakening it.”

The surrounding area will benefit from the activity a hotel and restaurant will add as well. The pocket of downtown that the hotel site at Southwest Sixth Avenue and Oak Street sits in is long on historic buildings and work uses – but short on street-level life.

“It’s very much a dead part of town,” Echlin said.

And the TN Building’s ground floor contributes to the lacking environment. Black-tinted windows are set back from the street, underlining the building’s emptiness.

Long window stretches, topped by outsize entry canopies, planned for the restaurant on Sixth and the lobby entrance on Oak should let life out from – and light into – the newly active spaces. The way the ground levels will open the building to the street, design commission vice-chairman Michael McCulloch said, is “the biggest gift this project can give to Portland.”

Sage Hospitality Resources is also renovating the upper floors of the former Meier & Frank Building into luxury hotel The Nines. The group’s focus for the past few years, Meyer said, has been turning properties into hotels.

“We’ve chosen,” he said, “to go in and rehabilitate an existing building.”

The project will be back before the design commission July 12. Most commissioners said they were comfortable with the design team’s overall approach but asked for additional consideration for the project’s Stark Street side, where a new three-story building will connect to the hotel tower and add meeting rooms, a gym, administrative offices and an entry to the hotel parking garage.

Although the design team’s solution for the tower façade is solid, commissioners said, it’s the design of the restaurant and hotel lobby that will make the most impact.

“Putting your eggs in those baskets will pay the greatest dividends to the public,” commissioner Jeff Stuhr said.
http://www.djc-or.com/viewStory.cfm?recid=29640&userID=1

[zilfondel]

Will Emporis pics post?

http://www.emporis.com/files/transfer/sixwm/2005/09/392799.jpg

[MarkDaMan]

^I think they cut the link. I've posted a few time from Emporis and the pic disappeared within hours.

[zilfondel]

Too bad. It showed a great pic of how fugly the facade was...

...Anyway, here's the pic (hosted it on imageshack):

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9490/392799hl4.jpg

[onebulgar]

^I think they cut the link. I've posted a few time from Emporis and the pic disappeared within hours.

Who is cutting the link? the Skyscaperpage or Emporis? :whip:

If it is Emporis, I would guess they are doing it because you are using their bandwidth.

[MarkDaMan]

Commission approves hotel transformation
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Oregonian

A 13-story office building sometimes called "One Falling Down Place" because of its shoddy construction will be transformed in the next few months into a 16-story hotel at 300 S.W. Sixth Ave.

The Portland Design Commission unanimously approved the remodel this month and said the hotel should bring vitality to a dull downtown corner.

Sage Hospitality Resources, a Denver firm that also is remodeling the top of the old Meier & Frank department store into an upscale hotel, will renovate the long-vacant TN Building into 256 hotel rooms and a ground-floor restaurant.

Workers will peel the exterior skin off the 1980 office building and rework everything except the frame.

"Everybody cringes when they research this building," says John Echlin, a principal for SERA Architects who is leading the extreme makeover. The building has sat empty since 1990, waiting for someone willing to tackle an overhaul.

The new exterior will be composed of thin-shell concrete panels and vertical windows, replacing the original horizontal window bands. The hotel will be operated as a Courtyard by Marriott.

"They do not want it to look like an office building," Echlin says. The new skin "is our answer to what is the modern expression of a hotel."

Design Commission Chairman Lloyd Lindley likened the old building to "an inverted hole. It's like someone excavated a basement and abandoned it."

FRED LEESON

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1184804725317090.xml&coll=7

[MarkDaMan]

It's like someone excavated a basement and abandoned it.

I couldn't have thought of a better description.

[Sioux612]

Speaking of Hotel renovations (re: Days Inn), has this project progressed any?

[urbanlife]

they are still in the gutting it phase, so nothing really to talk about for a while. Plus it is just a Courtyard, not really something high on anyone's list to brag about.

[tworivers]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2362/2072100352_f13ef7137a.jpg?v=0

Panels and glass have been removed from a section of the top of the building, too.

[Dougall5505]

this one is on flickr http://flickr.com/photos/toledo/
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2174/2080334776_d6b3cd99f4_o.jpg

[PacificNW]

It is great to see this project proceeding...tks for the update! I have always hated the skin of this building...it ranks towards the top of my least favorite materials for tower skin, IMO...

[zilfondel]

Renderings!

http://www.serapdx.com/images/prj/00000304.jpg
before

http://www.serapdx.com/images/prj/00000303.jpg
after

http://www.serapdx.com/images/prj/00000305.jpg

http://www.serapdx.com/images/prj/00000306.jpg


courtesy of Sera Architects (http://www.serapdx.com/projpict.php?category=1&project=136&picture=1)

[Dougall5505]

meh not great. oh well the biggest improvement is at street level

[WestCoast]

functional I guess. street level still looks cold with the frosted glass, but whatever. I personally had no idea this building was even vacant, and I live downtown and pay attention to these things.

Really a good thing happening here all around. Still targeting Early '09 completion?

[joeplayer1989]

big improvement to the garbage that was there

[PacificNW]

That particular building ranked #2 (for me) as the worst in PDX...the 1st being the office building across from the Bank of America tower close to Waterfront Park...it, too, is vacant.

[Dougall5505]

It would have been cool to go tall on this 1/4 block

[WonderlandPark]

I personally had no idea this building was even vacant, and I live downtown and pay attention to these things.


This thing has been vacant for decades, and is so fugly. Good riddance.

[downtownpdx]

The building skin itself doesn't look too exciting, but it opens up at street level pretty well, it seems -- at least in contrast to what's been there for a few decades! I think one of the more important things to come out of this is another spruced-up retail area along the transit mall. The corner of 5th and Washington is also being revamped (formerly Caplan's Sports). In conjunction with the light-rail / streetscape renovations along the 5th and 6th, it'll be nice to hopefully see the 'renaissance' in this area that's being advertised by Tri-Met and the city. That area where the bus mall met up with Burnside has always been seedy...this will at least bring it little more street life.

[PDX City-State]

I'm pretty stoked about this hotel. It's not perfect--it's not even that nice--but it makes great use of an underused building. It will definitely energize the block.

[WestCoast]

I decided to go by today on my way home.

the entire facade is gone on almost all sides. Looks like a new building that had been built without any interior or exterior work done.

Still not sure what the target completion date is, but they are going at it.

[downtownpdx]

Saw a crane base for this project today.

[philopdx]

I could not find a thread for this project, so here goes:
EDIT: Sure enough moments after I posted this, I see activity on the thread this belongs in. Maybe we could go ahead and do a merge and rename it to Courtyard Marriott?

It is 13 floors, not 12, I discovered after some research. They are going to add three floors, so it ultimately be 16 floors when they are finished.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2001/2320530426_e783091a58_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2228/2320530642_861febe88e_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2320530532_517c02e18f_b.jpg

[WestCoast]

don't know much about this project. Any time table for completion?

Surely not all hotel, what is slated for the upper floors?

[PacificNW]

Thanks for the update....Even now the building is a huge improvement over its prior life...I always hated those aggregate rock panels..

[pdx2m2]

I agree this building was ugly!!!! Probably the worst downtown!

As far as I know it is all hotel.

[urbanlife]

I know that the main building is all hotel, on stark st they ripped out a small building which will be the new garage entrance, there is a couple floors of parking underneath. They will be building a building of equal height on stark st on that small lot, I have heard of mention of office space of some sort in that portion.

[zilfondel]

^ thats news, originally that outbuilding entrance was going to be 1-story, I believe. Now 16? Nice!

[MarkDaMan]

I was at a Marriott meeting planner tour and they said this building would be all hotel, and the new building they are building on stark will only be a couple floors tall and will be the hotel's conference center.

[sopdx]

Isn't this the same as the 6th and Oak hotel?

[urbanlife]

^ thats news, originally that outbuilding entrance was going to be 1-story, I believe. Now 16? Nice!

that is what I have heard, but as of yet I havent seen any drawings for it.

[philopdx]

Update 3-16-08:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/2340164258_b9b8c4b9e6_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/2339332239_7066431859_b.jpg

[pdxdash]

sorry - unable to upload pics

[Dougall5505]

try the faq: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/faq.php?faq=vb_read_and_post#faq_post_images

[philopdx]

Updates 3-22-08:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2249/2359559185_7c5fc63099_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2289/2359559359_109dbc20f3_b.jpg

And look at these two photos, you can see the old concrete columns vs. the rehabbed columns:

OLD:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2057/2360395660_6d88274347_b.jpg

NEW:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2282/2359559539_9bb0891042_b.jpg

[pdxdash]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2294/2355611103_88d7af25f5.jpg

Downtown infill projects are rare...I don't recall seeing any drawings for this space. (I had a difficult time uploading pics from Flickr, but thanks to Dennis I was successful...thnx much, Dash)

[joeplayer1989]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2294/2355611103_88d7af25f5.jpg

Downtown infill projects are rare...I don't recall seeing any drawings for this space. (I had a difficult time uploading pics from Flickr, but thanks to Dennis I was successful...thnx much, Dash)

mark said its the conference center for the hotel

[MarkDaMan]

^yep, but some forumers here also posted they might turn it into an office tower, with the hotel conference space on the lower levels?

Seems a bit small for an office tower though. And, they haven't blocked off the windows from that side of the hotel.

[PacificNW]

pdxdash: I am happy "my hard to follow instructions" helped....I am not that familiar with Flickr so they probably were a little confusing. I will be looking forward to your pics...

[philopdx]

Exciting News, they erected the main crane today! I got to see it in action!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2154/2372626243_aedac05a16_b.jpg


A look at the interior:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2106/2373105016_bfb560c658_b.jpg

[philopdx]

Update 4-26-08: they have added supports to the top floors in anticipation of adding three more levels.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3018/2447213595_ed72cbe5a6_b.jpg

[philopdx]

Update 5-4-08:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3130/2467321020_ae94b796bb_b.jpg

[philopdx]

Update 5-10-08: Big News, We've got activity on top!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2109/2481768259_8ed56582b7_b.jpg

[Timby]

Update 5-12-08: The crews poured a slab on the existing roof last Friday and are working on the core this week. Looks like the first floor of the three new floors should begin in the near future. We got a kick out of the 20 some guys "working" on pouring the slab last week when it looked like only a few were really laboring...with the irony being that my office stopped work to mock the non-workers.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3049/2487528156_249f18d023.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/2487442782_2a647a59be.jpg?v=0

[pdxman]

^^^You have some great views. That first shot is awesome, thanks!

[CUclimber]

I can see my new office in that last picture. We're moving into the 8th floor of the Commonwealth building in July. :)

I can't wait to see how the facade comes out on this one.

[Timby]

We used to be in the Commonwealth Building a few years ago until we moved to the Bancorp. Enjoy - they have a pretty cool patio area on the top of the building with good views of downtown in different directions and Mt. Hood on clear days.

[downtownpdx]

Nice shots! That first one is a view you don't often see of downtown... makes me excited to see Park Avenue West go up. We have such a beautiful city!

[philopdx]

Update 5-24-08: Core bumps another floor, only one floor left to go. More work on walls. I find the wall construction puzzling, however. It looks like only the core is concrete, are they going to make the top three floors steel only to keep the weight down?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2088/2520487380_49d3a5e5c6_b.jpg

[philopdx]

Update 6-14-08: Core is at 3rd and final floor, and wall work is progressing on the second floor. Looking pretty good!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3272/2582827506_6d889665ab_o.jpg

[philopdx]

Update 8-2-2008: Facade Work Starting

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3235/2728488033_dd3ff9d310_b.jpg

[urbanlife]

I dont really care for the facade, but it is so much better than what that building use to look like that I am happy to see this facade haha.

[philopdx]

This thread hasn't gotten any love in a long time!
Update 9-29-2008:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2904019708_8366ce6c98_b.jpg

I sure am glad we got so many projects off the ground before this financial tsunami hit.

Also, I am going to be out of town for most of the rest of the year, with a few sojourns in between. I'll try to get some neat photos of Wilmington, Boston, Cincinnati and Seattle while I'm there. I look forward to seeing you all update progress this fall!

[pdxman]

Thanks for the update pic! I had no idea what this building was going to look like but I have to say that it is different. I can't tell what material that is, anyone?

[PDX City-State]

Not pretty but so much better than before. I hope they find a good restaurant operator that can really anchor that end of 5th Avenue.

[MOPIdaho]

Speaking of hotel renovations, the Hotel Fifty is actually looking good. Its amazing how much removing those eighties awnings helped.

[smendesPDX]

i love this building now. It looks like something you would see in a big European city

[CUclimber]

This building is right outside of my office window. Although I'd prefer to see more windows, it is looking pretty decent. I think the lobby and street presence will be the make-or-break factor with this one.

[urbanlife]

This building is right outside of my office window. Although I'd prefer to see more windows, it is looking pretty decent. I think the lobby and street presence will be the make-or-break factor with this one.

yeah, I was thinking the same thing, it is growing on me. Lots of things could be better than this building, but what the building use to look like, this is a huge improvement.

It will be interesting to see how the building works with the sidewalks. Also, not sure if it has been mentioned yet, but the that intersection and the plaza that leads to Big Pink will be redesigned to be a gateway like area into the city which will be done by the same firm doing this tower.