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A new apartment building for low-income residents in the Pearl District will have more than twice as many units as planned originally if revised plans are approved.

Original plans called for a six-story building with 40 units of affordable housing. The new plans, also preliminary, call for a 12-story building and 93 units of affordable housing.

The project’s developer, Innovative Housing Inc., is planning to present the new plans to the Pearl District Neighborhood Association on March 1, said Julie Garver, the nonprofit’s housing development director.

When plans for the development on the northeast corner of Northwest Raleigh Street and 14th Avenue were submitted to the Portland Housing Bureau initially, a couple of options were given for increased density, Garver said.

鈥淭he PHB decided it would like more density on the site and asked us to formalize that (bigger) proposal,鈥� she said.

Innovative Housing Inc. was selected by the Portland Housing Bureau to develop the site, which the city bought last year from Hoyt Street Properties for $1.3 million.

The project will be financed by low-income tax credits 鈥� 鈥渁 financing tool that works well on a large project like this,鈥� Garver said.

Construction is expected to start in 2017.

Another change to original plans is a courtyard move, said project manager Dave Turville of LRS Architects. LRS is designing the building in complete collaboration with Salazar Architect, a new Portland firm.

“They have done a fantastic job,” Turville said.

Salazar Architect is designing the building’s shell and common interior spaces, and LRS Architects is the architect of record and is handling project management and design of apartment spaces.

鈥淭he previous plan had the courtyard on the street, and this (plan) moves the courtyard to the interior 鈥� the northeast corner of the site,鈥� Turville said. 鈥淭he building will wrap around two sides of the play area for kids and there will be indoor and outdoor play areas.鈥�

Other amenities will include a small rooftop terrace with a kitchenette for residents, a laundry room, and bicycle parking with a wash and repair station. Originally, the apartments would have been studios or have one or two bedrooms; now, plans call for apartments with one, two or three bedrooms, Turville said. One-bedroom units will be between 500 and 600 square feet, two-bedroom units will be around 800 square feet and three-bedroom units will be between 1,000 and 1,100 square feet, he said.

The building will be constructed on a small vacant lot, Turville said.

鈥淚t’s pretty compact, but it will be nice housing for people,鈥� he said.

All rental rates for the apartments will be in the affordable range, Garver said. Targeted tenants will be families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Kurt Creager, director of the Portland Housing Bureau, said he is pleased with the design and that a decision was made to use all available public funding for the project.

鈥淲e have so few properties in that area that we are trying to maximize public value for a mix of homeless families and the downtown workforce,鈥� he said.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the roles of the architecture firms involved in the project.