New Pearl center in Portland designed to meet creative need

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Jun 13, 2007 by Alison Ryan

New places to live and work have popped up across Portland - and the boom is one of the reasons local interior designers say a design center planned for the Pearl District will meet a big need in the city.

"Just think about all the building that's going on," Portland interior designer Kimberlee Jaynes said. "Look at the waterfront alone - all those places have to be decorated."

Portland developer Stark Group LLC is planning Pearl Design Center, expected to be a mix of showrooms and studios, for the three buildings that occupy the full block between Northwest 14th and 15th avenues and Northwest Raleigh and Savier streets.

The 65-showroom Seattle Design Center, established in 1973, is the design marketplace closest to Portland - as well as the only design center that serves the Pacific Northwest and western Canada.

And it's realistic, Seattle Design Center spokesman Craig Cross said, to expect a design center in Portland will impact business in Seattle.

"It doesn't mean (Oregon demand) entirely goes away," he said, "but it may change a bit when there becomes a more locally available resource."

Seattle Design Center's showrooms - as well as other uses like offices, a restaurant and cafe and event space - fill 360,000 square feet. Showrooms represent a mix of national and Seattle-area design lines, Cross said, with about 3,000 total product lines in areas from furniture to floor coverings to lighting and millwork.

Pearl Design Center will be, at least initially, much smaller. The three buildings add up to about 32,500 square feet, with room for 10 to 15 tenants. But Stark Group is in the process of purchasing two more properties within blocks of the planned center, Tami Wood of Stark Group said, and "if this launches like we think it will, we're talking about making those part of the Pearl Design Center."

Seattle Design Center's database of 16,000 professionals, Cross said, includes 782 designers with Portland ZIP codes. Janyes, for one, takes clients on trips to Seattle about three times a year.

"People want to sit on things," she said. "They want to feel the fabrics; they want to touch the textures."

Exactly what the Pearl Design Center will become depends on future tenants. The Seattle Design Center serves mostly professionals, with public hours limited to 1 to 5 p.m. weekdays. Stark Group doesn't plan to limit tenants to trade-only or retail- only, Wood said, and whether business owners have a public element or not is their decision.

"But we definitely want to keep it to showrooms or design industry spaces," she said, "whether it be flooring, fixtures, lighting, etcetera or studios."

Whether the center will become a full-scale resource - like Seattle Design Center - for events, designer connections, learning and information is still being figured out, Wood said, and will also depend on future tenants.

As Pearl Design Center's first tenant, Beverly Landfair expects great things. She and husband Michael moved Landfair Furniture and Design Gallery in March to its space at 1636 N.W. 15th Ave., she said, in part because the space is bigger and located more conveniently than her old spot on Macadam Avenue. But she also saw designer-attracting businesses like fabric and furniture maker Kravet and textile supplier Goldsmith Co. congregating in the area.

"I thought, hey, man, we can start a design district," she said. "It seems like the right thing to do, moving in this direction."

There's no guarantee, she said, the Pearl Design Center will be a success. But if businesses like wholesalers of carpet, stone, tile, lighting, fixtures - even furniture, she said, if it's in a different capacity than Landfair - move in, the center will take off.

"When you have a Mecca to make it easier for interior designers," she said, "instead of them having to go in four directions of the city ... it's just a lot more convenient."