Prendergast, CE John Redesigning Pearl District Projects, Adding Floors

Bob Thompson of Thompson Viavoda & Associates handled both the original design and the redesign. Hoffman Construction is the general contractor and the leasing agents are Mark Fraser and John Kohnstamm of Colliers International.

Mark Perniconi of Vancouver, WA-based C.E. John Properties tells GlobeSt.com his company's property at 10th Avenue and Hoyt Street, previously a five-story residential and office project, could now be twice as tall and all residential, though no decisions have been made. "We're now looking at a blank slate," says Perniconi, who wasn't as far along in the development process as Prendergast. "A decision will be made in a month or two."

The changes are the result of the city extending height bonus rules already in place for buildings north of Lovejoy and south of Hoyt, says city planner Graham Clark. The rule allows property owners to exceed the 75-foot height limit in certain areas of the River District where larger buildings would not block existing public views of the historic clock tower atop Union Station at Northwest 6th Avenue and Johnson Street.

Developers can now double the height limit if they use the extra vertical space strictly for residential product. If they want to use it for more office space, they are only able to go 45 feet above the limit, and only if they provide amenities such as bike lockers, daycare centers or rooftop gardens. The goal, says Clark, is to allow for a greater variation in building type, and to allow for renovation of the Bits & Pieces warehouse and the Meier & Frank warehouse--slated for condominiums and a telecommunications warehouse, respectively--which were built long before the height limit and stand about 100 feet tall.

Prendergast says the design changes put the project about four months behind its original schedule--completion is now scheduled for July 2002--but the result could have been much worse. If concrete had already been poured, Prendergast says he most likely would have had to stick with their original plans. "We would have had large, expensive condos on the fifth and six floors competing against (C.E. John's) condos on the 11th and 12th floors."

That, of course, assumes C.E. John is going mostly residential with its project, which although likely, is no longer required. Perniconi says C.E. John transferred the residential requirement that came with the property to another property, which means it, too, could go for an office project similar to Prendergast. Still, given the new height bonus, Perniconi says C.E John is indeed considering transferring the requirement back onto the property for a mostly residential project. "To really max out the value of the site, it makes sense to go predominately residential," says Perniconi "because you get one extra square foot for every square foot you build."