On October 29th, officials and project leaders gathered to celebrate the opening of a 40-unit housing complex at 2909 SE 89th Avenue. Called The Jade Apartments, this joint venture between APANO and Gorman & Company transformed a 1.1-acre property into affordable family apartments in a dual-courtyard configuration. The developers endeavored to create a healthy, sustainable community, with solar panels providing most residential power and helping residents avoid most utility costs. The regulated affordable housing is reserved for households earning at or below 60% Area Median Income (AMI), with some units reserved for the 30% AMI level.
Crews recently completed a half-street build along the site’s frontage, connecting a former gravel segment to the paved portions of SE 89th Avenue. The public improvements also added sidewalk on the western edge with a planting strip. This helps people walk to neighboring grocery stores like Fubonn or connect with frequent public transit on 82nd Avenue or SE Division Street. The ground floor offers accessible units for those with mobility concerns, and some of the 31 on-site parking stalls tuck under solar panels.
Fifteen units in the new apartment building offer family-sized accommodations with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The developers also created 14 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom flats, each with a single bathroom. Residents can access various site amenities, including a bike room, package lockers, and resident services offices. People can also use a community room, two courtyards, and outdoor areas with a garden and play area for children. Larger apartments have in-unit washers and dryers. The building offers laundry rooms on each floor for the remaining residents.
Eric Jacobson, Director of Real Estate Development at Gorman & Company, told event attendees it took nearly a decade to deliver the housing. “This project really originated back in 2018, and that’s a long time ago; it’s now 2026. It really started with a community effort looking at sustainability in the community and what the neighborhood needs,” recalled Jacobson. He explained how that early work highlighted disparities in how Portland invested in different parts of the city. “For example, there are still some gravel streets in this neighborhood, and this project is really intended to address some of those inequities and provide opportunities for people in this neighborhood,” said Jacobson.
State Senator Khanh Pham similarly reflected on the community visioning work that helped lead to this housing project. “Many years before I joined the legislature,” said Pham. “I was a community organizer, organizing all along 82nd Avenue—particularly in the Jade District—and this vision to see these two plots of land start to be filled with affordable housing and green space and renewable energy is just a testament to the determination of the community members who live here.” The new housing development is across the street from an Oregon Metro-owned property purchased in 2025 for Transit Oriented Development. Community groups have shown interest in seeing the 1.46-acre parcel at the intersection of SE 90th Place and SE 89th Avenue turned into a public park. Those efforts are ongoing but align with visioning work started a decade ago.
Metro Councilor Duncan Hwang, who also works as the Community Development Director at APANO, applauded the housing project, which joins other affordable housing APANO is involved with, including Legin Commons and Alyssa Daye Gardens. He cautioned that these accomplishments are encouraging but less than what the region needs to meet its housing demand. “In 2024, APANO projects were 20 percent of Portland’s apartment production,” said Hwang. “Which is impressive for this organization but very distressing for our city and region as a whole because that just means the denominator was so low. We only permitted 800 some housing units in the whole city that year, so something to celebrate here, but I think that speaks to the work that we have to do.”
Adding housing stock to the market could drive down costs of older, naturally occurring affordable housing if inventory eases demand pressures. However, waiting for the market to adjust is not practical for household budgets already stretched by inflation, creating housing insecurity. “We need more deeply affordable housing,” remarked Quisha Light, the Interim Director of the Portland Housing Bureau. “There are five units here that are at least 30 percent or less; the others are 60 percent or less. That’s significant; those numbers matter because they make it possible for a family to be stable and not have to continue to move, make it possible for children to be in schools where they can make friendships,” said Light. People “can actually get connected in a community.”
Over the last few years, a growing perception is that 60 percent AMI-restricted units are not meeting the housing needs of lower-income renters in the Portland market. East of 82nd, they can sometimes cost more than older market-rate units while requiring applications to demonstrate they are below income limits. Based on current regulated affordable housing numbers—maximum rent and income limits adjust each year—a three-bedroom unit at The Jade costs $2,001 per month, and a four-person household would need to make under $76,980 per year to qualify. Bundled utilities help offset the price gap, and these units are newer, with better amenities and closer access to high-ridership transit lines.
To build these units, with the environmental supporting features at current material and labor rates, required public-private cooperation. “The Jade is providing 40 homes that will be affordable for generations. Our new neighbors will be able to walk to the MAX Green Line or the FX2 bus rapid transit line on Division,” explained Hwang. “That’s why, in addition to the $4.4 million from Metro’s affordable housing bond, Metro chipped in a transit-oriented development grant to get the Jade built. People living here will have comfortable, climate-resilient homes and lower energy bills, thanks to our solar array, green building materials, 50-year roofs, and a high-energy-efficiency HVAC supported by the Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund.” He also noted that the project furthers the Greening of Jade project by adding more trees and green public spaces to the neighborhood.
Even with that public support, developers say they are limited in how many deeply affordable units they can provide while still meeting lenders’ and for-profit partners’ financial requirements. Including 60 percent AMI units in an affordable housing development not only helps the specific project move forward but can also incentivize future projects to break ground. For Gorman & Company, this is just the beginning of their affordable housing plans for the region. “This is our first project here in Portland, but we’re not expecting it to be our last. We already have other projects in our pipeline, and we’re looking forward to more fruitful partnerships like this with all of our development partners and all of our funding partners,” remarked Jacobson.
Portland Clean Energy Fund Program Manager Sam Baraso stressed the value of this type of affordable housing, built for the long-term support it can provide to people facing rising power costs and a harsher climate. “We were fortunate, along with our partners, the Portland Housing Bureau, to invest about $1.4 million to bring a 207-kilowatt solar array to the building, heat pump water heaters, ductless heat pumps, Energy Star appliances, and EV charging stations,” listed Baraso. “What this all means is, yes, it’s important to get these buildings up to make sure that they’re affordable for folks, but we don’t care just about the first cost. We want to make sure these units are sustainable and that they help put money back in your pockets; our energy prices have gone up 60% in the past five years. In a building like this, you can turn on the heat in your building, you can close the windows and turn on the AC when there’s bad air, and you can do so without breaking the bank.”
Todd Struble is the Real Estate Development Manager at APANO and played a significant role in bringing this project to the neighborhood. Additionally, he served as the Jade District Manager a decade ago when community visioning for the Jade apartments took form. “Housing affordability is something that I heard about when I was door knocking and talking with folks. And more than a decade later, it remains one of the major civic issues of our time. So to be part of creating and welcoming families to permanent affordable housing is extremely rewarding,” said Struble. Residents are moving in now, and area neighbors will soon see more activity at this family-oriented housing complex.
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