1000 Broadway

Location
Portland, Oregon

Dates
2019 - 2021

Size
20,685 SF (Area of Work)

Client
1000 Broadway Building LLC

—

Architectural Teammates
Michelle Start (principle)
Jason Tand (project manager)
Kelsey Loverro (interior designer)
Giannini Vargas (interior designer)

Project Manager
Lou Elliott

General Contractor
Turner Construction

Structural Engineer
IMEG Corp

Project Summary:

An existing office tower in downtown Portland, the 1000 Broadway building has two sub-levels which were once a theater which have been empty for over a decade. The client approached us looking for ideas of how to re-utilize the sub-levels as well as revitalize the building’s presence along Broadway, a major city street. The building occupies a full block along Broadway with an arcade once used as protection for those queuing up for the theater. Since the theater closed, the arcade has become a dead space which is more of an issue for the building rather than a benefit.

Our solution to the client’s street-front issue was to build out the ground floor to the property line. In doing so, we improve the building retail spaces and create a more generous, inviting building lobby. The existing retail spaces have little visibility to the street and access to daylight due to the arcade. We could now provide a prominent retail space on each building corner with more rentable square footage. Likewise, the existing building lobby is small for a building of its size and lacks adequate sunlight. We could now create an appealing lobby with seating areas and amenities typically found in new building lobbies of the area.

In revitalizing the sub-levels, the largest challenge was their lack of connection with the rest of the building. In the original design the theater was completely separated from other uses. To counteract this, a new three-story stair connecting the building lobby to the levels below serves as a gesture of connection, allowing access and views between the levels.

With the new connection between the building lobby and lower levels, we were able to look at relocating and improving amenity spaces such as the gym, which currently takes up valuable tenant space on the 9th floor. The lower levels are designed to house new exercise facilities, conference space, and building management offices.