Located at the corner of West Portal Avenue and Vicente Street, 85 West Portal reimagines the site of the former Empire Theater as a mixed-use residential development. The project will include 172 rental homes across 12 stories, including 26 below-market-rate residences, with approximately 7,000 square feet of ground floor retail.

The architecture breaks the building into a composition of distinct volumes rather than presenting a monolithic façade. Warm terracotta-toned and light neutral wings frame a more transparent central volume, creating depth, shadow, and a varied silhouette while giving each portion of the building its own identity. At street level, the design emphasizes transparent storefronts, a clearly defined residential entry, landscaping, and finely scaled architectural detailing. The base also engages the history of the site: the original Portal Theatre opened here in 1925, designed by San Francisco architect Irving Morrow, and the new design incorporates portions of the former theater frontage while reinterpreting decorative elements associated with the adjoining historic commercial block.