Designed changed to two twin spires
Park Blocks 'beacon' gets design approval
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Fred Leeson
The Oregonian
Only in Portland, perhaps, would final haggling about the design of a 33-story retail, office and condo tower come down to bicycle parking and the dimensions of the loading dock.
A unanimous vote this month by the Portland Design Commission cleared those hurdles, making way for developer Tom Moyer's third and perhaps most notable downtown tower, to be called Park Avenue West.
From bottom to top, the tower at 728 S.W. Ninth Ave. will have four subsurface parking levels, two floors of retail, 20 stories of offices and 11 stories of condos, topping out with a roofline at 472 feet. Twin decorative spires will rise to 515 feet.
"I think this will be a sentinel to downtown," Lloyd Lindley, design commission chairman, said during the final vote.
Well before it's finished, however, the tower is prompting city officials to re-evaluate the floor-area bonuses that Portland's complex regulations allow for new downtown buildings that provide long-term parking and locker rooms for bicycle riders.
Moyer's new tower gained 66,000 square feet -- the equivalent of about four office floors -- when developers agreed to provide bike facilities in the tower and under the adjacent Park Block 5 that will sit next door to the south.
Under the city's 40-to-1 bonus system, the developers had to offer 1,650 square feet for bike facilities to obtain the 66,000 square feet. Ken Nichols, director of Bike Republic, a company that plans to operate facilities for bike commuters, estimated the value of the bonus square footage at $20 million. By comparison, the cost of the bike facilities will be a pittance, he said.
Paul Schlesinger, a design commission member and president of the Portland Planning Commission, said the planning body will review the bike bonus as part of a routine update. He said the bike incentive is "the most liberal bonus given for floor-area ratio expansion" in the city rules.
Nichols said he doesn't think the provision was necessarily too generous, but he said the city code should be more specific in designating the number of showers and size of storage lockers.
The bike locker in Park Avenue West will be available only to tenants and residents. However, the bike locker under Park Block 5 will be available to anyone wishing to rent parking and locker space. Access will be by stairway or elevator.
Final plans for the new tower reduce its loading space from 75 feet to 48 feet along Park Avenue. Most deliveries and garbage collection will be during early-morning hours. Developers reached an agreement with the nearby Nordstrom store to coordinate loading times.
A canted roof over mechanical equipment atop the tower will present a different view of the roofline from four directions. Portions of the top will be lighted at night to offer a gentle glow.
"It's going to be an icon," said Lili Mandel, a downtown resident and advocate of density and a vibrant, mixed-use city center. "It will be a beacon. It is absolutely wonderful."
Portland News: 503-221-8199;
portland@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/o...340.xml&coll=7
Prev
Linear Mode
