By Elliot Njus

The Oregonian

An 11-story timber high-rise planned in Portland’s Pearl District has been approved for construction, its developers said Tuesday, a milestone for wood technology that could allow for even taller timber buildings.

At 148 feet, the Framework building will be the nation’s first high-rise building made of wood. It will house offices for Albina Community Bank and its parent, Beneficial State Bank, as well as subsidized apartments.

Construction is expected to begin in the fall at the southeast corner of Northwest 10th Avenue and Glisan Street.

Oregon officials have high hopes for the wood technologies used in the building. They hope it can bring new jobs to the state’s flagging timber industry.

One of them, cross-laminated timber, is primarily manufactured in Europe and Canada. But the Framework building will source many of its CLT panels from D.R. Johnson Lumber Co. in Douglas County.

The state building codes division, rather than Portland building officials, awarded the construction permit. The state has invested thousands of dollars promoting CLT, including a $150,000 grant to help D.R. Johnson build its manufacturing line.

And researchers at Portland State University and Oregon State University conducted seismic tests to validate the building’s structural design.

Other tests examined the building’s ability to maintain its structure during a fire, a key condition for a high-rise construction permit.

A $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Softwood Lumber Board, and the Binational Softwood Lumber Council helped pay for the testing.