MEMORANDUM

Date:  February 7, 2017

To:  Portland Historic Landmarks Commission

From:    Mike Gushard, City Planner

503-823-5091 mike.gushard@portlandoregon.gov

Re:  February 13, 2017 Historic Landmarks Commission Agenda Item

LU 16-153002 HRM AD Pearl East Building

Staff is recommending approval for Pearl East 6-story office building with a three story underground parking garage for 45 vehicles, rooftop amenity space and a loading dock feature at the ground-level. Hard copies of the full 11x17 set will be sent to you before the hearing. There are remaining issues that are actively being discussed with the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). Once completed, a Staff Report and Recommendation will be made available prior to or at the February 13, 2017 hearing.

The design team has resolved all the issues raised by Staff and the Historic Landmarks Commission at the December 19, 2016 hearing as detailed below. This is a summary of the substantive findings that will be included in the Revised Staff Report and Recommendation.

Issue: Architectural Coherency and Use of Permanent and Quality Materials.

At the last hearing the primary historic resource review issue for the proposal was the use of Concrete Masonry Units (CMU) mixed with board-formed concrete at the north and east facing end-walls of the building. CMU is not present in the NW 13^th Avenue Historic District, even at end-walls. For this reason the Commission directed the design team to change the walls to a more traditional building material that matches the character of the district. The applicant revised the proposal to include 12” structural red-brick at the end walls. The expanses of brick are mediated by soldier courses that mark each floor and a concrete volume that expresses vertical circulation in the building. These revisions present a more coherent design and utilize quality materials found elsewhere in the district in the spirit of the approval criteria.

Approval of the proposal is pending support from PBOT and BES.

Attachments:  Zone Map

   11x17 drawing packages