947 NE 74th – Montavilla News

An unnumbered vacant lot east of 8505 SE Yamhill Street could soon host four new townhomes. Each proposed unit is around 1075 square feet and two stories tall. Last summer, real estate investors split the lot from the adjacent home, selling it to Ernie Jette Construction in December 2023. Permit applications do not appear to include onsite parking for this project.

Ernie Jette Construction is responsible for other projects in Montavilla, including a skinny infill home at 947 NE 74th Avenue. Photos from that home’s 2020 real estate listing could provide insight into what this developer has planned for the Yamhill townhomes. Building permit approvals in Portland are still taking several months to process. Consequentially, work on this project could be a year away from breaking ground.

Jacob Loeb

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In what could be called a cozy infill, 947 NE 74th Ave is wrapping up exterior work. This new single family residence, by Ernie Jette Construction Co., is built on a lot split from 925 NE 74th Ave.

The slender house has been creative in its layout. Having the single car garage upfront, occupies a great deal of floorspace. The remainder of the first floor is occupied by a kitchen, 1/2 bath, and great room dining area combination. When entering the house, you must walk down a long hallway and turn 90 degrees to the left. You walk into the kitchen that takes up a good portion of the middle of the first floor. Across from the kitchen, hugging the right wall, is a 1/2 bath that is just as wide as the halway. The bathroom is tucked under part of the stairs and forms the wall at the end of the entry hallway.

The great room has a sliding glass door in the back to gain access to the yard. There is plenty of light in the back half of the house with many windows. The side windows in the great room push out an extra foot, giving slightly more floor space.

Upstairs are three bedrooms. In the front is a standard bedroom that spans the width of the house. Behind it is a smaller second bedroom. It is missing near four feet in width, to accommodate the hallway to the front bedroom. Behind that is a shared full bathroom. Across the hall from the bathroom is a laundry closet. At the rear of the second floor is the master bedroom with a 3/4 ensuite. The ensuite is has a double vanity and is larger than the shared bathroom.

When designing the exterior of the house, they have taken care to adopt some design elements of the neighboring houses. They implement a hip roofline like the house to the right and shingle accents like the house to the left. A benefit of being close to the other houses, and fronted on the same plane, the length of the house will be obscured. For being so close the other houses, they have done a decent job of blending in.