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Originally Posted by maccoinnich
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By: Garrett Andrews in Real Estate and Development October 19, 2015 1:24 pm
The Portland Housing Bureau has selected a nonprofit developer’s proposal for construction of a new building with at least 40 units of affordable housing on city-owned land in one of Portland’s most upscale neighborhoods.
Innovative Housing Inc. has a plan calling for 15 three-bedroom units, 15 two-bedroom units and 10 studios on vacant property at Northwest 14th and Raleigh Street in the Pearl District.
Seventy-five percent of the building’s units would be for Portland’s lowest-income households (those with incomes under 30 percent of the median family income, or $22,050 for a family of four), according to Housing Bureau spokeswoman Martha Calhoon. The targeted families would be those that are homeless or at risk of homelessness, she said.
“Achieving that level of affordability in a project is significant, particularly in an area where developable land is getting increasingly hard to acquire,” she said.
The city this past spring bought the quarter-block property from Hoyt Street Properties for $1.3 million – below market rate – after the developer came up short of an affordable housing development target in the Pearl District. Construction of the new building is expected to start in 2017.
As proposed, the building would be six to nine stories and have ground-floor common areas and outdoor play areas. The common areas would include a community room, indoor play areas, a laundry facility and on-site support services for residents.
The building could end up with more than 40 affordable units, Calhoon said.
“There are some opportunities to maximize density,” she said.
The effort is consistent with the “Home for Everyone” plan supported by the Portland City Council and Multnomah County commissioners. Mayor Charlie Hales and Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman have pushed the council to declare a state of emergency and worked up proposals to shelter the city’s estimated 4,000 homeless people.
The Pearl District, a former industrial area full of warehouses and rail yards, was targeted for urban renewal beginning in the late 1980s. Today it’s home to many upscale art galleries and restaurants, as well as substantial high-end housing. Between the 2000 and 2010 U.S. censuses, the neighborhood saw 551 percent growth in housing units.
Since the mid-1990s, the city has had a goal of Pearl District residential development including 35 percent affordable units. The Lovejoy Station Apartments, Sitka Apartments, Ramona Apartments and Pearl Court all contribute to that effort. The six-story Abigail building, which will have more than 100 affordable units, is nearly finished at the north end of the district.
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