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Residential development is booming in Beaverton, and the city is spurring growth in its downtown by selling or leasing land to developers.

Cheryl Twete, Beaverton’s community development director, predicts that the city’s Old Town neighborhood will be dramatically transformed by development in the next five years. The city is stimulating it by buying property there and sponsoring residential development competitions.

One development competition site is an entire city block at Southwest First and Lombard streets. A four-story apartment building, The Barcelona at Beaverton, being built there by nonprofit Community Partners for Affordable Housing will offer rent-controlled senior housing. A second four-story building called La Scala, with more market-based rents, will be built on the same block by RKM Development Inc.

Construction of The Barcelona began in 2014 and is set for completion by the end of the year.

According to information at , the four-story building will hold 41 one-bedroom units, three two-bedroom units and three studios. The building will include community rooms, an office and laundry rooms. Eight of the units will be fully accessible, including one with features to aid individuals with sight or hearing impairments. Each unit will have an outdoor balcony and be oriented to maximize views and natural light.

Most La Scala units will be market rate, but some will be affordable, with rents in the range of 60 to 120 percent of median income, said Tyler Ryerson, Beaverton’s senior development project manager.

Jeff Oberst, construction manager for RKM Development, said his company will break ground on the La Scala development in June and that construction will last about a year. The building will be mixed use, with 44 apartment units over 5,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor.

Old Town is prime for development, Twete said, with 鈥済ood bones鈥� like good streets and sidewalks.

鈥淥ur Old Town is on a street grid much like the east side of Portland with a mix of uses,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t feels like a downtown and it feels urban.鈥�

The city is also working with Rembold Properties to build an 85-unit market-rate multifamily building on city-owned land in Old Town at First and Angel streets with ground-floor commercial spaces, Twete said.

鈥淩embold will buy the land at closing when they are ready to start development,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e bought the property and helped relocate businesses, did some cleanup and made it development ready.鈥�

With both developments at the First and Lombard block, the city will retain ownership of the land but lease it long-term.

鈥淭here is a big need for housing here, but we are being very strategic in what we want to strengthen and activate in our Old Town area,鈥� Twete said. 鈥淲e want to make sure we provide housing for a whole range of people.鈥�

Private developers are also busy in Old Town, Twete said, planning for a 70-unit apartment complex between Franklin and Tucker streets.

鈥淚t’s a great site and developers recognize there’s a desire that people want to live closer in to transit and the urban core,鈥� she said.

That shows the city investment is paying off, Twete said.

鈥淭he city is taking the lead by sponsoring a couple of projects and the private sector is following suit and moving forward with their own projects,鈥� she said.

The only holdups to development in downtown Beaverton, she said, are old families hesitant to give up land to development.

鈥淏eaverton is an old farming community founded in the 1800s,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have a lot of history in the community and several families have held their property for generations.鈥�

But the markets and community have changed, she said, and the land is not farmland any more. Twete said the city is working with those families to see if agreements can be reached to open their land up for development.

鈥淲e want to change from an emotional discussion about land to doing something good for the community,鈥� she said.

Beaverton watches Portland 鈥減retty carefully鈥� to see what works, Twete said, and like Portland, Beaverton is trying to attract a young workforce with specific needs.

鈥淲e hear CEOs talking about proximity to transit or where employees can go to lunch or run errands on their lunch hour,鈥� Twete said. 鈥淚t’s mind-boggling in an exciting way and creates a lot of new opportunities.鈥�

Beaverton is always looking for new opportunities, but in a systematic way. After three years of an extensive public process, the city recently adopted the Creekside District Master Plan for 50 acres in downtown.

As part of that master plan vision, the city recently closed acceptance for requests for qualifications for development of its Westgate site. The city and Metro own the four-acre site, which is adjacent to the city’s central light rail station. Three RFQs have been received, Twete said, and Beaverton City Council will consider them in early June.

Also, in 2011 Beaverton adopted an urban redevelopment plan that Twete said is just now beginning to generate tax increment dollars to help the city foster more development.

鈥淣ext year we are expecting over $1 million (in tax increment money),鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow we can go out and implement policy directions established by the (city) council and create an urban renewal plan and decide how to spend the (dollars).鈥�

Up to 49 percent of the tax increment money can be spent on infrastructure, she said. It can also be spent on development and redevelopment, but not on public buildings.

As Portland grows, so Beaverton grows, Twete said, but Beaverton has some advantages, like lower rents and land values, and a city government actively involved in development.

鈥淲e view as our job to work with the development community and help ease some of the risks or concerns,鈥� she said. 鈥淧ave the way and others will follow.鈥�