An affordable gamble
Sera Architects takes on a seemingly cursed project and reaps a major award
Portland Business Journal - March 2, 2007
by Wendy Culverwell
Business Journal staff writer
Cathy Cheney | Portland Business Journal
Central City Concern faced tough sledding when it set out to build an affordable housing complex for recovering addicts.
Leaks from underground tanks contaminated soil at the site, located where Burnside meets the North Park Blocks. An investor backed out of the project just three weeks before the deal was to close. City officials rejected building plans on design grounds.
To some architects, the Central City Concern's "8NW8" -- so dubbed for its location at 8 N.W. Eighth. Street -- project gave the appearance of a failure in the making.
"This is a piece of bad meat," Richard "Bing" Sheldon's colleagues at Sera Architects told him. Some thought the employee-owned firm shouldn't waste employee resources pursuing the commission.
"The word on the street: It was a bad project," Sheldon, the firm's chairman, recalled.
Flash forward a couple of years and 8NW8 has two successful years of operations under its belt. It's in the news again for being cited as a national example of excellence in affordable housing. In January, the University of California at Berkeley honored the team that built 8NW8 with the first-ever I. Donald Terner Prize, given for innovation in leadership in affordable housing.
The $50,000 prize honors 8NW8 and Central City Concern for both the beauty of the project and the impact of the shelter and other programs it houses.
The other finalists included four affordable projects in California and one in New York.
The irony that a troubled -- and sometimes criticized -- project would win national praise isn't lost on Sheldon, whose firm eventually did eventually seek -- and win -- the commission.
"It puts the stamp of final approval on what was an amazing review process," he said. Sheldon, a founding member of Central City's board of directors, excused himself from the selection process to avoid a conflict of interest.
He isn't sorry for the in-house debate that preceded the decision to pursue the 8NW8 project.
"It is appropriate we had that conversation," he said.
Despite the award, the project still draws criticism, particularly for its curving roofline, designed to conceal mechanical equipment. Writing on a Portland architecture blog, one person called it one of the "worst buildings in the city" and said the prize money "should go to paying the people who have to see this everyday."
The story of 8NW8 began in 1999, the year First Presbyterian Church informed Central City Concern it wanted to tear down its aging Danmoore Hotel to accommodate the growing church.
Central City, which provides housing and recovery services to people affected by drugs and alcohol, was managing the old hotel's 122 rooms as housing for clients. The hotel also housed an outpatient clinic.
The church gave Central City lots of lead time; it wouldn't demolish the structure until 2005.
Central City decided to replace the Danmoore Hotel with new housing and lined up the construction site at 8 N.W. Eighth Street. Formerly home to a gas station, the property is bordered by Burnside Street and by Northwest Eighth and the North Park Blocks.
The project would cost $18 million to construct. Central City put in $1 million; preservation tax credits, tax increment financing and low-income housing credits comprised much of the rest. Trouble arose three weeks before it closed on the financing when the investor set to buy the low-income housing credits backed out.
"That left us with a deal that was going in the toilet," said Richard Harris, executive director of Central City Concern.
With time running short, the team turned to U.S. Bank, which was providing other financing for the project. The bank presented 8NW8 to its affordable housing group, in St. Louis, which agreed to buy the low-income housing credits.
"We see them as the all-time saviors," Harris said.
The project soured again when Central City's initial designs failed to meet city criteria. That's when Sera entered the picture. Central City decided to start fresh with a new architect and invited architects to submit proposals.
After much internal debate, Sera decided to enter the competition, which included five other firms. An independent group made the final decision.
Restarting with new architects delayed Central City's plans about a year. Sera and the general contractor, Walsh Construction, had to figure out how to build the new building at the previous year's prices.
To do it, they simplified the floor plans and stretched the limits of both concrete and steel. Paul Jeffries, a Sera associate and senior designer who took the lead on 8NW8, said that to satisfy the desire for an architecturally suitable building to anchor the North Park Blocks, expenses had to be trimmed from the building's structure. The simplified design is based around four walls and seven columns that carry the weight of the building.
The structural engineers pushed the boundaries of post-tension concrete. The result -- the floors of the 12-story building consist of long, thin slabs. In the language of designers, 8NW8's 12 floors consist of the thinnest slabs across the longest distance with the least deflection.
The architects arranged the layout of each floor to accommodate easy passage for mechanical systems, pipes and vents.
The resulting building is clad in brick and is a modern addition to the Old Town/Chinatown side of the North Park Blocks.
"We were trying to give it a twist, to make it look more lively, like anyone would live there," Jeffreys said.
The building contains 120 one-person rooms, each with a single bed, toilet, sink and small refrigerator. The upper floors consist of 60 small studio apartments for longer-term residents. An outpatient clinic and community room occupy the lower floors.
The building opened in 2004 and has a waiting list.
Like Sheldon, Jeffreys remembers colleagues at Sera debating if the firm should involve itself in affordable housing.
"Now we're hooked on affordable housing," he said.
wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415
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