DEZ Development is wrapping up construction of a seven-unit townhouse project on the southwest corner of NE 72nd Avenue and Glisan Street in a primarily commercial section of the main street. This three-story building replaces a single-family home with two units facing NE Glisan Street. The remaining five homes have addresses on NE 72nd Avenue. This project maximized housing density while still offering homeownership in a walkable, transit-oriented section of Portland.
The property is zoned Commercial Mixed Use 2 (CM2), allowing up to four stories and a building floor-area ratio of up to two-and-a-half times the property’s dimensions. As this building will not cover all the buildable land, the three levels proposed fit within the development scale for this area. Montavilla is seeing more multi-level projects on NE Glisan Street, with two affordable apartment buildings recently opening within the Glisan Landing complex, two blocks east of this project. These new homes sit across NE 72nd Avenue from a two-story commercial mixed-use building constructed in 1890. Across NE Glisan, the “Tool Building” will open with retail and dining space after an extensive renovation.
The transformation of NE Glisan Street is a return to its former usage when it hosted a streetcar line running down its center, providing a Portland connection to the town-turned-neighborhood of Montavilla. Many buildings along the transit line were commercial-oriented and offered above-storefront apartments. Remnants of that history are visible in the older buildings that survived the seventy-five years since rail transit ceased operations on NE Glisan.
The attached condominium units range in price from the high $ 300,000s to the low $ 400,000s, depending on the number of bedrooms. The NE Glisan-facing units are larger, with an extra bedroom. The price fluctuates based on a buyer’s eligibility for the Portland Housing Bureau’s System Development Charge (SDC) exemption program, which promotes affordable housing in Portland. In July 2025, the Portland City Council adopted an ordinance that temporarily exempts newly created housing units from SDCs for new housing unit permits issued from August 15th, 2025, through September 30th, 2028. However, this project predates that change. Qualified buyers can also take advantage of the “Homebuyer Opportunity Limited Tax Exemption” (HOLTE) program, which grants a property tax exemption of up to ten years for single-unit homes, as long as the property and owner remain eligible under HOLTE Program requirements. If the buyer’s finances exceed the limit before the ten-year period ends, they begin paying the new tax rate. Owners remain responsible for the original assessed value of the land without a building during the exemption period. This program applies only to housing with at least three bedrooms or to some two-bedroom homes within transit-oriented areas.
The developer reconstructed the sidewalk around the site, adding an extended corner that pushes into the parking lane on NE Glisan Street, shortening the crossing distance for pedestrians and making people waiting at the corner behind parked cars more visible to drivers. Each home has direct access to the sidewalk, eliminating the need for a shared walkway that mid-block projects often require in townhome developments. Most units have a small back or side yard with a modest patio. Residents will have three to four bedrooms based on unit type, with three bathrooms and an open floor plan on the main level.
- 475 NE 72nd Avenue
- 477 NE 72nd Avenue
- 479 NE 72nd Avenue
- 481 NE 72nd Avenue
- 483 NE 72nd Avenue
- 7192 NE Glisan Street
- 7194 NE Glisan Street
Managing Member of DEZ Development, Lavik Dezhnyuk, grew up in the neighborhood and has completed several housing projects in this community he feels connected to. Darryl Bodle is the listing agent on these properties with more information available at darrylbodle.com. Mixing commercial and middle-density residential spaces along the corridor has the potential to make the street more active at all hours of the day and create an active streetscape as people walk to local destinations for basic needs. These townhouses are blocks away from Fred Meyer’s grocery store, restaurants, coffee shops, and retail destinations. Expect these units to sell to new residents throughout the remainder of 2025 and into 2026.
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