A parking lot in Old Town Chinatown is in the permitting process to become a six-story, mixed-use complex.
The lot is located at 60 NW Davis, at the intersection of Naito and Davis. It is currently owned by the Portland Development Commission.
The lot is located in the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District which meant that the developer, Gerding Edlen, had to seek historic resource review for the design. This district received National Landmark designation in 1977.
The applicant sought a modification approval for extensions above the maximum 75-foot height standard. The application also shows that the developer is “requesting to utilize some of the city’s cobblestone stockpile.”
The city preserves the basalt “Belgian blocks” cobblestones found during during street excavation and construction, and reuses them in future projects.
The proposed development will fill three-quarters of the entire block, while the remaining quarter is currently occupied by an office building.
The building would have six floors. The main floor would be designated as “active use,” which is a fairly broad term with a number of interpretations. It can sometimes mean retail use.
The next three floors would be office use and the top two stories would provide 58 residential units. No onsite parking is proposed.
Rendering of the proposed building at 60 NW Davis, from the permit application.
The Portland Tribune reported that the potential development in this lot could be allowed development fee waivers for the residential units in the building, as part of the Old Town/Chinatown Action Plan.
One objective of the five-year plan is to bring more middle-income residents to the neighborhood. 72 percent of Old Town rental housing is restricted to households earning less than 60 percent of Median Family Income. Citywide, 6 percent of rental housing is limited in this manner.
While buildings that provided lower-income rental housing were previously eligible for a Systems Development Charge fee waiver, the action plan extended this eligibility to new rental housing aimed at households earning up to 100 percent of Median Family Income. The waiver is capped at 500 units for a building, so the Gerding Edlen development at Naito and Davis should easily be eligible.
Construction is expected to begin in December.