On September 10th, the public and private organizations responsible for creating the Legin Commons apartment building at 7755 SE Division Street celebrated its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Soon, new residents will begin moving into 124 new regulated affordable homes on Portland Community College’s (PCC) Southeast campus, prioritizing families with children and low-income households.
The new four-story building sits on the site of a former Kaiser Permanente one-story medical clinic built in 1964. PCC acquired the land several years before Kaiser’s closure and demolished the building in 2015, using the land as an auxiliary parking lot with a large grassy spot where the building once stood. PCC had always planned to repurpose the space for more effective uses than parking. In 2021, College leadership worked to develop a twenty-year facilities plan for the educational institution’s properties. During that evaluation, PCC determined that portions of the school grounds should support low-income affordable housing. Instead of student-only dormitories, they opted to focus on attainable housing open to the community. From internal student surveys, PCC staff learned that housing insecurity is a significant concern. They also observed that students often spread their education out over many years with inconsistent enrollment. As a result, PCC determined that tying housing programs to school affiliation would not alleviate housing insecurity among the student population, so planners opened this housing to all who qualify.
A previous PCC campus expansion razed the former site of the Legin Restaurant, a beloved Chinese eatery and community hub. Housing developers APANO, Our Just Future, and Edlen & Co. chose to honor the area restaurant by naming the building Legin Commons and incorporating central gathering amenities to match its namesake’s role as a community hub. Located in the Jade District and the Montavilla neighborhood, blocks from SE 82nd Avenue, it offers access to some of Portland’s most active transit lines and walkable destinations. The building also offers secured on-site parking for some residents with dedicated EV charging stalls.
The Portland Housing Bureau awarded this development $3.78 million from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) to install a solar array and high-efficiency heating and cooling split systems. Other public funding came through a $1.67 million allotment from the voter-approved Metro Affordable Housing Bond and a Metro-awarded $250,000 Transit-Oriented Development grant. Legin Commons residents also enjoy natural cooling from a mature tree canopy on its eastern edge and new greenery planted around the property to help replace the shade once provided by older trees removed during construction.
PCEF Program Manager Sam Baraso explained during the Thursday event that green investments in this building benefit residents and the environment by reducing off-property energy consumption and lowering costs. “We invested in 294 in-unit mini-split heat pumps and 22 common-area mini-split heat pumps, three high-efficiency whole-building ventilation systems, 33 energy recovery ventilators, which means we can bring in fresh air into the building constantly, make sure folks are breathing clean, fresh air and do so in a way that actually uses the outgoing air to cool or warm [incoming air].” On the roof is a 180-kilowatt solar array that further reduces the energy demands of these residences on the grid. Claire Parisa with the nonprofit Enterprise Housing Credit Investments, which provided funding support for this project, highlighted the unique support for environmental construction in Portland. “There’s always a goal to make buildings green, but not necessarily the funding to go with it. And we’re so lucky to have PCEF in the city to make those dreams a reality.”
Lower energy bills and cleaner indoor air are just a few of the key features of this complex. Designers used the natural amenities to create significant outdoor space for residents, including an outdoor play area off a large community room. On-site laundry and bike storage are available on multiple floors. Private meeting rooms throughout the building provide secluded workspace or an area for private conversations away from home. Elevators offer seating in an adjacent lobby on each floor so people with mobility considerations can navigate the property with less impact on their comfort. A ground-floor classroom can also host community meetings or events, as long as it remains open to all residents in the building. APANO will provide resident services, leveraging its headquarters’ proximity to the site to be an integrated partner in the building’s supportive services.
For over a decade, APANO has looked for opportunities to increase housing in the district, making good on a community-driven concept for the area. “Our vision for Jade is for it to be Portland’s most transit-rich, most affordable, and most climate-resilient part of town. We have Legion Commons opening today, we have Jade Apartments opening next month, and we’re in pre-development at Canton Grill,” explained Metro Councilor Duncan Hwang, who also works for APANO. “Part of the housing piece is our work around anti-displacement. We have some time right now to really build up these community assets to make sure we can stay in place.”
Quisha Light, interim director of the Portland Housing Bureau, celebrated the addition of these new housing units but noted it is just an early step in a larger effort to meet the community’s needs. “According to the city’s housing needs analysis, Portland must add about 28,000 homes that are affordable to families in that 0 to 60% of AMI (Area Median Income) range by 2045. So we still have a lot of work to do. It’s a big lift, but I have lived here for 20 years now, and I’ve seen Portlanders step up and really accept the big challenges. So I know all of us standing here today can make that happen. Legin Commons makes stability real. With 124 new affordable homes, including 20 deeply affordable homes at 30% AMI, and more than half of all units sized for families, this development reflects the community it serves,” said Light.
Speakers at the ceremony noted the importance of creating high-quality affordable housing in an area that has historically supported generations of the city’s minority populations. “This stretch in the Jade District and the 82nd Avenue corridor in particular has long been home to one of our most diverse communities in the city. Immigrant families, refugees, students, working people who bring so much to Portland,” said Portland Councilor for District 3, Tiffany Koyama Lane. “This is a place where we can hear more than 140 languages spoken, where we can find our culturally specific food and markets that reflect our beautiful diversity. This neighborhood was built by people. The character comes from families who have been here for generations, and also from folks who crossed oceans and borders to get here.”
Koyama Lane explained how preserving communities through anti-displacement and naming is a significant step for a city whose past leaders excluded many non-white voices. In 2024, Sameer Kanalwe and Koyama Lane became the first two Asian Americans ever elected to Portland City Council. Beyond naming the building after a community gathering space, residents will use the Minoru Yasui community room. “Legin Restaurant was more than just a great restaurant. It was a center of community life, and today, Legin Commons carries that spirit forward as a place where people can gather, connect, celebrate, and build community. This is especially meaningful that the community room bears the name of Minoru Yasui,” said Lynn Fuchigami Parks, Executive Director Emeritus of the Japanese American Museum of Oregon. “The night of March 28th in 1942, Minoru, who was only a 26-year-old attorney at the time, walked the streets of downtown Portland to deliberately violate the military curfew imposed on people of Japanese ancestry. He did so to challenge the constitutionality of that order. That’s the order that led to the unjust incarceration of over 120,000 men, women, and children, the majority of whom were American citizens.” The plaque that will be in the community room touches on Yasui’s story and adds to the sense of place created in the building.
Residents will start moving into Legin Commons soon, with the 30% AMI units mostly committed to people. Many 60% AMI-priced units are still available for qualifying renters. Those homes are restricted to households whose annual income does not exceed $53,940 for one person, $61,620 for two, and upward based on the number of residents. Homes restricted to 60% of AMI earners are currently rented at near-market rates. Still, this new building offers far more amenities than other multifamily buildings in the area, and the protected rental rate can help provide housing stability when market rates rise faster than median income. Consequently, the building should fill to capacity slowly, allowing a gradual influx of new neighbors to the residential area around the new apartment building.
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