Tag: RIP2

Construction, New Residence

SE Clay Townhomes Underway

Heavy equipment recently leveled the 35-by-100-foot lot at 8416 SE Clay Street, which has remained vacant for years awaiting development. In 2021, Provision Investments purchased the property, intending to construct a three-story apartment building containing nine residences. That multifamily project never broke ground, and in 2023, the owner listed the project for sale with city-approved building permits. By February 2024, the ownership team converted the project to a four townhome development. In late 2024, the group used Middle Housing Land Division (MHLD) to place each unit on individual lots without needing a condominium-style homeowners association.

SE Clay St looking east from SE 84th Ave

The builders will construct the four townhomes on a gravel-covered and partially paved segment of SE Clay Street. A shared walkway will provide access to the back residences. The three off-street homes will offer residents around 920 square feet of living space, with the street-facing unit slightly larger at 1,000 square feet. The City addressed the two-story townhomes as 8416 SE Clay Street, 8418 SE Clay Street, 8420 SE Clay Street, and 8422 SE Clay Street. MHLD documents show the builders will add 35 feet of sidewalk to the front of the property. The sidewalk area creates a six-foot-wide pedestrian path set back seven feet from the new curb. In the space between the sidewalk and curb, crews will construct a three-foot-wide planter with stormwater inlets to collect rainwater from the street.

Site Map form LU 24-037194 Middle Housing Land Division Proposal

The developers of this property will need to relocate the City’s water main, which is currently running under the future sidewalk segment, to a path under the road. They must also pave 20 feet of the street in front of the development. This work will not dramatically transform SE Clay Street, which has no adjacent sidewalks or curbs. Provision Investments will be the first developer to contribute modern shared infrastructure on this block. However, this is the first step towards improving these substandard streets. The City mandated infrastructure updates are costly for developers and sometimes prevent home builders from taking on a project due to the added expense.

Foundation and main floor joists, April 2025

This project faced many delays and transformed over the years, trying to find a path to construction. Having crews working on the townhomes after four years of awaiting the right conditions may signify Portland’s recovering housing production market. A recent progress report on middle housing production in Portland indicates the Residential Infill Project (RIP) and the Residential Infill Project Part 2 (RIP2) have successfully encouraged developments like these townhouses on SE Clay Street and many other locations in Montavilla.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Construction, New Residence

SE 92nd and Alder Townhomes

The new owner of a corner lot at 9144 SE Alder Street will construct three new townhomes on the backside of an existing 1947-era single-family residence. Each new townhouse will offer residents around 1,400 square feet of living space spanning three levels. The new homes will contain three bedrooms with two-and-a-half bathrooms. Units will face SE 92nd Avenue and receive addresses on that street.

Image from Portland Maps

The property’s owner, James Kosta, describes the new structures as two and a half stories tall, with the third bedroom in the standing-height attic area. Dormers looking out onto SE 92nd Avenue will provide additional upper-level floor space and scenic views. Kosta’s BW Construction company has built housing east of Interstate 205 for many years, and they are now expanding to areas west thanks to the zoning code changes implemented by Portland officials in the Residential Infill Project. That package of code updates allows additional housing on most lots in the City.

Property frontage along SE 92nd Avenue

Kosta has spent the last 50 years building homes and is a proponent of affordable housing construction. His company often utilizes Portland’s program that offers builder tax abatement incentives to create new homes priced in the middle of the housing market. The three units will sell to buyers earning at or below the median family income (MFI) level for a four-person household, which is $116,900 as of April 2024. The income restriction will adjust upward for larger families. The program also caps townhome prices at $455,000 as of 2024. However, units can sell for less based on market interest from qualifying home buyers. Income limits and the sale price cap adjust annually based on median home sales and Portland Metropolitan area income reports evaluated by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Existing 1947-era single-family residence

BW Construction is a family-owned company based in Oregon. James Kosta’s daughter is a partner in the housing development business. They do not plan on using Middle Housing Land division for this project at SE 92nd Avenue and Alder Street. The homes will sell as condominiums with a small Home Owners Association (HOA) covering shared property costs. Permit applications do not include additional on-site parking for this development, but the corner lot has curbside parking along both streets. Building permit approval timelines and other considerations will push the start of construction into 2025. When completed, the new homes will add family housing options just three blocks from a park and school while maintaining the existing house.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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Construction, New Residence

NE 74th Middle Housing Land Division

On October 25th, the owners of 34 NE 74th Avenue split their lot through a Middle Housing Land Division, creating space for the new two-story home with an attached garage under construction. The three-bedroom house will sit on the back third of the property, accessible by an existing driveway that once led to a now-demolished detached garage. At 1,500 square feet, the new home is nearly 400 square feet larger than the original 1921-era home that will remain on the front lot.

34 NE 74th Avenue site map from Land Use Notice of Decision LU 23-079716 MLDP

This development shares similarities with many infill Flag-Lot housing projects seen throughout Portland. With those types of L-shaped land divisions, two property line adjustments carve out the back portion of a traditional lot and create street access. In this case, the property owners proposed dividing this single parcel as a detached duplex using the Middle Housing Land Division process, resulting in each unit residing on its individual lots. This process has similar results as the older Flag-Lot process but requires fewer lot line adjustments and allows for a more straightforward easement process for shared utility access. If the rear house did not offer onsite parking, they could have divided the property without direct sidewalk access and used a walkway easement. Land division speed and flexibility are primary features touted in the Residential Infill Project – Part 2 (RIP2) updates enacted on June 30th, 2022.

The new home under construction at 94 NE 74th Avenue features an open main floor plan with a half-bathroom on the 1st floor. The Second floor has two bedrooms that share a full bathroom. The owner’s suite has an attached ensuite and walk-in closet. A second-floor flex spaced contains the laundry area with room for an entertainment center and access to a balcony shared by the owner’s suite.

This project adds a large family home behind a 100-year-old house without disrupting the street’s character. According to the site plan, crews will remove one tree during construction and fully rebuild the driveway. Look for work to continue at this property into 2024.

Article and photo by

Jacob Loeb

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Construction, New Residence

NE Holladay Cottage Cluster

Soon, four new homes will join the existing single-family residence at 8404 NE Holladay Street in a cottage cluster configuration. This multi-structure project represents one of the first cottage cluster developments in Montavilla and adds housing inventory while retaining the 1931-era home. This new form of permissible development became legal in July 2022 as part of the Residential Infill Project 2 (RIP2) after City Council adopted the zoning code changes in June.

Portland’s embrace of cottage cluster lot configurations stems from a 2019 update to Oregon State law. The Housing Choices bill describes cottage clusters as “groupings of no fewer than four detached housing units per acre with a footprint of less than 900 square feet each and that include a common courtyard.” Each residence is detached from the other units making them distinct from row-house developments or other middle housing options. This building arrangement permits irregularly shaped lots and forgoes spacious private yards for larger common open areas shared by the clustered homes. It is permissible for the structures to share one property, or they can each reside on small individual lots, as they will in this NE Holladay Street development.

8404 NE Holladay Street  Image from Portland Maps

The new two-story homes proposed for this property will surround the existing house, with half the units addressed on NE 84th Avenue and the others fronted on NE Holladay Street. Demolition crews will likely remove the detached garage to the south of the home. However, the new property owners have yet to file for that permit. All work applications are currently under review, with construction likely months away. When completed, this project will become an example of the newest housing infill method in Portland and could represent a trend in density development.

By

Jacob Loeb

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