91视频

A suburban housing development called Findley Heights is looking to meet demand for high-end homes in Washington County for employees of growing companies such as Nike and Columbia Sportswear, and other major corporations such as Intel.

Findley Heights encompasses 81 buildable lots. That’s split between West Hills Homes Northwest, owned by Vic and Wally Remmers, and Arbor Homes, led by longtime home builder Dennis Sackhoff. Arbor has 41 lots, while West Hills Homes Northwest has 40.

The development is in unincorporated Washington County in the Bethany-Bonny Slope area, just north of Findley Elementary School. The highly rated area schools are a draw for buyers, Vic Remmers said.

Homes range from about $600,000 to $1.3 million.

Many buyers are moving up from smaller homes, said Jim Chapman, Arbor’s general manager. That, coupled with in-migration for professionals taking high-paying jobs in Washington County, is providing demand.

鈥淭here’s still very much a shortage of homes for the increase in population and jobs and so forth,鈥� Chapman said. 鈥淏ut the whole region is made up of micro-markets.鈥�

In suburban Washington County, Chapman said, 鈥渋t’s very strong. We’re able to sell everything that we build. So we’re building at a very deliberate pace to match the labor that’s available.鈥�

Both Arbor and West Hills Homes Northwest are dealing with the labor shortage that is slowing projects around the metro region.

鈥淭hat’s a struggle a lot of home builders are dealing with right now, just having the manpower to get your housing built in a timely fashion,鈥� Remmers said.

Both builders are using longtime subcontractors instead of trying to forge new relationships.

鈥淲e have a very professional and loyal contractor base, so we just work to maintain that and match their capabilities, rather than overcook it and wear them out,鈥� Chapman said. 鈥淲e’re doing essentially a house a week. If we tried to do five houses a month, we would struggle to make that happen.鈥�

For Remmers, suburban single-family homes are a relatively new market. He created West Hills Homes Northwest in November 2015 to differentiate the product from his urban Portland offerings, which are built by another entity, Everett Custom Homes.

鈥淚t’s two different products we’re doing,鈥� Remmers said. 鈥淲e thought creating a different brand for this more suburban-type development would be effective.鈥�

In addition to Findley Heights, Remmers recently built six homes in nearby Arbor Heights. All of those homes have sold. He’s also building 20 homes at North Bethany Creek. And at Norwest Cornell Road and 102nd Avenue, Remmers has built infrastructure in an 11-lot subdivision and plans to build homes this winter.

After several years developing homes in urban Portland, Remmers said working with Washington County was relatively simple.

鈥淚t’s dramatically easier to build out here,鈥� Remmers said. 鈥淚n the inner city, you’re building into existing infrastructure. The city of Portland permitting process is unbelievably different. It’s a night-and-day difference.鈥�

In the Washington County suburbs, 鈥測ou can definitely build more houses and get the permits in place and move forward faster,鈥� he said.

North Bethany still has buildable parcels, and the massive South Hillsboro area is just getting off the ground.

鈥淣orth Bethany has still got a fair amount of parcels left,鈥� Chapman said. 鈥淭here’s a little bit of relief out there, although they end up being expensive because the fees are high and the land is high and the cost of construction is high.鈥�

In Portland, Remmers is close to finishing Hawthorne 31, a four-story apartment complex at Southeast 31st Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard. A poke restaurant has signed on for part of the 4,000-square-foot retail space on the ground floor. That’s topped by 30 apartment units spread among three floors.

Remmers has faced criticism from some neighbors for his projects in historic areas such as Eastmoreland, where residents banded together to oppose a development that would have led to cutting towering sequoias.

Remmers is also developing a concept for affordably priced, market-rate condominium homes. Remmers is aiming to price the units at $299,000, a rarely seen price point in Portland, where single-family homes sold for a median price of $353,000 in August, according to RMLS, a real estate listing service.

鈥淲e’re trying to come up with some different ideas to build homes at a more affordable level,鈥� Remmers said.

Remmers got into the development business through his father, longtime builder Wally Remmers. They remain partners in West Hills Homes Northwest and Everett Custom Homes. One of Vic’s brothers, Lee, is a project superintendent. Another brother, Mike Remmers, is an NFL football player for the Carolina Panthers. Vic Remmers himself played basketball at Oregon State University.

He said he enjoys working with his family on projects. 鈥淚t’s fun to get to work with my dad and my brother every day,鈥� he said.