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Opportunity is being pursued along the waterfront in Northwest Portland.

One multifamily project is in the works and potential exists for two others along the quarter-mile stretch of Northwest Front Avenue between the Fremont Bridge and Northwest Sherlock Avenue. Altogether, the developments could total nine buildings and more than 400 units.

Plans are preliminary for two of the projects, but Lee Novak, the director of development for Fore Property Co. in Las Vegas, sees his as the next link in the Pearl District’s evolution.

鈥淲e really think the Pearl District is moving to the north end,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is really a special opportunity to connect the Pearl and the Northwest to the riverfront and expand those connections.鈥�

The company is planning to build four five-story, 55-unit buildings between Northwest Front Avenue and Riverscape Street. The buildings will abut the Riverscape townhomes, which Apollo Development built in 2005.

Fore is under contract to purchase the four lots from the Holt Group, which also owns the vacant lot directly north of the Fremont Bridge. In September, Holt presented the city a proposal to construct a six-story, 149-unit multifamily building on that site. However, Scott Miller, vice president of land acquisitions for the company, said Holt has no intention of moving forward at this time, and would likely look to sell the property to interested developers.

Charlie Kleier, a principal and director of Vancouver, Wash. production for NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, was involved in listing the lots. He said Holt has an investment pool it uses to make quality purchases of distressed properties.

Holt, via the Holt Distressed Property Fund, in 2010 began paying between $1 million and $3 million for the distressed parcels, according to PortlandMaps. Kleier said the lots were slated for development by previous owners, but those plans fell through.

A multifamily development also is being considered for the triangle-shaped parcel bound to the west and east by Northwest 17th and Front avenues. Initial concepts envision four buildings with residential, commercial and live-work units, and below-grade parking for approximately 200 vehicles, according to a pre-application conference notice filed with the city. That meeting is scheduled for March 26.

Meghan Hill, director of marketing for Guardian Real Estate Services LLC, a real estate development and investment firm in Portland that is serving as the project owner’s representative, said the concept is preliminary and could change as various options are weighed. The project’s designer is Myhre Group Architects.

The Riverscape project will be Fore’s first foray into the Portland market. The company specializes in multifamily development.

鈥淲e think it’s an up-and-coming opportunity that has been overlooked by a lot of the national developers,鈥� Novak said of Northwest Portland. 鈥淚t has not gotten the attention like, say, Seattle 鈥� so we think it’s an overlooked and underappreciated market.鈥�

Novak said the plan is to price the units for a bit less than comparable apartments in the Pearl. Each building will have underground parking with slightly fewer than one parking space per unit.

Robert Leeb of Leeb Architects said the four buildings’ exterior facades will feature a combination of fiber cement, brick and galvanized metal to play up some of the neighborhood’s industrial motifs. Leeb also is working with the Regional Arts & Culture Council to incorporate public art at the site.

Mark Walhood, a planner for the Bureau of Development Services, said Fore’s development will actually be the first in the city to take advantage of a floor area ratio bonus that was created in the early 1990s. Through the program, developers who spend 1 percent of their budget on public art qualify for a one-to-one boost in FAR.

Fore is planning to invest $250,000 to $300,000 in public art for its $25 million to $30 million project, and will be able to expand its total square footage from approximately 158,000 to 230,000.

Leeb said the idea is to connect the development with others to the west.

鈥淚 think that as the Northwest develops 鈥� over by Con-way, and as the Northwest starts growing toward Front Avenue, I think it’s going to be an east meets west kind of thing,鈥� Leeb said. 鈥�17th (Avenue) is really a connection to the neighborhood, and I think that’s going to make the river seem a lot closer to all the commercial development that is happening in the Northwest.鈥�

Initial reviews from neighborhood stakeholders have been mixed. John Bradley, planning committee chairman for the Northwest District Association, said neighbors thought the design was attractive but that they wanted the riverfront theme to be more prominent and help create a sense of place.

鈥淚t doesn’t really relate very well to the water and its setting,鈥� Bradley said.

Those thoughts will soon be vetted by the city. Fore and Leeb Architects on Thursday will present the project to the Portland Design Commission. Walhood said the city, in a staff report to the commissioners, recommends that the project be approved entirely.

Novak said he hopes to break ground in mid-June, with units available for lease 14 months later.

鈥淗opefully it’s the start of quite a few (projects) in the area,鈥� he said.