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Often, with new development comes displacement. Portland developer Aaron Jones is counting on it.

Together with SERA Architects, Jones recently submitted a building permit application for a 74-unit, mixed-use apartment project at Southeast 48^th Avenue and Division Street. As the rash of new development continues along lower Division Street, Jones foresees retailers pushing east, and plans to build a place for them – as well as tenants/customers – to land.

Some neighbors, however, remain wary for familiar reasons.

“It’s not as crazy as 39^th or 37^th, but we like that,” Jones said of the development site. “My theory is, all that stuff going on is pushing the cool retailers out for new retail. It’s happening, and I think it will push some of those retailers and some of those users up to between 39^th and 50^th.

The transition is already taking place.

Village Merchants, for example, used to be located on the corner of Southeast Division and 33^rd Place. Urban Development Partners is now turning that site into apartments, so Village merchants moved to a new building at the corner of Southeast Division and 41^st – just a few blocks west of other hip hangouts taking root on upper division, like Petite Provence, the Landmark Saloon and Mi Mero Mole.

Jones is planning a four-story project with about 1,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. The units aren’t quite micro, but they’re small in order to make the market-rate project more affordable. They range in size from 375 to 500 square feet, and the developer anticipates rents between $695 and $995 per month.

That’s the sweet spot, Jones said, for first-time renters who want to live close in to the city but can’t afford to get closer. The project is also being marketed ideally to tenants without cars, and will not provide any parking.

That is drawing the ire of some nearby residents.

Allen Field, chair of the Richmond Neighborhood Association, said initial responses have been mixed. While most people liked the project’s appearance, some were disappointed to see yet another apartment project without parking. Not speaking for the neighborhood, Field personally questioned whether the savings from not providing parking would really get passed on to neighbors, and took issue with the size of the units.

“These will be 400 square feet,” he said. “That’s like the size of the kitchen I’m in right now, and they’re going to be close to $1,000 (per month). That’s not cheap. That’s not affordable.”

It is, however, the going rate in Portland.

According to Multifamily NW’s spring apartment report, the average rent per square foot for a 500-square-foot studio apartment in inner and central Southeast Portland is $1.82 per square foot – or $910- per month. With a 2.9 percent vacancy rate in the same area, and 3.55 percent vacancy rate throughout the market, overall rents in Portland have increased 4 percent from a year ago.

Not everyone has a problem with the project’s lack of parking. Kate Carone, a homeowner who lives near Southeast 50^th and Division Street, said she looks forward to the development and the vibrancy it will bring to the still relatively sleepy area along upper Division.

“All these restaurants, they’re not good for our waistlines, but they’re good for our property values,” she said of new neighborhood haunts that have popped up in the past year.

Carone has a degree in urban planning and works for a nonprofit organization downtown. She bikes about 11 miles to and from work each day, and chooses not to own a car. When she needs to go to the hardware store, or the like, she rents a Zipcar.

It’s an environmental decision based on what she feels is her responsibility as a member of a dense urban community. She said she’s not alone.

“People that are motivated to come out (against no-parking developments) are the ones who are upset,” she said. “The people who are under-represented at (neighborhood) meetings are the younger demographic: renters who don’t have as vested an interest, but are still impacted; single parents that can’t make plans to go to a two-hour meeting on a Monday night that goes until 9 p.m.”

Kurt Schultz, a principal at SERA Architects, the project’s designer, said parking simply wouldn’t fit on the small, 100- by 120-foot site. He said a report by Kittleson & Associates Inc. also showed that street parking utilization along upper Division was just 20 to 25 percent, as compared to 50 to 70 percent on lower Division.

But because it’s in a quieter part of the neighborhood, Jones’ project will need to step back where it runs up against residential properties. Fourth-story corner units overlooking single-family homes will be chopped down to three-story balconies. The building also puts outdoor communal deck space on the Division Street side in order to shield neighbors from noise, while bringing activity to the main corridor.

Field still wonders about the long-term impacts.

“It’s causing age gentrification,” he said. “There are 450 units coming to Division. They’re all going to be for a younger crowd because they’re all tiny. It is going to cause a shift over time. It’s going to force people that have been in their homes for a long time and who are on fixed incomes (to leave).”

Schultz said the façade will have a light, Northwest, contemporary design with wood siding and other differentiating materials to break down the mass. Jones may or may not apply for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, but the project will be built to the program’s gold standards.

Like other developments along Division, Jones’ project will displace some old businesses, though mostly food carts. He’s working to incorporate some of them into the new building if possible.

As Village Merchants owner Marcee Meijer can attest, moving can be bittersweet. She ran her business at the Southeast 33^rd Place for 15 years before moving.

“That little building had a lot of memories there,” she said. “We were able to do a lot of stuff there – it was amazing how we had utilized every square inch. But then having even more space now, I have to admit, it’s not so sad.”