An early Design Advice Request hearing has been held for Platform, a proposed 8-story office building on SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in the Central Eastside. The project is being designed by Allied Works Architecture for developer Project^. The building would rise to a height of 110′ to top of parapet, and include 140,000 sq ft of commercial office space, with retail uses on the ground floor. Two levels of underground parking would be provided, accessed from SE Salmon St.
The half block project site at 1130 SE MLK is currently occupied by a single story auto shop, built in 1928. The half block to the north, across SE Taylor St, is in the same ownership and could form a future second phase of the development. The project site abuts the proposed Hammer & Hand Office and Workshop, which was approved by the Historic Landmarks Commission in April 2017, but has yet to move forward.
The building mass facing SE MLK is broken up by what the architects call a “vertical street”, which rises the full height of the building and is activated by a level two garden terrace, and a series of porches and bridges at the upper levels. At the eighth floor the massing facing the street steps back to create a large roof deck, which would have views to the west.
The material palette proposed for the buildings include glazing with deep window mullions and a metallic patina finish on the primary facades; corrugated / perforated metal panel at the areas of opaque wall; and highly glazed facades at the street level and “vertical street”.
Where the building abuts the property line, two design options were presented: an articulated metal panel, which continues the rhythm of the windows on the street facing facades; and an exposed concrete frame with metal panel infill. Support for the first option was expressed by the Design Commission.
Platform received Design Advice on April 19th, 2018. The project was generally very well received by the Commission, as noted in a summary memo:
Commissioners expressed unanimous support for the massing concept; the project does a great job of responding to massing, scale, design character. The applicable guidelines speak to desired character and encourage innovative designs. The building is compatible with the industrial context while appearing sophisticated and polished.
The project would be required to go through a Type III Design Review, with public hearings in front of the Design Commission.
Drawings
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- Plan | Context
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- Plan | Site
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- Plans | Parking P2, P1 & Ground
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- Plans | Levels 2, 3, 4 & 5
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- Plans | Levels 6, 7, 8 & Roof
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- Elevations
Gorgeous!
I seem to remember way back when the streetcar was proposed that the inner eastside wouldn’t change much and not go all office and housing like the Pearl. We were all told that it would definitely keep the small shops and not be gentrified. If i remember, it was even part of some legislation. Oh well, I guess Portland needs more hip coffee shops and stores that sell $20 handmade organic cards…..
Is your sole purpose to come on nextportland and complain? Get a better hobby.
Wow it’s almost as if all progressives in this city want to wipe away local history and culture while telling others to be quiet when they point it out. Have you even been to a historic city? The buildings use the same materials, similar sizing & geometry, and most likely have a homogeneous culture that have resided there for decades before. NWResident, go somewhere that enjoys ostracizing its locals, like LA or Seattle and see how you enjoy it.
And would you call the immediate area of this site a “historic city”? the buildings in this area are boring and utilitarian. Yes they are all kind of the same size and shape, but that size and shape screams “dilapidated industrial suburbs.” Can you honestly present an argument for what history and culture this auto shop building provides? Besides, your comments have nothing to do with NWResidents comment, billyjo is the one ostracizing people by mocking what Portland has become and ostracizing anyone whos moved or been born here since 1985 and whats to see something better than some single story autoshop in our central core. Get with the times, every city in America is going through growing pains, and Portland is not a historic city. Are there historic buildings worth preserving? Hell yes. This is not one of them.
Conor, your last three sentences are key: “Are there historic buildings worth preserving? Hell yes. This is not one of them.” Inner SE/CEID will preserve some one level buildings but the subject corner is a bum slum after 5pm each day, so the proposed project is a massive improvement.
funny, but you are mocking what Portland is and discounting anything that comes from the long time residents of this city. I refuse to allow someone with no roots in this city destroy it. Especially considering that in 5 years most of those doing the destruction will have moved on to the next city to “improve” Sorry, but I will not be bullied.
“homogeneous culture” is a good thing?
Oh my bad, I forgot that having a homogeneous culture is only a good thing for non-white populations. LOL
Look at any historical European city that has stood for centuries and tell me that it is better off now with the “cultural enrichment” that has flooded in, demonstrating its lack of assimilation and overall care for a host country’s norms. Because of these issues, you’ll be seeing more self-segregation, which has happened with the “white flight” into the suburbs. But who could blame them? Homogenous culture = high trust society and what we see in Portland today is no exception. So yeah, homogenous culture is a good thing for all cultures.
This is getting very far off topic. Let’s leave this discussion there.
You’re right, homogeneous culture is a scourge. That is why Japan is such a terrible place to live! Wait a minute..
One of the main goals of the streetcar has been to serve as an incentive for high density mixed-use development in the central city. The Portland Streetcar Strategic Plan states that, “since 1972, virtually every land-use and transportation plan in Portland has called for Portland Streetcar as a tool for supporting dense development in places where it is desired and in places where it can be supported with transit and other service amenities like parks, schools, employment.”
I don’t remember that at all. The goal was always for the inner eastside to turn into the Pearl.
From the city of Portland website.
Key Elements
Preserve the industrial sanctuary while allowing for higher employment density
Strengthen the transportation system for all, promote active transportation and accommodate freight
Support manufacturing, industrial services and other Central Eastside sectors as part of the Innovation Quadrant
Enhance livability and activate mixed-use corridors
Create a regional riverfront destination
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/561906
I haven’t seen that in the overwhelming majority of what has been happening in the area. Where is the city supporting manufacturing and industrial services? Have a look at all the projects in the pipeline for the area. Housing, class A offices and boutique hotels……
If your concern is about the loss of industrial and manufacturing uses in the central eastside I think you have a legitimate complaint. There’s similar concerns for the Guild’s Lake Industrial sanctuary too with the slabtown area being redeveloped.
Portland has a shortage of industrial land and I agree that we should preserve our manufacturing sector in these areas. The problem is that industrial/manufacturing is land-intensive and usually has older buildings. Combine that with the premium central location and you have a great opportunity for a lucrative redevelopment.
The city is trying to balance the need for industrial land with the desire to develop non-industrial uses by focusing intense development along mixed-use corridors like MLK Blvd and Grand Ave. I think by allowing the subject project (Platform Office Building) to be built, it helps preserve the industrial areas.
This is a great looking project, the massing is much more active and substantial than the same old crap we’ve seen so much of. The facade has texture, it has a pleasing material pallet, and it even has parking!
Ditto.
Definitely an improvement to a parking lot with a business attached.
When it is a part of an effort to completely change the neighborhood and force people to leave so that a completely different group of people can come in and live there for a few years and then move on……It is just constantly more and more of the exact same being built. One building looks like the next. They’re all gonna be dated in 10 years and nobody will want to live or work in them. Essentially there is a new style. Portland 2015.
billyjo, I think your comments apply to what has happened in some parts of Portland, but not in others. Not many people have lived in the inner SE warehouse/industrial area in the past several decades, so there’re not really any renters being displaced. And from the beginning, as I recall, modern mass transit was seen in Portland as an urban development tool, just as in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the streetcar lines were designed and used to promote the then new inner suburbs, like Irvington. I’m not sure what you mean by writing that recent buildings in Portland will soon look “dated,” but you can be sure that at the right price people will work and live in them. There are a lot of bad old buildings in Portland that people live in; I certainly did. In fact, one of the virtues of “out of date” buildings is that they afford more affordable rents.
I like this design and use of space, as a casual observer of Portland architecture and design. What irked me in these renderings was the insertion of MAX as the transit mode rather than the appropriate Streetcar. That displacement shows me that the illustrator (and perhaps the architecture firm) has a misunderstanding of the community in which they are depicting their development. Those details matter and I hope they were pointed out by the design commission, upon review.
“Two levels of underground parking would be provided, accessed from SW Salmon St.”
I think you mean SE Salmon St, although I have to admit that a west side parking entrance would certainly be a unique selling point. But, would it be via a new bridge, or a tunnel? 🙂
Fixed it! Thanks for catching that.
Cupcake sounds like a troll. Do people seriously think like that in this day and age? Please tell me the reply button is off on his comments because he has been banned?