COLAB's Engberg has mixed feelings about Centennial Mills
Leader of Pearl District architecture firm is guardedly optimistic about plans for the site
COLAB Architecture + Urban Design’s office sits inside a ground floor condominium at the Vista located in the Pearl’s quieter north end.
The firm, led by Mark Engberg, has designed contemporary, high-concept buildings in Dubai and Cairo, as well as Portland buildings such as the Willamette Sailing Club facility on the river’s east bank. Tube and the Agency Sports Bar, both now closed, were also COLAB bar/restaurant projects.
Engberg affectionately calls COLAB “the weirdest little architecture firm” in town. For example, it’s currently working on a high-efficiency greenhouse run by robots, a kind of large-scale salad center. As climate change destabilizes the food supply, farms sited close to cities will be needed to grow lettuces and other vegetables. The Netherlands is the global hub for this type of all-mechanical, year-round farming; the greenhouse COLAB is designing will be located in the United States.
Engberg was asked what he thought about the long-awaited development plans for Centennial Mills.
“Not bad. Not great,” he said. “At least these are mid-rise buildings and not high-rises. But what a boondoggle the city sold it for a song.”
Still, something at this location is better than nothing, he said, and because the developers plan to provide a landing for a foot bridge to connect the Fields Park to the waterfront, it’s a win for Portlanders.
During Covid, Engberg and his wife designed and built a house at Arch Cape on the Oregon Coast, where they live part time. They’re also working on a two-story building with apartments on Manzanita’s main drag, Laneda Avenue.
He notes the thrift store prices for Portland’s iconic buildings as a worrisome sign for the local economy. Portland’s U.S. Bankcorp Tower, or Big Pink, cost only $45 a square foot. “And they threw in an 11-story parking lot for free,” he said.
Another example is the Hugh Stubbins-designed 30-floor PacWest Center that sold for $55 million or $102 a square foot. A steal even in a downturn. To compare, Engberg said, “a very basic stick house would cost about $300-$350 a square foot.”
The next question for Portland will be how to convert empty offices into housing if people aren’t returning to their offices more regularly. The absence of people numbs the city while small businesses and civic life suffers, he said.
“It’s so boring. People staying in all day long on computers ordering from Amazon in their pajamas,” Engberg said.
Take the space next door to COLAB as an example. It’s been used as storage by an out of business French furniture retailer and has been collecting dust since before Covid.
“People wander in and ask about it, though,” Engberg said.