Under Construction in the Pearl: the Canopy Hotel (images)

This is an updated version of a post originally published on December 4th 2015.

Construction is underway on a new 10 story hotel in the Pearl District by ZGF Architects. The hotel will be operated by PM Hospitality Strategies under the Canopy brand, a new addition to the Hilton portfolio of brands. The developer for the project is the Buccini/Pollin Group. The 128’-8” tall building will include 153 guest rooms. No vehicular parking is proposed.

Canopy Hotel

The location for the new hotel is at NW 9th and Glisan. The quarter block site was previously occupied by a single story warehouse building, built in 1938 and owned by Menashe Properties. The building was most recently occupied by the Partners in Time store. The quarter block immediately to the west of the project is the site proposed for Framework, a 12 story wood building by Lever Architecture that is currently going through Design Review.

Canopy Hotel

At the ground level the hotel will include the lobby and a cafe/bar, with exterior seating facing NW Glisan St. A wide staircase will lead down from the cafe into a double height “winter garden” at the basement, with adjacent meeting rooms. Back of house functions such as the kitchen and housekeeping are also proposed for the basement. When presented to the Design Commission in June the project had a locker room and fitness area at the ground level facing NW 9th Ave, which drew strong criticism. In response the fitness room has been moved to the roof, and a “gallery” created facing NW 9th Ave, intended to the respond to the Pearl’s art gallery row.

Canopy Hotel

The primary material for the project will be a custom coated folded metal panel by Japanese manufacturer Pure + Freeform. Aluminum windows are proposed for the ground level and fiberglass windows for the hotel rooms. A ribbon of cast-in-place concrete will wrap around the ground floor storefront windows and form the canopies over the street.

Canopy Hotel

Canopy Hotel

At the Canopy Hotel’s first Design Review hearing on November 19th the Design Commission voted 4-0 to uphold the Staff Report [PDF] and approve the project. Conditions were added requiring a door to the street from the ground level gallery; that a 5′ wide canopy of the same material and depth as the other canopies be added along NW 9th Ave; and that the bronze metal panel be used on the west elevation behind the staircase. At the applicants request a condition was also added that allows a less expensive metal panel to be installed on the west property line elevation, as long as the proposed Framework building is under construction with an approved design that will entirely mask the wall.

The existing building on the site was demolished in June 2016. A building permit for the Canopy Hotel was issued later the same month. The estimated opening date for the hotel listed on Hilton’s website is “late 2017”.

Plans and Elevations

11 thoughts on “Under Construction in the Pearl: the Canopy Hotel (images)

  1. I was aware that the world of architecture was a male-dominated culture, but it’s interesting to see it so clearly on display in these renderings. The creator of them probably considers himself a philogynist, but he would be wrong.

  2. This project has improved its design considerably since it’s first iteration. However this is a terrible location for a hotel that is not providing any off street valet area. They will have only two parking spaces on the street to handle drop off and pickup and valet activity. NW 9th avenue has only one lane in each direction and Glisan is very busy collector street that turns into a parking lot every day. And while the postal trucks that can barely make that turn will eventually be relocated it will not be for several years. The hotel will be using a satellite parking garage and will have to shuttle and hold cars for guests. This will shut down the street as a matter of daily business activity. There is no precedent for a hotel of this size with only a quarter block street face located on a one lane street. All other hotels in the city either provide space off street or are located on a street with multiple lanes so the street is not shut down by double parking that happens regularly at every hotel. I am no car advocate but this is unacceptable rubber stamping by PBOT and BDS. This is a global hotel brand in the highest price per sq ft district in the city at the lowest financing costs with the highest hotel rates in our history. This project is getting away without having to provide off street valet area because they are squeezing this program into too small a footprint. One block away the Hampton Inn is under construction and they will have off street areas to accommodate traffic overflow/parking at much cheaper room rates. If the Hampton Inn can do it why can’t a luxury brand hotel? Why is PBOT asleep at the wheel on this? I’m all for reducing car use but this is simply mismanagement of the public right of way. Not to mention they will be turning our gallery row into a parking lot. The original design had a luggage storage room facing 9th ave. That is very telling what this developer/tenant thinks of our neighborhood and city. Portland is clearly for sale to the lowest bidder…

  3. European Hotels don’t seem to have this problem even in carefree areas. Are we going to continue with the 75 year failed auto centric blip or get back to actually building cities for people? I see nothing wrong with this. Honestly, what % of tourist our coming here in cars?

    • What %, Caleb? Certainly not 0, which is how much parking nearby they are providing. Extra traffic due to shuttling cars to a distant lot isn’t going to improve the city for people.

  4. Cab I completely agree about the parking issue–hotels do not need on site parking in the central city. The city should be for people more than cars. My earlier point was not about parking cars it was about the drop off area capacity for valet, Uber taxi etc. This is a 153 room hotel with only 2 valet spaces at an intersection of a single lane street (1 for each direction) and a major bridge access couplet street. The developer is pushing a big program into a small site to maximize profit and is not being asked to mitigate what will be a regular total blockage of the public right of way. Hotels are unique in that they have specific bottle neck times for arrival and departure. Most hotels in Portland are located on one-way streets with several lanes so the street is not completely blocked with the normal double parking that happens every day. I find it unacceptable that the obstruction of the public right of way will be a matter of normal operation for this hotel. What other business would be allowed this free privilege? (heck,if a business wants to put out a little sign on the sidewalk they are required to register it and pay a fee.) 9th Avenue is a terrible location for what is becoming the Pearl’s hotel row (Marriott, Hampton Inn and this Hilton). This will be an issue for not only cars but even more so for bicycles and pedestrians on 9th. The double parking area is next to the delivery loading zone garage door where long trucks will be sticking out of a painfully small loading bay. The street AND the sidewalk will be regularly obstructed. PBOT needs to recalibrate it’s code and priorities. This is a clear case of private gain at the expense of the public right of way. We don’t need to require parking. We DO need to require adequate loading facilities so the public in all its modes has access to it’s right of way.

    • The parking/traffic concerns are overblown. The main entrance is on the corner, which makes Glisan a perfectly acceptable spot to drop off & pick up. The half block on 9th will likely be a loading zone anyway, which eliminates the double parking issue. Besides, on site parking would create its own hazards for pedestrians and bikers. The area isn’t a major bike route and the streetcar is one block away. It’s going to be okay.

      • Brian sorry I just can’t let your casual dismissal go unanswered especially given your incorrect facts. First of all the there cannot be drop off and pick up on Glisan. The Glisan side has a fire hydrant and parking spaces and the postal trucks would take out anyone in that space as they are barely able to make the turn (per the PDC, the post office will be there for a min of 5 more years). The drop off area is on 9th-there are two car spaces. that’s it. Have you ever witnessed a hotel valet area at check in or check out? if you had you would know two spaces is an absurdly inadequate space and double parking will be a consistent fact. The problem is 9th only has one lane per direction so effectively the street will be shut down routinely. (again most hotels in Portland are on streets with multiple lanes) This hotel is directly across the Steel bridge from the Convention Center. Have you witnessed how convention guests arrive in blocks? Both this hotel and the Hampton currently under construction one block away are using this proximity and the valuable Pearl address to charge more while degrading the livability of the neighborhood because PBOT won’t step up and demand more. I’m all about limiting parking and bringing hotels to the neighborhood but this is the wrong location for one not willing to mitigate what will be a take over of the public right of way as regular business practice.

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