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Andrew Colas, president and second-generation owner of Colas Construction, has always wanted to see his company’s sign on the heavily traveled stretch of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He considers selection of his firm to serve as general contractor for an $8 million project in the corridor a milestone, professionally and personally.

“We’re an African-American-owned construction company,” he said. “I drive through Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard pretty much on a daily basis, and as a contractor I’ve always wished you could see a construction company that is African-American building on this historic street. It’s something that has a lot of meaning.”

The Portland Development Commission earlier this week announced that Majestic Realty Co. chose Colas Construction to build the planned Trader Joe’s development at the northwest corner of Northeast MLK Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street. There will be two buildings totaling 20,000 square feet and surface parking for 100 vehicles; one building will house Trader Joe’s, and the other will hold smaller retailers.

The project has been a source of debate since November, when PDC commissioners voted to sell the 1.79-acre property at a huge discount to Majestic Realty. While nearby business owners hailed the project, other community stakeholders began rallying in opposition, arguing that it would contribute to ongoing gentrification.

On Wednesday, Dedrick Muhammad, the senior director of the NAACP National Economic Department, published a in the Huffington Post that spotlighted the proposed development, as well as Portland, as a case study in gentrification and economic disparity. On Monday, the Portland African American Leadership Forum will hold a press conference at the development site to discuss those issues, as well as possible development alternatives. PAALF declined to comment on the selection of Colas Construction as general contractor.

Colas is acutely aware of that debate, but said the selection of his company to manage construction of the project will give him the opportunity to distribute work to other minority contractors.

“We probably talked to four to six different contractors over the last few months,” said Phillip Brown, a project manager for Majestic Realty. “Colas was one of those, and they came recommended to us both by business owners at Vanport (Square), as well as a few other people in town … We felt like Colas was the most qualified.”

Brown said Colas Construction’s status as a minority-owned business did not sway Majestic’s decision. Its agreement with the PDC, he said, stipulated that a certain percent of the contractors hired would be minority-owned, women-owned, and emerging small business certified.

As to the possibility of the development becoming mixed use, Brown said Majestic does not do residential development, and that the company’s plan is based on a study conducted by the PDC in 2000 identifying a need for a grocery store on the site. He said Majestic has performed a huge amount of community outreach in recent weeks to determine whether that plan is still valid.

“I know 100 percent of the people aren’t going to agree with us as to what should be on that site,” he said. “That’s why we’re trying to get a general consensus as to what the community wants. So far, especially in the last two weeks, we’ve had a significant amount of support from residents and people saying, ‘Hey, we like what you’re doing. Please do it. Don’t give up on this project.’ ”

Incidentally, Aneshka Dickson, the vice president and chief financial officer of Colas Construction, and Colas’ sister, is also a PDC commissioner. She said, however, that there is no conflict of interest in this case because she recused herself early on from the PDC’s decision-making process.

“If there’s any job that could be a potential conflict of interest, even if we’re just looking at it, or bidding it, or talking to someone – it might have nothing to do with the PDC – I always just want to be very careful that construction work that we look at or consider, that I don’t vote,” she said.

While Colas has partnered with R&H Construction on several larger projects in the past, Dickson said the company is taking this one on alone. It won’t be the firm’s largest project – her father once managed a $13 million project in Gresham – but it’s perhaps the most significant.

“I think it’s the largest in terms of the impact for a company like ours because we’re working with a national firm,” she said. “It’s also on the boulevard, and when people of color are constantly going down that street, and you see a lot of development, and projects happening, there’s a certain desire that you have to be a part of that.”