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BRIDGE Housing is planning to build a $41.5 million mixed-use apartment complex called the Abigail at Block 27, which is bordered by Northwest Raleigh Street and 13th Avenue. The nonprofit announced in December that it was weighing whether to purchase the block from Hoyt Street Properties for the project; construction at the time was contingent upon funding from the PHB.

Now, BRIDGE is aiming to break ground in the first quarter of 2014 on a development slightly smaller than projected initially.

The PHB has not yet determined the amount of money to be allocated for the project. Jaymee Cuti, the bureau’s public information officer, said that number would be identified after the underwriting process.

The PHB funding was secured via an annual competitive process called the Notice of Funding Availability. Other projects identified for financial support include Innovative Housing’s renovation of the Erickson-Fritz building in Old Town Chinatown into a 52-unit affordable apartment complex, and Hacienda CDC’s preservation of the Villa de Clara Vista for 26 family-size, low-income homes in the Cully neighborhood. The PHB has reserved $14 million in total for these projects, and will finalize program investments in the coming months.

The Abigail will provide 123 affordable units for individuals earning between $14,600 and $29,160, or for families of four earning between $20,800 and $41,640. Approximately 72 percent of the units will have either two or three bedrooms.
BRIDGE sees the Abigail as a jumping-off point for the rest of the region.

“We weren’t looking at this as getting into the Portland market,” said Lyn Hikida, director of communications and media for the nonprofit. “We were looking at it as getting into the Pacific Northwest region as a whole. We think there are a lot of synergies between BRIDGE and the type of development we do, and what’s going on in the region: urban infill, mass transit, bike and pedestrian travel … Those are all ingredients that are very familiar to BRIDGE, and it sounds like there’s a lot of that going on in the Pacific Northwest.”

Ankrom Moisan Architects is designing the six-story building. It is named for Abigail Scott Duniway, an Oregon activist who was instrumental in the women’s suffrage movement in 1912.