PORTLAND, Ore. – A four-story mixed use building that would require demolition of several one-story buildings is in its planning stage in the Multnomah neighborhood of Southwest Portland by a developer working on several other multifamily housing projects around the city.
The buildings to be demolished are located near the intersection of Southwest 33rd Avenue and Capitol Highway in the Multnomah Village district.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
A one-story building at 7707 SW Capitol Highway houses the Children’s Program, a diagnostic and treatment clinic for young people. Built in 1973, the structure totals 5,600 square feet.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
A large portion of the building appears to be an addition to a smaller 2,000-square-foot building constructed two years prior.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
To the west of the medical building is a one-story single-family residence at 7731 SW Capitol Highway. At 864 square feet in size, the home was built in 1922.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
City and county records list both buildings as owned by Ocean Parkway LLC and Talbot II LLC, both of which are registered to Gary Kahn. There are no recent sales listings for the properties.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
However, a “company introduction” document produced by developer Urban Asset Advisors, registered to Tim O’Brien, states the development company has site control of the property, generally indicating ownership or an agreement for pending ownership, and that a redevelopment project is being proposed.
The development, which carries a budget of roughly $14 million with an expected delivery date in 2017, is proposed to rise four stories high with upper floor residential units and ground floor retail space.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Rendering by Urban Asset Advisors
“The retail will compliment (sic) the older ‘main street’ retail that exists currently, and provide outdoor dining and sidewalk energy to the street,” the document states. “The Multnomah Village neighborhood is currently extremely underserved for multifamily product. Nicer existing apartments have been converted to condos an what remains is C-class apartments outside the core of the neighborhood.”
The document also cites the conversion of single-family homes in the neighborhood into retail businesses as evidence that retail demand is high enough to warrant the development, which will favor demolition of existing structures over that type of adaptive reuse.
While the city has not yet received any applications related to the development, O’Brien presented the company’s plans at a Multnomah Neighborhood Association meeting last month and gave attendees an idea of the scope of the project.
According to the neighborhood association the development is proposed to include 71 residential units. Plans from the developer show a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments included in the development, as well as two ground-floor retail spaces. The plans also suggest there will be roughly 43 to 60 parking spaces onsite.
The development proposal has riled the surrounding neighborhood and received a large amount of attention, evidenced by the reported 150 people present at the June neighborhood association meeting.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
It has also become the subject of a petition asking City Council to limit the scale of the building to two or three stories and require one parking space per unit, which is higher than the .33 spaces per unit required for developments with more than 50 units.
“The justification for insufficient parking is that new residents will not own cars, but the rate of car ownership for renters in Multnomah is 1.4 cars/unit,” the petition states. “The east side of Portland is bicycle friendly with relatively flat, gridded terrain and numerous bicycle greenways. In contrast, SW Portland is hilly, has disconnected streets and no bicycle greenways, and is not well-served by mass transit at off-peak times. There is no grocery store in the neighborhood. The reality is that residents will own cars and need somewhere to park them.”
The four-story height brought up concerns that the building will appear out-of-scale with its surroundings. Directly to the west is a two-story commercial building, while to the north is a one-story warehouse.
Commercial building to the west. Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
One-story building to the north visible behind medical building. Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
That petition has received more than 1,500 signatures in the month since its creation.
The July Multnomah Neighborhood Association meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. July 14 at the Multnomah Arts Center. An open discussion on future development in Multnomah Village is on the agenda.
In addition to this upcoming project Urban Asset Advisors is in the process of demolishing a 1902 single-family home on Southeast Division Street for a three-story 14-unit apartment complex. A six-story mixed-use building in the Buckman neighborhood of Southeast Portland is also approaching completion located in, as project contractor Bremik Construction calls it, “the heart of Portland’s new hipster LoBu neighborhood.”