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The owner of a 14-story apartment building in Portland’s Hollywood District is planning to spend $9.6 million on renovations and improvements.

Home Forward and Home Forward Development Enterprises Corp. have applied to the Portland Bureau of Development Services for a commercial building permit to perform voluntary seismic improvements, site improvements, a remodel and improvements to the mechanical, electrical and plumbing components of Hollywood East.

This Section 8 apartment community, at 4400 N.E. Broadway, has 286 studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. The building’s waiting list gives preference to prospective tenants who are 55 or older or have a disability. In order to qualify for a unit, a candidate may not earn more than 50 percent of the area median family income for their family size. Hollywood East residents pay rent equal to 28.5 percent of their monthly income, according to Home Forward Public Affairs Director Shelley Marchesi.

The renovations are part of an $80 million project, called 85 Stories, that involves improvements at 10 high-rise apartment buildings; combined, they have 85 stories of affordable housing. The project will be completed in phases. Phase one will include renovations to Hollywood East, Gallagher Plaza at 2140 N.W. Kearney St., Northwest Tower at 335 N.W. 19th Ave. and Sellwood Center at 1724 S.E. Tenino St. Construction is scheduled to begin on phase one in February 2015, according to Marchesi.

Residents will shuffle between buildings and units to accommodate renovations without permanent displacement.

鈥淎s people have moved out through natural attrition, we’ve allowed those units to stay vacant in anticipation of the renovations,鈥� Marchesi said. 鈥淭he idea is to move people within their buildings as often as possible.鈥�

Home Forward staffers are developing strategies to secure money for renovations to the remaining six properties in the 85 Stories initiative. Those are: Dahlke Manor at 915 N.E. Schuyler St., Holgate House at 4601 S.E. Cesar Chavez Blvd., Medallion Apartments at 1969 N.W. Johnson St., Ruth Haefner Plaza at 6005 S.W. Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, Schrunk Riverview Tower at 8832 N. Syracuse St. and Williams Plaza at 2041 N.W. Everett St.