The Design Commission has approved the Oregon Convention Center Hotel, which represents one of the final hurdles for the long planned project. The Hyatt Regency branded hotel will include 600 guest rooms and 32,000 sq ft of ballroom and meeting room space. The ground level of the 14 story building will include public facing spaces including the main lobby, a restaurant, bar, the junior ballroom and a 24-hour retail market. The second and third floors will include the main ballroom, meeting rooms, a fitness center, and a Regency Club lounge. Guest rooms will be located in the body of the 180′-6″ tall tower, on levels 3 to 14.

The hotel is being developed by developer Mortenson, with a design team that includes ESG Architects and Mayer Reed Landscape Architecture. The $240 million hotel is being funded from a mix of public and private sources. $165 million will be invested by Hyatt/Mortenson Development, while Oregon Metro will contribute $60 million in bonds backed by lodgings tax revenue expected to be generated by hotel guests. Additional funding sources includes $4 million from Metro’s Convention Center reserves and $10 million from lottery funds.

The site for the proposed hotel is a superblock in the Lloyd District, directly across the MAX tracks from the Oregon Convention Center. The site is bound by NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, NE Holladay Street, NE 2nd Ave, and NE Hassalo Place. The Union Apartments, completed in 2015, are located across NE Hassalo Place.

The primary material for the lower podium of the hotel will be brick masonry and aluminum storefront glazing, with stained cast-in-place concrete and composite wood panels acting as accents. Metal panel in three colors and aluminum or fiberglass windows will be used to clad the body of the tower.

The primary entrance to the hotel will be from a new plaza located at the corner of NE Holladay and MLK, directly adjacent to the MAX stop. The retail market be located adjacent to the plaza, and the hotel  bar will have an outdoor dining area that connects to the plaza.

A secondary pedestrian entrance to the hotel will be located at NE 2nd and Holladay, where there is an existing crossing of the MAX tracks leading to the Convention Center. A small retail space will be located at this corner, which due to grade differences will be one level lower than the main level of the hotel.

At the rear of the hotel a porte-cochère will be provided for vehicular drop off and pick up, on the recently built NE Hassalo Place. A layby for coaches will be located adjacent to the group check in area of the lobby.

At level 3 the Regency Club lounge will open out onto an outdoor terrace, with views towards to the Convention Center spires and downtown Portland beyond.

Garage

One block to the west of the hotel will be a new above grade parking garage, with 442 vehicular parking stalls and 102 bicycle parking spaces. The $26 million garage will be owned by the Portland Development Commission, who will generate revenue through a valet service agreement with Hyatt.

The garage will include commercial lease space facing NE 1st Ave and NE Multnomah St and “bike-related retail” adjacent to the bicycle parking on NE Holladay St.

The primary materials proposed for the parking garage are glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) rainscreen panels and aluminum storefront at the base, with perforated and solid metal panels at the upper levels. Composite wood panels, matching those proposed for the hotel, will be used as an accent material.

Future Office

The structure of the garage is being designed to accommodate a future 100,000 sq ft office tower. If built, the office would rise to a height of 168′-4″. The 11 story office tower would be clad in a similar palette of materials to the hotel tower, including metal panel and aluminum or fiberglass windows.

The Hyatt Regency at the Oregon Convention Center was approved by the Design Commission on October 27th 2016, by a 4-0 vote. Commissioners Vallaster, Molinar, Clarke and Livingston voted in favor of the project, while Commission Chair Wark abstained.

The conclusion to the Final Findings And Decision By The Design Commission detailed the long procedural history of the project, while noting that the hotel will be the “long-envisioned compliment to the Oregon Convention Center”:

The Portland Oregon Conventional Center Hotel and Parking Garage [OCCH & G] is one of the most anticipated development proposals to come to the City of Portland in recent years. The scale and stature of its investment in the City of Portland has the highest expectations and requires the greatest caliber of design execution to ensure its long- lasting contribution to the City of Portland’s civic identity and urban form as a regional and international “front porch” to a 1,000’s of Oregon Convention Center visitors each year.

The required design review process for large scale development proposals exists to promote the conservation, enhancement, and continued vitality of areas of the City with special scenic, architectural, or cultural value. The OCCH & G Development Team pursued early Design Advice Requests [DAR] with the Portland Design Commission in September 2014 [primary focus on identity, public plaza and porte-cochere for hotel], March 2015 [primary focus on massing & design], and July 2015 [primary focus on street frontages and architecture].

The formal Land Use Review proposal was submitted June 2016, and since then, the OCCH & G Development Team has held several meetings with Staff and three Design Commission Hearings on August 18, 2016, September 29, 2016 and October 27, 2016 to develop the design. Over the course of this process, critical design issues have been successfully resolved, as well as Modifications to the Zoning Code being either reduced or eliminated altogether.

As now designed, the final Oregon Convention Center Hotel and Parking Garage proposal is poised to become the long-envisioned compliment to the Oregon Convention Center and a prominent icon for the City of Portland.

Building permits will need to be obtained before construction can being on site. Metro currently estimates that work will begin in early 2017, and be complete by mid 2019.

Drawings