A 17-STORY HIGHRISE WILL SOAR OVER THE BURNSIDE BRIDGEHEAD

The Eastside skyline keeps climbing higher.Portland’s Design Review committee has approved another massive high-rise project at the east end of the Burnside Bridge, a 17-story mixed-use building called 5 MLK. It’ll be constructed on the site of the old Fishel’s furniture space just across the street from the 21-story Yard and the Fair-Haired Dumbell. The blog Next Portland was the first to report the approved plans.The new project will be only one of many projects changing the entire human landscape on the east side of the Willamette–rapidly transforming Portland into a city with skylines on both sides of the river. Other large projects approved along the Burnside corridor include the forthcoming avant-bulbous Jupiter Hotel expansion, and the six-story Burnside Delta that will loom over Michael’s Italian Beef at Southeast Sandy Boulevard and 12th Avenue.But the 5 MLK project–designed by Chicago’s GREC Architects for Portland developer Gerding Edlen–will be the tallest piece of skyline alongside the Yard, cut into multi-level terraces and horseshoed blocks of glass. For those keeping track of Portland’s dwindling parking options, there will also be space for 158 cars and 334 bicycles. There will also be a yoga studio, a rooftop pool and ground-level retail.