Month: November 2024

Community, Entertainment, Event, Food and Drink November 30, 2024

Montavilla’s December Holidays Celebration

Starting this December, the Montavilla business community will launch into a month-long celebration of the Winter holidays. Businesses and organizations will offer a mix of giving opportunities while encouraging people to support their community through shopping locally. Even without spending money, people can participate through two free events offered on SE Stark Street to get into the seasonal mood with friends and neighbors.

Next Saturday, the Montavilla East Tabor Business Association (METBA) will host its Tree Lighting in the public plaza at SE 79th Avenue and Stark Street. The tree lighting ceremony will take place on December 7th from 4 to 6 p.m. Organizers will light up the Montavilla holiday tree at 5 p.m. and serve hot cocoa while supplies last. Participants can enjoy community cheer and seasonal music as they start the countdown to the new year.

A week later, on December 14th, people can gather for a free Santa picture event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Board Bard Games. The gaming shop at 7960 SE Stark Street will offer an opportunity to take a seasonal family picture with Santa. People waiting for their turn to pose with the jolly icon can partake in hot cocoa and other treats. The organizers remind people to bring their own cameras to capture the moment.

Shopping locally is essential to maintaining a strong community, and METBA wants to reward those who help keep Montavilla thriving. From December 1st through the 21st, people who eat, drink, shop, and recreate at participating businesses will earn raffle entries through completed passports. Every qualifying purchase of $5 or more from the list of locations earns a sticker to go inside a passport. Participating businesses will have passports to get people started, and collecting six stickers completes a passport. Each entry increases your odds of winning the raffle, and there is no limit to the number of passports a person can complete. To enter, drop off completed passports at Redwood at 7915 SE Stark Street or Arbor Hall at 7907 SE Stark Street by the close of business on December 21st.

As a bonus, purchases made during the Merry Montavilla Soiree on December 21st earn participants two stickers for their passports. The Soiree is a one-day event full of special offers and discounts to help last-minute shoppers and Portlanders looking for a special night out.

Many Montavilla shops are embracing the giving season with a donation drive. Participating businesses will collect Adult-sized jackets or coats, warm hats, gloves, scarves, hand warmers, and sleeping bags for Rahab’s Sisters. The organization’s beneficiaries will appreciate those new and gently used items during the cold weather. Rahab’s Sisters have a particular need for plus-size or extended-size donations. Participating locations are listed on the METBA website.

Montavilla Brew Works at 7805 SE Stark Street will host a special Giving Tuesday event on December 3rd, supporting Cultivate Initiatives. Giving Tuesday follows the busy seasonal shopping days and encourages people to support local organizations supporting positive change in their communities. Michael Kora from Montavilla Brew Works explained that his company has a long relationship with Cultivate Initiatives’ leadership, which has grown into the brewery’s expanded support of the group’s efforts. “Over the years, we’ve spearheaded a winter clothing donation drive in the neighborhood that directly supports the more marginalized people in our neighborhood and beyond. With its success during the winter season, we eventually just made it an all-year-long donation drive.”

*_{Graphic courtesy Montavilla Brew Works}*

Montavilla Brew Works’ Giving Tuesday event runs from 5 to 8 p.m., and donators will receive $1 off their first beverage. People should bring new or gently used warm clothing. They will also accept new underwear, socks, pet food, and hygiene products. Briel’s Barbecue popup will sell food at the event, but Kora noted the BBQ food often sells out and recommends people stop by early. This event is limited to people 21 or older, and organizers hope people will have a good time while supporting a cause they care about.

Once again, Montavilla businesses are doing what they can to celebrate the winter through giving and creating a space for people to enjoy the company of their community.

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account for monthly support or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.

Property Sale November 27, 2024

Unique SE Division Mixed-Use Property for Sale

Recently, the owners of the wedge-shaped property at 7910 SE Division Street listed the two-storefront and single residence for sale. The triangular 1966-era cement-block building follows the angle created by SE Division’s curved alignment at SE 82nd Avenue. The property sells with two long-term commercial tenants, but one of those businesses has left its store vacant for almost two years.

The westward-facing retail space leased by Cookies Rose City Dispensary closed for construction in January 2023 and has not reopened. In October 2023, crews completed repair work caused by a vehicle collision and cleaned up the chaotic parking lot that featured a smashed security car. The 9,000-square-foot property is zoned Commercial Mixed Use 2, allowing a new owner to create up to four stories of mixed-use redevelopment. The property sits across the street from Portland Community College’s Southeast Campus and is within blocks of some of the best transit connections in the city, making it an ideal location for housing.

The building, as currently configured, offers a century-old design for commercial property. The three-bedroom, 1,294-square-foot, top-floor apartment creates an opportunity for a family to live above their small business. This once common practice for storefront design changed with post-war zoning that mostly separated residential and commercial development. However, for some family-run business owners, having quick access to work from home lets people balance competing responsibilities.

The space held by the inactive Cookies Dispensary was once a corner market and later a cafe. A return of an active general-purpose storefront at that location would benefit the growing number of nearby residences looking for more options west of SE 82nd Avenue and the college students looking for a walkable off-campus excursion.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Community, Government, Services November 26, 2024February 3, 2025

1818 SE 82nd Village-style Shelter Meeting

The Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) will hold a community meeting on December 5th to present information on a new alternative shelter planned for the former RV sales lot at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue. This site is the second location purchased by Multnomah County in Montavilla as a shelter site. Montavilla News first reported on the County’s purchase of the two properties in 2022, and crews working for the JOHS are currently building the Oak Street Village at 333 SE 82nd Avenue.

*_{Harrison Birds Eye View titled image courtesy JOHS}*

This proposed shelter at SE 82nd Avenue and Mill Street is just 15 blocks south of the site under construction. Several JOHS documents refer to the site as Harrison Village. However, County staff changed the working title for Oak Street Village during community engagement, and the Harrison Village name could be a placeholder. JOHS plans to install 38 sleeping pods and larger portable units that will house showers, bathrooms, kitchenette space, and a laundry facility for residents. Like other shelters of this type, outreach specialists refer people into this temporary housing, and residents receive case management with the support necessary to move into more stable housing.

JOHS staff anticipate that this second County-owned Montavilla shelter will begin serving unhoused community members in late 2025. Organizers ask that people RSVP for the 6 p.m. meeting that will take place within the Montavilla United Methodist Church at 232 SE 80th Avenue. Attendees will learn more about the JOHS plan for the site and have the opportunity to provide feedback about the project’s design layout. The hour-and-a-half meeting should conclude around 7:30 p.m. People interested in staying informed but unable to attend the Thursday night gathering can follow the JOHS site for details.

Article and Photos by

Jacob Loeb

Community November 25, 2024

Red Shed Trees Returns with Early Sales

Red Shed Christmas Trees will officially reopen its seasonal Montavillage location in the Vinje & Son’s parking lot near SE 78th Avenue and Washington Street on November 29th after the Thanksgiving holiday. However, shoppers looking to beat the rush can find a wide selection of Douglas, Nordmann, Grand, and Noble Fir trees by shopping early, as long as they do not mind dodging staff setting up the lot. Trees selection ranges from tabletop two-foot decorations to 15-foot tall trees, including potted live trees. Shoppers can buy wreaths, garlands, and other decorations to extend their holiday decor. Owner Lesle Janssen has once again brought in local artists and makers to sell their crafts at a gift boutique located at the southeast corner of the property.

*_{Red Shed staff are still setting up but people can shop for trees now}*

All Red Shed trees come from Greg Smith’s Molalla Tree Farms, where they locally harvested them with minimal pesticides. With 200 acres of naturally grown product, Janssen values the dependable relationship with the Molalla, Oregon, grower. “I really like Greg. He puts a lot of love into his trees. He has many different fields to choose from. So when there’s a hot summer. There’s a blight. There’s this. There’s that. He still has things to choose from, so we’re always getting good trees,” said Janssen.

As with previous years, Red Shed Trees is cash only to keep their prices low and maintain a respectful salary for the seasonal staff. That saves processing fees and reduces the payment bottleneck that complicates checkout. Lesle Janssen often makes space in her tree lot for free festive activities. As in previous years, Peter McNamee Photography provided Mount Hood and Crater Lake shots on massive backdrops for people to pose against for free self-service portraits.

*_{David Kelly and Lesle Janssen in Seasonal Boutique stand 2023}*

McNamee is a Montavilla resident and one of the vendors selling their works in the boutique. The pottery and soaps from Shane Reaney Studios will also return to the holiday supply booth. For those looking for a mood-setting addition to their centerpiece, Hannah Miller sells distinctive beeswax candles through her company, Waxing & Raining Handmade Goods. The boutique will also carry pocket mistletoe, felted and crocheted. Sugar pinecones are the newest addition to the holiday decorating options sold by Red Shed. Janssen described them as “huge and off the hook.” Shoppers can also purchase confections made by McTavish Shortbread for an edible treat while supplies last. These baked-to-order items are a special treat rarely available in small quantities and often sell out, but Janssen plans to have a good supply this year.

Red Shed Christmas Trees is open during setup and will remain open until they run out of stock. People can visit the lot daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., with an additional hour in the evening on Fridays and Saturdays. They have both standard wreaths and hard-to-find juniper wreaths. Garland is sold by the foot, up to 75 feet long, and customers needing to buy a stand or arrange delivery also have options. Red Shed is a Montavilla tradition, serving 3,000 residents each year, and they are the official supplier of the community Holiday Tree installed in the Public Plaza at SE 79th Avenue and Stark Street. The tree-lighting ceremony will take place on Saturday, December 7th, from 4 to 6 p.m. Organizers will light up the Montavilla Plaza Christmas tree at 5 p.m.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.

Community November 24, 2024

Kay Toran’s VOA Oregon Legacy

Volunteers of America Oregon (VOA Oregon) recently announced its President and CEO, Kay Toran, will retire in the first quarter of 2025. For over 25 years, she led the 128-year-old social services and community support organization as the first Black woman to serve in that role. Toran was instrumental in VOA Oregon’s purchase of a NE Glisan and 90th Avenue property that will host a new campus and treatment center. Her quarter-century of leadership will have a lasting impact on Oregon and the Montavilla neighborhood long after she completes her work with VOA Oregon.

Toran’s career included several management positions in the State of Oregon, culminating in six years as the Director of Oregon’s Child Welfare Agency and seven years as the Director of Oregon’s Affirmative Action Office. She received the Portland State University Center for Women’s Leadership Power Lunch 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award and the CEO of the Year for Non-Profits from the Portland Business Journal. A Portland native, she graduated from the University of Portland with a BA in Sociology and Psychology. Later, Toran attended Portland State University, earning an MSW from the School of Social Work, and later joined the educational institution as an Assistant Professor of Social Work.

*_{Looking Northwest at future NE Glisan site. Rendering by Opsis Architecture provided courtesy VOA Oregon}*

Kay Toran is known for leading VOA Oregon in innovative new directions that better serve the community. She has expanded programs addressing addiction recovery, reentry services, domestic and sexual violence, and early childhood education. Her efforts to create a new six-acre campus at 8815 NE Glisan Street will significantly enhance the organization’s capabilities, consolidating administrative services and some of its substance use, behavioral health, and childcare services onto a long-dormant church property.

Organization leaders and the VOA Oregon board are committed to seeing the Montavilla project continue to fruition. VOA Oregon will announce details regarding the transition to new leadership in the coming months. The organization is actively working with a recruiting partner to find a new leader whose vision for the services provider can continue the growth trajectory that Toran enabled. VOA Oregon will host a retirement celebration for Kay Toran on March 6, 2025, paying tribute to her life’s work. The celebration will recognize her advocacy for underserved populations, which focused on addiction treatment and support for women in crisis.

Jacob Loeb

Title image of VOA Oregon’s President and CEO Kay Toran provided courtesy of Volunteers of America Oregon

Community, Transportation November 22, 2024November 22, 2024

New TriMet Transit Mobility Facility Honors Jan Campbell

On November 19th, TriMet publicly unveiled its new transit mobility facility in a naming ceremony that honored transit accessibility advocate Jan Campbell for her decades of service and dedication. Starting Monday, November 25th, people will begin attending the new Jan Campbell Transit Mobility Center in the Lloyd neighborhood to interview and confirm eligibility for TriMet LIFT Paratransit Service.

As with TriMet’s current Mobility Center located on NW 5th Avenue and Davis Street, this new center at 710 NE Holladay Street will perform a critical step in assessing a rider’s capabilities before receiving LIFT services. Every applicant must complete an in-person interview with a LIFT Eligibility Coordinator and engage in a physical assessment on the Transit Mobility Course. The indoor course simulates some obstacles individuals with disabilities may face when commuting on TriMet’s fixed route service.

TriMet offers the LIFT Paratransit Service to people whose physical or mental impairment might prevent them from using fixed route service. Consequentially, TriMet needs to interact with people requesting the service every three years on average to determine if they meet LIFT eligibility. This new facility features mockup bus layouts, ramps, and a variety of ground conditions. In addition to observing a person’s ability to ride standard accessible transit vehicles, evaluators observe people’s capabilities in traveling to and from bus stops or MAX stations. The course has facilities to simulate waiting at a stop or station, boarding, and exiting vehicles.

The new facility is next to the NE 7th Ave MAX station for convenient access. However, TriMet offers complementary LIFT rides to and from the Transit Mobility Center for each applicant’s eligibility appointment. This investment in new facilities is part of TriMet’s continued dedication to building an accessible transit system, and the speakers at the Tuesday afternoon naming ceremony attributed those efforts, in part, to the center’s namesake, Jan Campbell. “For nearly 40 years, she has been more than an advocate. She’s been a guiding light leading the way,” said TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr. “As our Chair of the Committee on Accessible Transportation, also known as CAT, her leadership has set a high standard for accessibility and inclusion at TriMet, shaping our services to reflect values that matter – equity, dignity, opportunity for all.”

_{TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr. hugging Jan Campbell}

Desue explained to the audience at the ceremony that CAT, under Campbell’s leadership, has ensured TriMet not only meets minimum accessibility requirements but also embodies the ideas of universal design, where services are usable by people of all abilities from its inception. “Jane’s work has touched every corner of our system, from our LIFT paratransit program, which now provides thousands of essential rides every day, to accessible features on our buses and our trains, empowering riders to travel independently,” said Desue.

*_{Jan Campbell next to a enlarged version of the plaque that will greet visitors to the center}*

Jan Campbell expressed her gratitude for naming this facility after her during her lifetime with a bit of humor. “Actually, I haven’t passed yet, so it’s really cool. I know we honor many people after they’ve passed, and this means so much to me.” She explained that this TriMet honor is a significant recognition of her work because public transportation is the only option for many people with disabilities and older adults. “If you don’t have transportation, you just stay at home and rely on others for everything,” said Campbell. “I used to work very closely with Mayor Vera Katz when I worked for the City and the County, I was a liaison between the government and community regarding compliance to ADA. As an older adult, Vera became very ill and acquired a disability. I saw her on the streetcar one day, and she told me that she now understood why I was always coming to City Council or to the bureau’s trying to make change. She got it,” explained Campbell.

Disability is considered the only minority group that a person can become a part of at any point in their life, whether through an accident, illness, or aging. Jan Campbell’s path to a lifetime of advocacy began in childhood. “I became disabled at a very early age from a virus that attacked my spine and paralyzed me. I was never able to enjoy many things as a child because very little was accessible and I always had to depend on others for getting around growing up. Into young adulthood, I had to rely on others for transportation and strangers to carry me up and down stairs through college,” recalled Campbell. Her experience living in a pre Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) country motivated Campbell to become a voice for societal change. She served as the Disability Project Coordinator for the City of Portland and Multnomah County for 23 years. She contributed to the founding of TriMet’s Committee on Accessibility in 1985, where she has served as chair ever since. Campbell serves on the Board of Directors for Disability Rights Oregon and is a Northwest ADA Center’s Regional Advisory Committee member.

*_{Executive Director of Disability Rights Oregon Jake Cornett and Jan Campbell}*

Naming the center for Jan Campbell is a significant recognition of her contribution, but the facility is worthy of celebration on its own. “This center here will stand as a beacon of service, a place where older adults and people with disabilities can find personalized support and resources. It will be a symbol of what’s possible when advocacy, partnership, and shared purpose come together,” said Desue. TriMet is a national leader in accessible transit. For many of the thousands of Portlanders with a disability, it is an essential service, and this new facility will better meet their needs. “TriMet has given me the independence and freedom so that I can work, participate on committees and boards to put disability on their agenda, and just enjoy life like everyone else,” said Campbell.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Community, New Business, Property Sale November 20, 2024February 3, 2025

Abandoned Driving Range to Become Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary

The Bird Alliance of Oregon recently completed its purchase of a 12.51-acre property on NE 82nd Avenue across from Leodis V. McDaniel High School. For decades, this overgrown field was known for the graffiti-covered remnants of a golf driving range built on top of a landfilled quarry. Within the next several years, it will become a new wildlife hospital and nature sanctuary for the 122-year-old organization formally known as Portland Audubon.

The organization plans to restore much of the land to its native habitat with nature trails and park space for public use. The site’s proximity to schools and connectivity to the MAX light rail and Portland’s most active bus line made it an ideal location for the Bird Alliance of Oregon to host educational programs and showcase its wildlife viewing opportunities. Portland has limited sites that offer the continuous acres needed for a wildlife hospital and rehabilitation center. The organization operates year-round, providing injured native birds and other wildlife opportunities to return to the wild. This site will support a new building expected to double the floor area of the Bird Alliance’s current Center with the capacity to treat more than 6,000 animals a year. The site’s topography is challenging for any development, and other potential buyers have failed in past attempts to transform it into a large shopping complex.

The Rose City Sand and Gravel company excavated an 80-foot-deep hole in the center of the site during its many years in operation. Around 1972, site owners converted operations to support the H.G. LaVelle landfill. Over the next ten years, they filled the pit with construction debris, including wood products, metals, and rubble, comprising approximately 2 million cubic yards of solid waste. Landfill deposits included rubble from Interstate-205’s construction. When the landfill closed in 1982, operators covered the site with a clay cap, installing a landfill gas extraction unit and methane monitoring equipment to treat decomposing organic material. Building a substantial structure over the clay cap takes significant engineering. However, the perimeter of the former pit is stable ground and suitable for conventional construction.

*_{Former pro-shop building and offices for golf driving range}*

The Bird Alliance of Oregon embraced the site’s past and actively supports the remediation of brownfield sites like this one, bringing them back to productive use. Earlier this year, the group secured a Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) grant to restore native habitat across the property. They plan to plant hundreds of native trees and create a pollinator habitat underneath and around a two-acre community solar array on the sloped land at the property’s south side. The multiple PCEF grants received by the organization will power the new structures and offset utility costs for around 200 low-income community members while strengthening the urban tree canopy.

The plans for this site align with the Bird Alliance of Oregon’s commitment to climate resiliency and habitat protection. These principles complement the work that started over a decade ago at the adjacent Dharma Rain Zen Center. That group purchased the nearly 14 acres to the east in 2012, restoring it to an urban greenspace with habitat for native plants and animals. They created walking trails open to the community and built several small buildings at the center of their property. Together, these two organizations and Glenhaven Park across the street will preserve a green band in the urban core that will support the surrounding community with accessible natural spaces.

With grant funding available, work could begin next year, clearing old structures. The group plans to add additional soil to the property, giving tree roots the depth needed above the clay landfill cap. Developing new structures on the site will take years and require additional funding. This location will become the Bird Alliance of Oregon’s second Portland metro area site, and they will continue to operate in Northwest Portland along with this planned new facility.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

New Residence, Property Sale, View of Montavilla November 19, 2024

Securing the NE 102nd and Pacific Development

On November 13th, Prosper Portland’s Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to purchase a 5.18-acre vacant property at the southwest corner of NE 102nd Avenue and Pacific Street. This $10.6 million investment from the Gateway Tax Increment Financing District funds will hold the property while the developer restructures financing for a planned middle-income complex that will bring at least 216 housing units in an expansive mixed-use project that could become a catalyst for other area development.

The conglomeration of large open land started around the formation of the Gateway Urban Renewal District by one of its advisory committee members, Ted Gilbert. “I assembled it over a period of years, starting in 1998. There were numerous parcels. There were some apartments and individual rental houses there that had reached the point of obsolescence,” remembered Gilbert. As his group of investors neared the purchase of another adjacent parcel that would have given them a combined ten acres, their crews cleared the site, leaving just one brick building standing. “I had visions for it in 2005,” explained Gilbert. He and his partners planned to construct a sizeable 40,000-square-foot Class A office building on the site and had pre-lease commitments for nearly 50 percent of the offices. However, the group paused the project, not wanting to be the first builder in the area to set the scale and direction of the district without seeing what other builders envisioned.

*_{Early version of development proposal from 2022}*

Not long after slowing the office building project, the 2008 financial crisis halted plans for the foreseeable future. They gave up the property purchase west of the site, and the David Douglas School District bought the adjacent 5.5 acres for a future multi-story elementary school. After the economy stabilized, the project for the site changed focus to become a multi-generational community. The new partners wanted to use their experience creating senior living centers to construct a place for workforce housing near their planned retirement community. “And then the pandemic hit. It was particularly challenging for the senior housing business, literally a life and death issue,” recalled Gilbert. Uncertain about the future, the investors wanted out of the project, and the group opted to sell the land to Tom Cody, who had a concept for creating a prototype development. “He has a vision to deliver workforce housing that is both highly attractive, highly desirable, and more affordable than the way it’s being developed right now,” said Gilbert.

*_{Tom Cody addressing Prosper Portland’s Board of Commissioners meeting November 13, 2024}*

Tom Cody’s modular housing company, Modomi Gateway Development, currently owns the NE 102nd Avenue and Pacific Street property. Cody is also the president of a development company called Project^ that plans to construct the workforce housing at this site. Prosper Portland will soon purchase the property after a 90-day due diligence period and a 30-day closing term. The negotiated price for the 5.18 acres is less than the $11.1 million initially invested by Cody and partners. The property sellers have three years to repurchase the parcels at the same sale price adjusted upward against the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers. If the development team does not progress toward building the housing at this site after two years, Prosper Portland can begin canceling the repurchase option after giving notice. Prosper Portland could also retain the property and let the housing project proceed with a ground lease.

Prosper Portland staff and Cody expressed confidence that this housing project would proceed, partly thanks to this short-term sale. The development company is almost done with its first implementation of this modular production process, which has created 87 housing units in Bend, OR. The Port of Portland approved a lease to Modomi, a subsidiary of Project^, at Terminal 2 along the Willamette River. The company intends to convert an existing warehouse into its local modular housing manufacturing facility. In multi-story modular housing production, crews build nearly move-in-ready units in a factory setting. Trucks transport segments to the site, and cranes assemble them like bricks to form the final multi-story structure. Cody explained to the Prosper Portland Board at its November 13th meeting that he has the State of Oregon’s permit approval to start building these units and needs to refinance this project to move forward. “We’ve invested $8 million in a factory at Terminal 2 in the Port of Portland, so I’m currently also working to restructure that arrangement and work with new partners on getting that factory up and running to produce modules to serve Gateway,” said Cody as part of his invited testimony.

*_{Presentation slide from Prosper Portland’s Board of Commissioners meeting November 13, 2024}*

Prosper Portland’s commitment to buying the Modomi site will ensure that this prominent property near the Fred Meyer store and the Gateway Transit Center becomes housing and can act as a catalyst for other developments. Staff presenting to the Prosper Portland Board acknowledged that this Tax Increment Financed (TIF) District fell short of its mixed-income housing goals. Of the desired 3,900 new units of multifamily transit-oriented housing, developers have only delivered 707 units since 2010. Additionally, 89% of those units are deed-restricted affordable housing. The presenters explained that thriving business districts depend on people living around them with a mix of income levels to support diverse store options. Up to this point, many property owners in the area have waited to build their workforce and market-rate housing. Receiving development financing from banks or investors often depends on showing comparable examples of successful projects. Joel Devalcourt, with Prosper Portland, explained that many surrounding property owners are looking to see if this project can succeed. “For the last two and a half years, we have talked to numerous land owners, those who are land banked to a degree, and then those who are very much interested in redevelopment, and everyone has been looking for the right dominoes to fall,” said Devalcourt to the Prosper Portland Board.

Development at the NE 102nd Avenue and Pacific Street site is likely years from breaking ground. However, if Cody can make this project work, it could have substantially positive effects for Portland. Workforce housing at the site will fulfill a decades-long vision for a multi-income community centered in Gateway and potentially lead to the redevelopment of more vacant property in the district. Additionally, Cody’s pursuit of modular construction may prove to be more significant for housing creation than just building 216 homes in Gateway. If modular housing production succeeds as a cheaper and faster building method, other projects could use the Modomi facility at Terminal 2 to produce housing units throughout the metro area. Until crews begin work within the next decade, Prosper Portland is investigating ways to temporarily activate the future housing site and the David Douglas School District property to better meet the surrounding community’s needs.

Jacob Loeb

Demolition, History November 15, 2024

1890 House Meticulous Deconstructed on NE 78th

Crews working with Meticulous Deconstruction recently completed wood salvage operations on the 1890-era home at 37 NE 78th Avenue. Within the coming weeks, demolition specialists will mechanically remove the remaining masonry and concrete foundation, making way for a new eight-unit townhome development. A series of owners wrapped this original Montavilla home with a century’s worth of remodels and extensions, making it a tricky project for deconstruction manager and company owner Brianna Ivy.

“We kept calling it the onion because of how many layers we kept uncovering, different weird eras of the house. Cool, but not unique necessarily because we’ve come across several of them,” explained Ivy. This crew of deconstruction specialists formed several years ago working for Good Wood‘s salvage team. She worked as the company’s deconstruction manager until the reclaimed lumber business decommissioned that portion of the operation to focus on its core mission. “When they shut down, I got my license and inherited their contracts,” recalled Ivy. The crew began working under the Meticulous Deconstruction title in May 2023. Over the years, the team has encountered a wide range of structures, from layered projects like the home on NE 78th Avenue to all original homes, where nearly every board is knot-free old-growth timber likely harvested within miles of the site.

A 2016 Portland City Ordnance mandates deconstruction for any house or duplex built before 1941. It also extends to some historic resources. Certified Deconstruction Contractors like Meticulous Deconstruction must complete these jobs, and this labor-intensive work can cost $18,000 to $20,000 per house, but it can also cost more for complicated projects. Portland was the first city in the country to implement a policy that ensures crews salvage valuable materials for reuse instead of sending a whole house to the landfill. The city does this because older homes contain unique wood that is no longer available. “Pre-industrial revolution, more or less, the houses were built with trees felled right on the property, milled on the property, and then they just built the house right there,” explained Ivy. Before the Second World War, skilled craftspeople built most houses, and they would only select the best lumber from the plentiful supply in the Pacific Northwest. Homes then had higher 10-foot or 12-foot ceilings, requiring straight, thick, and tall timbers. As the years progressed, lumber became physically smaller and of lower quality. The framing was “literally two by four [inches], and so the house that we’re deconstructing on 78th was old enough to have actual dimensional 2x4s. Some of them are even thicker than two inches, which is beefy. Pretty much every decade, the wood got milled a little bit smaller and then plateaued at today’s standard of 3 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches,” said Ivy.

The 134-year-old home at 37 NE 78th Avenue had more than thick lumber hiding within its walls, complicating the deconstruction. “Instead of using framing for the walls of the house, they use basically 1″ by 12″ flat planks of material that were the full height of the house. I think they would assemble those on the ground with siding on them perpendicular. The 1″ by 12″ material running vertically and then siding horizontally. They build all four walls on the ground, erect them, and connect them to the corners. The only framing is the floor joist and the ceiling. So the walls have no framing,” remarked Ivy. “We had to peel the house away from the outside to expose that original plank-constructed house to salvage it safely.”

Brianna Ivy explained that in this type of hand deconstruction, the crew must understand building practices of every age; otherwise, removing side paneling could cause the upper floor to come crashing down because it was hanging from the walls. This home was old enough never to have lath and plaster walls. It went from wood-planked walls to more modern gypsum board, skipping over decades of building trends. The structure also predated the common use of electricity in housing, requiring future owners to install many modern amenities later. The house had several addresses over the years, but in 1909, Sanborn maps referenced the property as 325 East 78th Street. At the time, Daniel N. Hooker and Margaret Hooker lived there with their three daughters. A birthday party for daughter Cora Hooker turned into an “impromptu musical programme,” as recounted in the Sunday Oregonian’s August 11th, 1907, edition. Three years later, Daniel Hooker died in the house at the age of 61. The Hooker family may have been the original owners of the house, based on the timing of the articles and its construction date. However, many other generations of people have lived in the home since.

This house’s architectural significance and viability were lost to unconventional remodels and neglect. Saving it was never a practical notion, but thanks to the deconstruction process, the wood that made it a home for many residents will continue on. “We report the wood salvage at the end of the project so the city can keep tabs on the salvage program,” said Ivy. “We salvaged an unbelievable amount of material from this project.” The timbers recovered from the oldest portion of a home rarely end up inside a wall of a newer home. The crew sends newer components from recent remodels to reuse specialty stores like the ReBuilding Center or the Habitat for Humanity ReStore center behind Plaza 205. However, the older wood is valuable to furniture makers and builders who use it for interior finishes. Builders 100 years ago had unlimited access to tight-grained lumber and used it throughout a project. Now, those craftspeople reserve those timbers for display areas in people’s houses.

Brianna Ivy enjoys this work, its environmentally supportive nature, and the community that has grown around her woman-owned business. Through word of mouth, Meticulous Deconstruction’s staff has grown to include mostly non-binary identifying employees. “We are a non-dude crew,” remarked Ivy. “We’ve become a safe haven for people who are not normally treated well in the construction industry.”

Although Portland requires deconstruction for pre-war residential buildings, Meticulous Deconstruction will work on other projects of any age or size. People often hire them to deconstruct detached buildings where the owners do not want heavy equipment disturbing their yards. One client had the crew deconstruct a garage without disturbing a bird’s nest in the tree leaning against the structure. Admittedly, deconstruction costs more than bulldozing, but it can save trees from being cut down for new lumber and provides long-lost wood to craftspeople. Expect to see the remaining foundation and basement at 37 NE 78th Avenue removed in the next two weeks as heavy equipment levels the ground for the new townhomes coming next year.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Community, Event November 14, 2024November 14, 2024

Montavilla Heritage Tree Tour Nov 23rd

On November 23rd, Sam Wolf, the Portland Heritage Tree Program Manager with Portland Parks and Recreation’s Urban Forestry division, will host a free Heritage Tree tour in the Montavilla Neighborhood. The Saturday event will begin in the Berrydale Parking Area on SE 89th Avenue, and participants will travel several blocks to visit four Heritage Trees, with one tree nominated for consideration. Five passengers can ride in a provided van to each site, but event organizers encourage participants to drive, carpool, or bike between locations if possible.

The City Council formally recognizes Heritage Trees for their unique size, age, historical, or horticultural significance. Once designated, these trees receive a small plaque and are listed in the Heritage Tree database. The tour will cover important aspects of the Heritage Trees in Montavilla, including locating future Heritage Trees and nominating them.

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The event runs from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, November 23rd. Participants must register to attend and should plan to dress for potentially rainy and cold weather. Participants can preview the route or tour the trees independently using the linked map. This event is a unique opportunity to learn about the importance of Heritage Trees in East Portland and help bolster urban forestry through canopy preservation.

Jacob Loeb

Update: A previous version of this article had extraneous information included at the end of the article. Montavilla News regrets this publishing error.

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