Pioneer Place Wants to Install New Security Gates. City Approval Could Take Up to 103 Days.

The first sign that Portland's economy is rebounding from a year of paralysis will come when downtown stores strip off their plywood facings. That transformation could take just a few hours.

But to erect largely invisible roll-down security gates at the city's premier shopping center? That, WW has learned, could take 103 days.

One of last summer's indelible images was of masked looters emptying out the Louis Vuitton luxury leather goods store in Pioneer Place, the swanky 317,000-square-foot downtown mall, which includes Tiffany's, the Apple Store and H&M among its 61 tenants.

For now, Portland's highest-end retailers are hidden behind sheets of plywood and particle board. The temporary protection is adorned by murals featuring provocative messages like "Abolish ICE," a look more Banksy than Beverly Hills.

Brookfield Properties, the Manhattan-based owner of the mall, decided late last year that as the city moves toward reopening, it wanted to provide more permanent security for the people and property in its stores by installing roll-up gates for its exterior doors.

Brookfield drew up a design for the gates. But that puts the company's project under the jurisdiction of the Portland Bureau of Development Services, the city's notoriously slow-moving permitting agency, which is the steward of Oregon's land use laws and Portland's process-rich brand of government.

On Jan. 28, Brookfield applied to the city for permission to install roll-down security doors at each of Pioneer Place's seven entrances. Cost: $542,000.

In its application, Brookfield noted that some other Portland property owners have taken similar measures without asking permission. "It is our understanding rolling steel security doors have been installed unapproved at other properties in downtown Portland," the company's architect wrote.

BDS officials were unmoved. Pioneer Place, at 700 SW 5th Ave., falls in what the city calls a "design overlay zone."

That and other factors triggered an automatic trip to the Design Review Commission.

"Because these security gates would change the exterior appearance of a building located downtown and in a design overlay zone, and based on the valuation of the project provided by applicant, the proposed addition of those gates would need to go through a Type III land use review," says BDS spokesman Ken Ray.

After Brookfield submitted its permit application Jan. 28, Ray says bureau officials have 21 days to review the application for sufficiency. When BDS says the application is complete—many are not on the first try—a public hearing in front of the Design Review Commission must happen within 51 days. Should the commission reject the changes, Brookfield can appeal to the City Council.

That adds another three weeks, bringing the possible length of approval for the gates to 103 days—early May, in other words.

That timeline irks major downtown property owners, who are already disconsolate about customers disappearing during COVID-19, leaving their storefronts to be used for target practice.

"It is self-evident that a security gate shouldn't trigger a 100-plus-day land use review, particularly during this period of crisis," says Vanessa Sturgeon, CEO of TMT Development, which owns Fox Tower and Park Avenue West, among other buildings.

Jim Mark, CEO of the Melvin Mark Companies, another major downtown property owner, supports the city's design review process, which he says preserves the aesthetics of downtown. But like Sturgeon, he'd like to see the city speed up approval so that retailers feel comfortable and the plywood can come down.

"I believe in design review, but extreme times require extreme measures," Mark says.

Peter Finley Fry, a planning consultant who has shepherded numerous projects through the city's permitting process, says the rules are a function of state law and don't allow for much flexibility. He says over the past two decades, his experience has been that design review can take even longer than the city's timeline because questions from city staff and the commission stop the clock for resolution.

"If I were involved, I might suggest the applicant just go ahead and build it," Fry says. "To be honest, people regularly do that outside of downtown."

Ray, the BDS spokesman, agrees there's not a lot of flexibility. "If the owner were not making changes to the exterior of the building, if the project was of a lower valuation [below $481,300], or if the applicant were adding security gates inside the building, it would not trigger this type of land use review," Ray says.

Fry notes that in rare cases, the council can ram through land use decisions under emergency ordinances.

Sturgeon and others hope BDS Commissioner Dan Ryan will do just that.

"This is actually a great opportunity for the city to demonstrate to brick-and-mortar retailers, employers and visitors that they are willing to prioritize what is necessary to get downtown on a path to recovery," Sturgeon says. "Dan Ryan's office was recently made aware of this issue, and I have every confidence that he will approach it with the common sense with which he approaches everything in his purview."

Mark Bond, an aide to Ryan, says the commissioner's staff met with Brookfield last week and is researching next steps, although Bond notes that Ryan wants to be sure Brookfield doesn't get special treatment just because of its size and location.

"We are consulting the City Attorney's Office to determine what potential options are and don't have enough information yet to determine that," Bond says.

The city's largest business lobby group, however, says fast-tracking Brookfield's application should be a no-brainer.

"Simple things like rolling gates are normal building amenities in larger cities for safety and functionality," says Andrew Hoan, CEO of the Portland Business Alliance. "Getting issues like this resolved quickly is critical to helping Portland inch back towards a new normal and safely on the road to reopening."