Last month, the new owners of 416 SE 86th Ave submitted building permits for twelve Townhouses located one house north of SE Stark Street. The property is twelve feet short of a double-wide lot and currently hosts a 1947 era single-family residence. Montavilla 86 LLC bought the property in July of this year.

At 88 feet wide by 111 feet deep, this lot is not quite the width of other similar developments in the area. Accommodating twelve units will require an innovative configuration. However, the Montavilla Courtyard Condominium project seven blocks away at 7707 SE Alder Street created such a development. That housing complex accommodates twelve townhouse-style units split between two structures. The architect used a staggered townhouse depth to create a layered front alignment. It maximized window space for the middle homes and carved out a shared courtyard in the center of the site. The result obscures the actual unit count and creates unit diversity between neighbors.

Documents revealing the proposed design for SE 86th Ave are not yet available for review. Design Creativity could make the project an appealing addition to the neighborhood. The property sits on the divide-line between commercial buildings and residential streets. Each townhouse will stand two stories tall, and developers have not proposed any onsite parking for this development.

Many projects like this have submitted building permits over the last 18 months, but very few have broken ground. High building material costs and labor shortages have hurt the construction industry. Work on this project is likely over a year away and could change between now and then. Portland needs more housing, and smaller homes are what people can afford in the current market. Hopefully, this project will use creative design to minimize the appearance of density while providing twelve times the housing currently available at this address.

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Assigned addresses for the new homes replacing 416 SE 86th Ave: 370 SE 86th Ave, 372 SE 86th Ave, 374 SE 86th Ave, 376 SE 86th Ave, 378 SE 86th Ave, 380 SE 86th Ave, 384 SE 86th Ave, 386 SE 86th Ave, 388 SE 86th Ave, 390 SE 86th Ave, 392 SE 86th Ave, and 394 SE 86th Ave