Recently, crews completed paving work on the NE 92nd Place-94th Avenue Alley off East Burnside Street, leading to 16 new two-story homes. Each of the back 15 units has attached garages, and the front home features a wide parking pad. This development project transformed a former automotive storage and wrecking yard into an urban subdivision with family-sized units.
The approximately 20-foot-wide asphalt-paved alley has a concrete center channel that connects to stormwater inlets, which will control rain runoff from extensive paving at this site. The developer widened the once-overgrown gravel alley that connects East Burnside Street to a private street serving a 1996-era housing development. The public right-of-way alley continues north to NE Glisan Street but is blocked by parked vehicles and overgrown vegetation beyond this recently improved loop. Although the alley is not for through traffic, work at this site built a street-grid connection that facilitated significant housing density.
Most of the new homes have a similar floor plan, with the frontmost home deviating from the design pattern in two notable ways. In addition to not offering interior vehicle storage, 9251 E Burnside Street has one less bathroom on the second floor than its 15 neighbors to the north. Designers also placed that unit’s stacked laundry closet on the ground floor rather than the upper level. All homes in this project have three bedrooms and an open concept main level. Each has a half-bath powder room on the first floor under the stairs. Six of the back units are designed to meet Portland’s visitability standards for universal access on the main level. They have a concrete ramp to the front doors that bypasses the steps and a larger ground-floor bathroom. Those larger restrooms extend past the outer wall, creating pop-out space with interior capacity to accommodate an unobstructed circle at least 60 inches in diameter. Both features help people in mobility devices enter the structure and use all the lower-level facilities. All 15 back-homes have a primary suite on the second floor with an attached bathroom and a double closet.
The homes use a condominium land structure with a small monthly homeowners’ association (HOA) fee. Units also have fire sprinkler systems required in modern builds of this density. One of the units is currently listed for $439,900, with the others expected to become available soon. This site is walking distance from several transit options, including the MAX light rail system, and East Burnside Street has dedicated bike lanes. This location would be a good home for non-drivers or families that only have one car. However, this development still provides significant parking with space for up to two vehicles per home, along with infrastructure improvements that many opponents of some infill housing say must be part of density projects. The design team transformed a blighted commercial property into housing that fits the scale and style of the surrounding structures. Look for homes to fill with new residents over the coming months.
- 9251 E Burnside Street
- 9253 E Burnside Street
- 9255 E Burnside Street
- 9257 E Burnside Street
- 9259 E Burnside Street
- 9261 E Burnside Street
- 9263 E Burnside Street
- 9265 E Burnside Street
- 9267 E Burnside Street
- 9269 E Burnside Street
- 9271 E Burnside Street
- 9273 E Burnside Street
- 9275 E Burnside Street
- 9277 E Burnside Street
- 9279 E Burnside Street
- 9281 E Burnside Street
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