The Design Commission has approved the Dairy Apartments, a proposed development on the site of the former Sunshine Dairy in Kerns. The 7-story building is being designed by Hacker Architects for NBP Capital. 271 residential units are proposed. 90 vehicular parking stalls are proposed in a below grade parking garage. 381 bicycle parking spaces would be provided, with 70 proposed in a bike room, 23 in lockers and the remaining spaces provided in the units.

The building will be subject to the city’s inclusionary housing rules, which require the provision of affordable housing or the payment of a fee-in-lieu.

The project site is the full block bound by NE 20th Ave, Pacific St, 21st Ave and Oregon St. The site was home to the Sunshine Dairy operation, which filed for bankruptcy in 2018. The 1928 Emergency Dispatching Center building at the intersection of NE 20th and 21st was included in the bankruptcy sale to NBP Capital, but does not form part of the site to be redeveloped.

Nearby developments include the proposed Pepsi Blocks, the first phase of which was recently approved; the under construction Jantzen Apartments and Glisan Street Apartments; and the Hygge Apartments, completed in 2018. The TwentyTwenty Apartments, also designed by Hacker, are located on the other side of the NE 21st Ave bridge across I-84.

At the lower two floors the building is arranged in a donut shaped plan, with an interior courtyard. At levels three and above the building is massed as two parallel north-south bars. Interior amenity spaces would open onto the ground level interior courtyard.

The primary material for the building will be folded weathering steel. Other materials proposed include plaster, fiber cement panels, steel canopies, steel guardrails, vinyl windows and aluminum storefronts.

The Dairy Apartments were approved at their second Design Review hearing, held on December 12th, 2019. The project had previously received Design Advice in June, 2019.

In the conclusion to the Final Findings and Decision by the Design Commission the project was praised for the design of its ground floor residential units:

Walkable, positive pedestrian environments are critical to the vitality of the City. The level one residential is carefully designed to provide vertical and horizontal buffers, with layered landscaping and significant detail to provide visual interest to the public realm. The massing concept is elegant, simple and responsive to neighborhood context. The materials are high-quality, durable and well detailed.

Building permits will need to be obtained before construction can start.

Drawings

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