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On a sunny day in May 2016, city leaders gathered at the future site of Gateway Discovery Park to celebrate breaking ground on a new community asset in the long-neglected East Portland neighborhood. The 3.2-acre park, now under construction, will offer amenities including a plaza, a skate park, lawn space and performance space. It is slated to open in the spring.

An adjacent mixed-use building from Gerding Edlen and Human Solutions will bring retail, office and apartment space.

The projects are among the most visible improvements in Gateway, where an urban renewal area was established in 2001. The URA expires in 2022. As time runs short to fund improvements in the area, city officials are working to invest the urban-renewal dollars in ways that lay the groundwork for later private development.

Public infrastructure is expected to come online in 2018. The park’s opening will be followed by a Portland Bureau of Transportation streetscape improvement project on Northeast Halsey and Weidler streets from 102nd Avenue to 114th Avenue. Construction on the streetscape project is anticipated to begin in spring or summer 2018.

Susan Kuhn, Prosper Portland‘s project manager for the Gateway area, said she’s noticed a recent uptick in calls from developers who are interested in opportunities in the Gateway area.

Real estate activity has also accelerated, said Fred Sanchez, a commercial broker in the area for more than three decades.

鈥淭he last two, three years, it has been absolutely the best years that we have ever seen, and we’ve been doing this since 1979,鈥� he said.

Sanchez’s Realty Property has a waiting list for space at 111th Square, a shopping center at Northeast 111th Avenue and Halsey Street. All 16 of the center’s retail spaces are occupied.

鈥淚t is the hottest demand for rental spaces that we’ve ever seen,鈥� Sanchez said. 鈥淚f I had another space for 16 businesses, I’d be able to fill it.鈥�

Gateway is home to a diverse community of people of color and recent immigrants and refugees. As with other Portland neighborhoods, residents fear being displaced by gentrification.

Prosper Portland’s Gateway Action Plan, adopted in 2016, calls for $20 million in investments in the urban renewal area, which encompasses 658 acres. City officials are eager to support small businesses along the Halsey and Weidler corridors.

Officials at the economic development agency point to Lents as a model, where three towering construction cranes are at work on various projects.

鈥淚 think there’s more coming to the Gateway area,鈥� Kuhn said. 鈥淥bviously, in Lents there’s been a tremendous amount, and we’ll see more of that in Gateway too.鈥�

The Gerding Edlen-Human Solutions project at Northeast 106th Avenue and Halsey Street will feature 75 apartments, with 35 at market rate and 40 affordable to families at or below 60 percent of area median income. Construction is expected to start in 2019.

In the design by Holst Architecture, ground-floor retail space will front the park’s plaza and Halsey Street. The second floor will host commercial space.

Another multifamily project has been proposed at 9747 N.E. Glisan Street. MWA Architects recently requested a pre-application conference for a four-story, 161-unit workforce housing development with 3,500 square feet of residential and community space.

The owner, Gateway Affordable LLC, is an entity connected to Walsh Construction executives John Wied, Robert Walsh and Matt Leeding. A spokeswoman for Walsh Construction said the executives were out for the holidays and not available to comment.

Officials with Gateway Baptist Church, at 13300 N.E. San Rafael Street, have sought city approval of a 2,717-square-foot addition. Myhre Group Architects is designing the project.

An urban winery, with a tasting room and production facilities, has been proposed for 10414 N.E. Halsey St. Currently, the small two-story building is a hardware store. Minor upgrades to the upstairs apartment are planned.

David Douglas School District also owns several undeveloped parcels in the URA, including land that formerly belonged to an Elks lodge. The Elks organization sold the property to the school district in 2015 for $3.8 million.

Recent projects in the neighborhood include Russellville Commons, Glisan Commons and the Oregon Clinic.

Gateway has plentiful retail, with Fred Meyer and WinCo Foods serving as anchors. It’s also well served by transit, with easy access from interstates 205 and 84 and three MAX light-rail lines.

However, the area has infrastructure challenges too, including limited infrastructure for bicyclists and areas with no sidewalks. The Portland Bureau of Transportation is planning a batch of projects known collectively as 鈥淕ateway to Opportunity鈥� to address those issues. The Halsey-Weidler streetscape project is expected to wrap up in winter 2018-19. Other projects include overcrossing improvements at I-205 and Halsey Street, reconfiguration of Northeast 102nd Avenue from Weidler Street to Fremont Street and reconfiguration of Glisan Street from 102nd Avenue to the city limits. PBOT is also focusing on connections for walking and bicycling across I-205 and I-84.

Prosper Portland also is looking to implement the Gateway Action Plan to spur private investment. Major aspects of the action plan include:

• backing additional mixed-income housing projects in the Gateway area,
• improving circulation near Gateway Transit Center,
• lowering floor-area ratio requirements to encourage private development, and
• creating a bike connection project (led by PBOT) to provide consistent bike transportation along Tillamook, Halsey, Oregon and Pacific streets.

Prosper Portland has made other small investments, including a fa莽ade improvement program that has freshened appearances at businesses along Halsey and Weidler streets. The agency also controls a $5 million opportunity fund to be used on Gateway area projects.

Sanchez said he’ll be watching to make sure local agencies maintain the improvements they make. If so, he said, 鈥淚’m very optimistic about the future for the area.鈥�