Who’s moving into the nation’s tallest timber building? Portlanders with lofty dreams (photos)

Neighbors Holly Poupore and Dennis Laird have different needs for a home, and yet they have this in common: They added ease to their life by moving into new condos, one facing east, one facing west, that flex to their wants, tastes and desires.

They were one of the first residents of Carbon 12, an eight-story, glass-and-wood building in Northeast Portland’s expanding Mississippi District.

The handsome structure, on the corner of well-traveled North Williams Avenue and Northeast Fremont Street, is the nation’s tallest mass timber building. The innovative use of thick panels of cross-laminated timber — CLT — attached to glulam columns and beams may be revolutionizing the building industry as plywood did a century ago.

Environmentalists like that renewable wood stores carbon rather than generates it. Builders say wood has been engineered to have the strength of steel. Condo owners say their wood ceilings and floors look good, smell good and feel good.

That’s not the only distinctive feature at Carbon 12: An automated, underground parking valet retrieves cars with the swipe of a fob. “It’s like living in the future,” says Laird. Bike storage lets some owners zip down the Williams corridor to join the cycling commuter convoy.

And, unlike other condos, visitors don’t knock on a resident’s front door. Instead, they ring the owner from the lobby and when the elevators doors open after the ride up, they’re inside the foyer of one of the 14 homes.

Erin Livengood of Windermere Realty Trust has sold six condos at Carbon 12. She says each buyer has traded in an older, single-family house to move into an urban aerie.

“People are curious about the environmental aspects of wood. Cross-laminated timber is new and interesting and techy, and people like that,” she says. “But buyers are mostly looking for a lifestyle change. Living here, owners tell me, makes them feel like they’re on vacation.”

The condos have a kitchen that opens to a large living area that can be divided into rooms or left as is. Livengood says a single person may want to keep the loft-like space while a couple who works from home might build out a second bedroom and an office.

The floor plan was designed so it can evolve over time, as needs change. Walls can go up or come down.

All the condos are about 1,600 square feet and have a master suite, two bathrooms and a long, covered balcony that can seat eight people for dinner. Upper floor condos start at $925,000. Penthouses with a 365-square-foot roof deck are $1,295,000.

Buyers work with Carbon 12’s construction team to modify their condo. “It’s not a custom home,” says Livengood, “but we make every effort to provide changes.”

Pioneering timber buildings

Carbon 12 was designed, developed and built by Ben Kaiser of PATH Architecture and Kaiser Group Inc., using CLT panels made by Structurlam.

Kaiser, whose timber office building is kitty-corner to Carbon 12, is committed to CLT, which is made by layering timber from sustainably managed forests in alternating directions and bonding the pieces together with glue, heat and pressure.

The large, prefabricated panels, which can be 16 inches thick, are faster to install at the site than concrete and steel, reducing time and building costs. Research shows that the massive laminated panels retain their structural integrity in a fire longer than traditional stick-frame buildings.

Architect magazine cites a May 2018 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Products Laboratory showing that CLT structures provide more protection against fire than required by code.

Says Kaiser: Carbon 12 is the most environmentally advanced, seismically prepared and technologically sophisticated residential project in the United States.

Oregon BEST, a state-funded nonprofit that supports clean technology innovation, and builder industry leaders see advanced wood products as a path to creating jobs and adding to the state’s timber heritage.

This next generation of wood innovators follow in the footsteps of pioneers like Thomas Autzen, who introduced three-ply panels of Douglas fir veneer at the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, forever changing the building, door and cabinet industries.

Inside her new home, Holly Poupore not only appreciates that her space is “bright and beautiful,” but its success could lead to more low carbon construction. “It’s exciting to be a part of something that is, in a small way, actually helping with the climate issues of the world, or at least not making them worse,” she says.

Poupore points out that the wood floors muffle the sound of footsteps and energy-efficient glass walls block street noise. When rolled up, window blinds allow her to see the West Hills and passersby on the street.

“I enjoy it when people wave up at me,” she says. “It’s fun and makes me feel like I’m closer to the world around me somehow, especially compared to my old house where I looked out at an empty house next door or a beautiful, but very quiet yard and garden.”

Living in a timber building

Poupore is happy in her new home, which she has furnished in a traditional way with Tiffany-style lamps and brown leather ottomans. Before she moved here in June, she had four doors taken down and some counters, cabinets and fixtures modified to accommodate her power wheelchair.

Having a private elevator stop is important to Poupore for more than its cool cachet. Visitors in the lobby notify her when they want to see her, which gives her a sense of security.

The elevator helps her in another way: It takes her downstairs to the sidewalk, where she can cross the street to shop at New Seasons Market or meet neighbors at nearby restaurants. “I’m a big foodie,” says Poupore, who was an account executive in the food industry. Recently, she took a cooking class a block away at Hipcooks.

Poupore, who needs a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury, says she could only use the first floor of her former, three-story house in Northeast Portland’s Concordia neighborhood. She also had to be driven to most activities.

“Since I was injured in a car accident, the car is not my favorite place to be,” she says. “I’m far more comfortable spending time here.”

There’s an urgent care facility across the street if she has a health issue. “And I have my community of great friends in the building willing to help if I needed it,” she says. “All of that combined gives me a lot of peace of mind, which has allowed me much more independence and freedom.”

All of Carbon 12 condos have universal design features like wide hallways and doors, easy access around the kitchen island and flat hardwood floors.

Poupore’s master suite is on one side of the open living area and on the other side is a guest bedroom with a nearby bathroom.

She has tinted glass room dividers between the spare bedroom and an area with a desk used by her caregivers. The dividers can be locked closed, separating the rooms, or unlocked and opened to easily move between the two spaces.

Her favorite place to relax is the south-facing, sun-bathed balcony. She can sit outside, listening to music and taking in the seasonal landscape, or watch people and cars go by. Friends settle into cheerful yellow and chartreuse colored chair cushions when they visit.

Poupore enjoyed the patio at her old house, so having one here was a deciding factor when she purchased the condo. “It’s perfect,” she says.  

Neighbors Dennis Laird and John Posey moved into an east-side Carbon 12 condo in May.

Like Poupore, they wanted to make their lives easier. They traded in their 1928 Mediterranean house with a garden and pool on a hillside in the Alameda-Beaumont neighborhood for a carefree, turn-key condo.

“We go away for the weekend and when we return, it’s just as we left it,” with no leaves in the yard, nothing to repair, says Laird, a real estate broker with Windermere Realty Trust, who considered himself a “never-condo” kind of guy.

But now, he thrives in his elevated home, thanks to tons of light and a spacious balcony. “All the stars lined up,” he says, “for us to be here.”

Posey, a hairstylist at Pigment Salon in downtown Portland, replaced their old furniture — like a semi-circular sofa that fronted a bay window — with glamorous, modern pieces for their new home.

One seating area has white leather Barcelona chairs and an Art Deco white lacquer credenza that looks straight out of a Jean Harlow movie. A round wood table with claw-foot legs is surrounded by clear Philippe Starck ghost chairs. Hanging from the wood ceiling is a classic Italian glass chandelier in brilliant red.

“We were creating a whole new lifestyle for us,” says Laird, standing with Posey in their living room on a Sunday afternoon. A few hours before, they were at the coast with their dog, Rumi.

They spent 15 years renovating their previous property. Now they have weekends free to travel or, like Poupore, take full advantage of cafes near their new home.

When they run out of milk, it’s a dash down the elevator to the market. OnPoint Community Credit Union is opening a branch on the ground-floor retail space. Laird jokes that he can do his banking quickly and without getting wet.

After almost six months of condo living, they say there’s more time to relax and spend time together and with friends.

“Instead of mowing the lawn, pulling weeds and watering, we’re walking the dog and having a beer on the street,” says Laird.

They’re saving more than time. Their electricity bill is a fraction of what they were paying — $58 instead of $350 a month at their previous home.

They’re also saving on commuting expenses: They sold one of their two cars since more of what they need is within walking distance. For longer journeys, they can use Car2go, scooters or bikes.

Changing their lifestyle, they say, was easier than they thought it would be and surprisingly much more rewarding.

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Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072jeastman@oregonian.com