Tag: IRCO

New Residence

Glisan Landing Opening to Residents

On April 11th, project leaders and development participants gathered to celebrate the opening of Glisan Landing at NE 74th Avenue and Glisan Street. The event occurred as residents continued to move into the two buildings offering 137 affordable housing units. Transforming a 1.65-acre underutilized commercial property into housing required many partner organizations, and the 2018 voters approved Metro Housing Bond. The project also faced funding constraints beyond the developer’s expectation after Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) determined the project was not exempt from the higher labor rates of prevailing wage rate laws.

The property once housed a grocery store but later became the transmission facility for the Trinity Broadcasting Network before Oregon Metro bought the site in 2019. In June 2023, demolition crews razed the single-story building. They began constructing the first two buildings focused on housing with storefront space for Stone Soup culinary training center and supportive ground floor resident amenities. A third building under construction on the south end of the site will house the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization’s (IRCO) free preschool in a single-story structure. In December 2024, residents started moving into the first building, offering 41 units of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). Catholic Charities of Oregon runs Beacon at Glisan Landing apartments at 7450 NE Glisan Street. That nonprofit jointly owns the four-story PSH building with Related Northwest as part of the public-private partnership that made this project possible.

Related Northwest partnered with IRCO for the 96-unit C-shaped building Aldea at Glisan Landing. That four-story development recently started moving people in and is nearly 50% leased. It features many family-sized units with secure ground-floor parking containing enough stalls for its higher-capacity residences. However, developers constructed this site with the support of Metro’s Transit-Oriented Development Program (TOD), which stimulates high-density housing development within frequent transit corridors like NE Glisan Street, accommodating residents who live car-free. Aldea reserves its units for people earning at or below 60% Area Median Income (AMI). That threshold is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) determined rate by region adjusted by family size. The leasing company will also hold 15 of Aldea’s 96 units for people earning up to 30% AMI. Operators also reserve all of Beacon at Glisan Landing’s 41 PSH units for people making up to 30% AMI.

Although designed for income-restricted residents, this complex features amenities not seen in many market-rate units east of the City center. Residents have access to indoor and outdoor exercise equipment, a youth reading room, a computer lab, a teen lounge, and a fiber studio with sewing machines and work tables. Residents can access onsite laundry rooms on each residential floor, and in-unit washers and dryers are available in the three and four-bedroom apartments. The fenced central courtyard contains play equipment and a garden trail alongside seating. A ground-floor breezeway at the south gap between the two parking garages leads to the preschool and its adjacent community garden space. Designers wanted to connect the residents with the community in the building while allowing neighbors living outside Glisan Landing opportunities to interact with the site through its natural spaces. The building features several exterior murals by Jeremy Nichols (Plastic Birdie), with two visible from NE 75th and 74th Avenues. Muralist Alicia Schultz (Vine & Thistle) produced interior artwork warming the space for residents. Colorful punched metal screens obscure the parking while letting air flow through the courtyard.

Glisan Landing is a loosely integrated complex with shared spaces, but independent lots contain each building with differing ownership and financing. Related Northwest and its partners arranged the development’s structure to treat each building as an autonomous project with separate funding, general contractors, and other considerations. This approach has several operational benefits, but it also has the potential to save on labor by avoiding prevailing wage requirements for public works projects. Contractors hiring labor for government-funded projects over a specific budget are often required to pay a rate based on the average wage paid to similarly employed workers within a particular occupation. The prevailing wage requirement ensures that low-bid rules on government-funded projects do not use the power of public money to suppress labor rates. However, many affordable housing projects with participation from for-profit developers are not always financially sound when paying the prevailing wage. Consequentially, officials exempt completely affordable development from paying the prevailing wage. “Affordable housing will be non-prevailed if it’s 100% affordable, meaning 60% AMI or lower, four stories or less, and no ground floor commercial,” explained Stefanie Kondor, Executive Vice President of Related Northwest.

The development group’s experience with affordable housing led them to think BOLI would not require a prevailing wage workforce for the affordable housing buildings. However, two months before closing on the project, Kondor says BOLI informed the team that the free preschool was considered a commercial use and that the whole Glisan Landing complex would need to pay prevailing wage labor rates. It was challenging for the team that was looking at a ten to twenty percent increase in building costs, but they were able to bridge the gap and break ground. “We prevailed when we were prevailed,” remarked Kondor. Still, she feels Oregon has some work to do with its interpretation of prevailing wage rules. “The question becomes, is a preschool considered ground floor commercial, even if we’re not charging the residents to take care of the kids? Is that a commercial use, or is that a residential use benefiting the residential community?” said Kondor. “I think that is why you’re not seeing a lot of co-located preschools, and it’s a shame.” Studies often identify accessible childcare and early education as essential to improving a family’s success and future prosperity.

The Related Northwest team took on the budget challenge and continued with their plan, offering a high-quality, affordable housing development. “Even though we are for-profit, we are mission-driven. Every person in my office was formerly a nonprofit person,” explained Kondor. The group pursues projects based on their experience in the region and the guidance from nonprofits they partner with. Stefanie Kondor wanted to work on Glisan Landing because of her appreciation of the Montavilla neighborhood, and she is currently working on a project in her hometown of Seaside. “The places where we develop are places that we would want to live ourselves and want to be, that we feel that we can add value, that we can do something special,” said Kondor.

The Northwest division of Related develops housing projects in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. The group wants to take on more development in Portland and other areas of Oregon. However, the 2018 Metro Housing Bond has depleted its $652.8 million budget, significantly exceeding the delivery of its planned 3,900 affordable housing units. Taxpayers will continue to pay off the bond for over a decade, inhibiting another bond issuance without impacting the tax rate. If the community wants more affordable housing developments like Glisan Landing, Kondor feels that the region will need to recreate the funding conditions created by the 2018 Metro Housing Bond. “The partnership with Metro and Portland Housing Bureau came together with resources. If it was just one of them, I don’t think you could accomplish this [type of development]. Metro donating the land, they contributed TOD funds, infrastructure funds, and Metro bonds. The Portland Housing Bureau administers the housing bonds, and they do the property tax exemptions and the SDC (System Development Charge) waivers. All of those things really help make the project come to fruition.”

Kondor also attributes Glisan Landing’s success to the work of the stakeholder committee and support from local organizations like Vestal Elementary School, which has already seen enrollment expand due to the families moving into the housing complex. The Montavilla community will see more people living in NE Glisan as this building changes the dynamic of the street to support more human-scale and family-oriented activities.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Community, Construction, New Business

IRCO Free Preschool at Glisan Landing

As construction crews work four stories high on two affordable housing projects at Glisan Landing, developers are planning a third building on the site. Recently, the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) received conditional use approval for a new single-story preschool spanning a mid-block lot from NE 74th to 75th Avenues. The two-classroom building provides a buffer between the large multifamily buildings on NE Glisan Street and the single-family housing located south of the project while serving a vital community need.

Sitemaps from Land Use 23-073813 Case file

The proposed IRCO Early Learning Center will serve 36 to 40 students in a new 2,784-square-foot building. Preschool classes feature developmentally appropriate and culturally specific books, toys, and curriculum. The nonprofit organization will offer no-cost tuition for up to 40 families. This new facility follows IRCO’s work with a similar Multicultural Preschool in Washington County. IRCO will not limit student spaces to children living in Glisan Landing units but anticipates many families from the apartment complex will utilize their services.

Rendering from Land Use 23-073813 Case file showing building from NE 74th Ave

In addition to the two classrooms, the building offers a lobby, staff break room, office, kitchen, restrooms, and storage space. The building’s trapezoidal-shaped roof overhangs the base structure, covering portions of the outdoor play area at each end of the preschool. A continuous tree line along the southern property boundary creates a green buffer for residents living in the adjacent homes. A nine-bed community garden on the site’s NE 74th Avenue frontage will also provide more green space buffers. Glisan Landing residents will directly access the preschool property through a passageway from the complex’s central courtyard.

Rendering from Land Use 23-073813 Case file showing building from NE 75th Ave

The preschool building sits on its own lot owned by IRCO Glisan Preschool LLC and is not directly related to Glisan Landing. However, IRCO’s common ownership stake in both buildings will complement the culturally specific wraparound services offered to families living in the neighboring Aldea apartments. This section of the former Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) site that Oregon Metro acquired for affordable housing exists in a Residential 2,500 (R2.5) zone. Developers could not extend the four-story building created in a Commercial Mixed Use 2 (CM2) zone onto this parcel, creating an opportunity for a low-scale supportive use. This usage as a garden and daycare facility fits with the zoning standards for this land and helps transition the scale of the buildings from two-story single-family homes to a four-story development.

IRCO Executive Director Lee Po Cha during Glisan Landing’s groundbreaking ceremony

The land use review focused on an exception to the 15-foot landscape buffer required between institutional operations and residences. IRCO will provide a compliant hedge and tree screen but plans to build a 4-foot-wide maintenance pathway from a back door on the south side of the building to NE 75th Avenue in that buffer zone. That pathway would usually not comply with standards. In January, the Hearings Officer concluded that IRCO’s plans would meet the screening standards and approved the project to move forward to permitting.

Future preschool site filled with construction equipment

The IRCO Glisan Preschool site is currently used for construction staging by crews working on Glisan Landing. Work on the site’s third building will begin after the housing projects are further along. When completed, it will provide an active daytime use and a quiet evening buffer for residents living south of NE Glisan’s mixed-use developments. Expect more information on this building and its programming after crews break ground in the coming months.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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Community, Construction, New Residence

Glisan Landing Buildings Become Montavilla’s Tallest

This week, the two low-income buildings at NE 74th Avenue and Glisan Street became Montavilla’s tallest structures. Construction crews recently completed the roof framing atop the fourth floor, redefining the neighborhood’s skyline. Future residents of the upper floors will have unobstructed views of Mt. Tabor and the mostly low-slung streetscape surrounding this site. This development marks a change to area housing height and density with 137 new residences in a half-block site.

View South of Mt Tabor from Aldea unit

The two distinct apartment buildings under construction form Glisan Landing and serve different needs in the affordable housing market. Aldea is the larger of the two, spanning the entire width of a block between NE 74th and 75th Avenues in a “U” shape configuration. The building features 96 homes ranging in size from studios to four-bedroom units. Property managers will reserve 81 apartments for people making at or below the 60% median family income (MFI) level for Portland, with the remaining available to those earning 30% MFI. Beacon is a bar-shaped building on a quarter-acre lot carved out of the complex’s northwest corner. This building has 41 Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) units for those who were recently homeless or housing insecure. The structures encircle a center courtyard containing a play area and exercise loop.

Fiber and textile arts studio

The architects of this project placed all housing above the ground floor. Two parking garages under the southern portion of Aldea at Glisan Landing offer 56 stalls. Vehicle access parking on NE 74th or 75th Avenues. The northeast corner of the building next to the NE 75th Avenue garage contains culturally specific building amenities. The building’s co-owner, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), will anchor Aldea’s community space with a fiber and textile art studio in the corner room looking out onto NE Glisan Street. Residents can also access an adjacent multicultural reading room, teen room, and property management office. Designers placed a gated open wall courtyard facing NE 75th Avenue. The green space is accessed through the lobby, providing residents a secluded outdoor space. Over half of the units in this building have multiple bedrooms, providing the family-sized apartments often overlooked in affordable housing.

Planners placed the main entrance to both structures off NE Glisan Street in the gap between the new buildings. Site operators intend to keep gates to the property open during daytime hours when staff are in the resident services office facing the entrance. Although separate projects, Related Northwest is the co-owner and development partner for both buildings. That relationship helps create a cohesive site plan with shared resources and a communal space.

Beacon at Glisan Landing is co-owned by Catholic Charities and features the only storefront space in the complex. Non-profit Stone Soup will offer a barista and culinary training program from the ground-floor shop with a cafe open to the public. The northwest corner will have bar seating against big windows looking onto NE Glisan with bistro seating outside. Catholic Charities will provide case management and services to PSH tenants living on the three floors above the cafe. Each of the 41 studio apartments features tall ceilings and deep storage areas. The building provides a table, chairs, and a durable bed designed by Central City Concern in each unit. Beacon offers several Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant units accessed by an elevator, providing accessible housing for seniors and those with special mobility needs. 

View from Stone Soup cafe

Completing the vertical structure of a building is a significant construction milestone. It is the beginning of a shift to interior work and lets the community see the new structure’s placement in the skyline. Although four stories is not tall for city-scale buildings, these new structures stand above all others in the neighborhood and signal a new high-water mark for development. Crews with LMC Construction have many months of work ahead of them as developers expect them to complete Beacon this year and open Aldea to residents in 2025.

Article and phots by

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.

Entertainment, Event, View of Montavilla

Free Concert Rolls onto Mt Tabor

On August 20th, SoundsTruck NW will roll its new mobile stage to the summit of Mount Tabor for a free concert titled Mount Immigration. Performances will feature Illegal Son with Matthew Holmes and Joe Kye with Cory Limuaco starting at 1 p.m. The Sunday event is part of a site-inspired, cross-cultural summer concert series.

The free Mt. Tabor Park performance features trombonist and composer Illegal Son (Denzel Mendoza), followed by the award-winning musician, storyteller, and 2023 Oregon Arts Commission Fellow Joe Kye. The ensemble of accomplished musicians will draw on the movements of Mt. Tabor’s landscape to examine the nature of migration and immigration. Composed using personal experiences, the music and sounds capture an emotional interpretation of life labeled as an immigrant.

SoundsTruck NW created this public concert in partnership with the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) and Montavilla Jazz. The 90-minute event takes place atop Mt. Tabor at SE Harvey Scott Circle. People can access the site via the SE 69th Avenue stairs or a paved access road. Nearby parking is limited, so plan for some walking.

By

Jacob Loeb

Images in this article provided by SoundsTruck NW

“Musician and storyteller Joe Kye draws inspiration from the natural movements of Mt. Tabor’s lush, urban, mountain landscape. Joined by percussionist Cory Limuaco, he’ll perform original songs while weaving in improvisational moments, interacting with the audience and the park setting to create new sonic environments. Focusing on creativity, community, and identity, Kye’s work taps into an inner core, inspiring audiences to compassion and empathy. Drawing upon his immigrant upbringing, Kye weaves together electronic and acoustic textures, catchy melodies, and vocals to uplift and empower listeners. Trombonist and composer Denzel Mendoza is Illegal Son, and opens for Joe with bassist Matthew Holmes. A Filipino National born in Singapore, raised in Las Vegas, NV; studied in NYC, NY, and based in Portland, OR; Mendoza has lived in the United States for the majority of his life but yet, he continues to chase the American Dream. Since 2004, Mendoza has been an Undocumented Immigrant. Illegal Son is quite simply his emotional and vulnerable interpretation of life as Undocumented through sound and music.” – SoundsTruck NW –

Construction, Demolition, New Residence

TBN Demolition Clears Way for Affordable Housing

This week, demolition crews began deconstructing the former Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) building at 432 NE 74th Avenue. Last month, crews removed asbestos and cleared large portions of the asphalt parking lot surrounding the old television studio. Next week, project participants and funders will gather to officially commence construction on the 137 units of affordable housing planned for this site.

Developers split the residences across a pair of four-story buildings. The combined site will contain a wide assortment of apartments, from studio units to four-bedroom homes. The first building under construction is named Beacon at Glisan Landing. The bar-shaped building offers 41 units of permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless, low-income individuals earning at or below 30% Area Median Income (AMI). Catholic Charities of Oregon will own and operate this site with development support from Related Northwest.

As work is underway on the northwest corner of the expansive half-block property, crews will break ground on the second building called Aldea at Glisan Landing. That larger U-shaped building is co-owned by Related Northwest and Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization (IRCO). This structure will provide 96 apartments, with 41% of units available to people with a 30% AMI.

The Glisan Landing affordable housing development is part of a 2018 voter-approved Metro Housing Bond. Aldea and Beacon represent the sixth and seventh bond-created projects that put the regional housing effort on track to bring over 1,540 affordable homes to Portland, surpassing initial expectations. Ground floor commercial space included in these buildings will offer an onsite cafe with a culinary employment training program run by Stone Soup PDX.

Rendering of Beacon at Glisan Landing courtesy Related Northwest

These housing developments represent years of planning and community outreach with funding from Oregon Metro, Portland Housing Bureau, and Oregon Housing & Community Services. Over half the units offered in the Aldea building are family sizes with two, three, and four-bedroom homes available. Project planners made significant efforts to include onsite parking for residents, dedicating a large portion of the ground floor to vehicle storage. This design choice and other community-supporting amenities responded to neighbor requests. Construction crews expect to complete work on these buildings by May 2024. Expect temporary sidewalk closures and other building-related disruptions in the project area over the next 12 months.

Glisan Landing Groundbreaking ceremony June 12th, 2023

By

Jacob Loeb

Disclosure: The author of this article served on the Montavilla Neighborhood Association board during the community outreach phase of this project’s development and participated in some of those conversations.

Housing project’s site plan

Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscribers or sponsors. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.