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The fabric of the Lents neighborhood, in Southeast Portland, is changing as quickly as the rest of the city, as new residents pour in and trendy businesses open up shop.

This is especially evident at a key crossroads 鈥� Southeast Foster Road and 92nd Avenue, near Interstate 205. There, a host of new mixed-use projects have sprung up over the past three years, replacing past fixtures such as the New Copper Penny nightclub with hundreds of units of affordable housing and even a new brewery.

Instead of shiny new glass and metal, however, the newest addition to the neighborhood recalls the Roosevelt-era Public Works Administration and legendary singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, who lived in Lents briefly while writing songs about the Bonneville Dam and other public works projects.

Walsh Construction is building Woody Guthrie Place, a four-story, 64-unit affordable housing project designed by Carleton Hart Architecture, at 5800 S.E. 91st Ave. Its natural wood exterior will set it apart from neighboring properties, while also recalling the rustic character of the places Guthrie once wrote about.

鈥淗e lived probably two blocks from here during the time that they were building the dams,鈥� said Earl Carson, Carleton Hart Architecture’s lead designer for the project. 鈥淭he design came from that era of mobility and trains, so if you look at the detailing of the building it looks like a boxcar set off the ground and held off from each other at connecting points.鈥�

The development team is a consortium of nonprofits and public agencies led by Rose Community Development, Home Forward, Prosper Portland and the Portland Housing Bureau.

Woody Guthrie Place is intended to provide Lents-area families affordable workforce housing. It adds to the adjacent neighborhood of single- and multifamily housing with a blend of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, a community room, an outdoor plaza, a play area and a rooftop deck.

Plans call for 15 units to be made eligible for Section 8 vouchers, as well as four one-bedroom, seven two-bedroom and five three-bedroom units reserved for households with incomes at or below 30 percent of area median income. Also, 48 of the units funded by Prosper Portland will be held for tenants with incomes up to 80 percent and 100 percent of area median income.

The project is part of a massive wave of development taking place in Lents, spurred in part by Portland urban renewal dollars.

鈥淭here were a lot of interesting discussions happening early on in this project about this massive rush of redevelopment where it’s just an instant neighborhood,鈥� Carleton Hart Architecture principal Brian Carleton said. 鈥淎nd in some ways that’s a good thing. It’s been very sudden in a place that desperately needed redevelopment.鈥�

Rose Community Development is dedicated to revitalizing outer Southeast Portland. Woody Guthrie Place is one project that stands out, according to the group’s housing developer, Erik Pattison.

鈥淚 think this is a little more unique, because it’s the first mixed-income project that Rose has done,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think the focus here is for transit and creating a new community node in the neighborhood.鈥�

The project was designed both with a sense of history in mind and awareness of the need to serve working-class families, Carleton said.

鈥淭here is a neighborhood there, there is a culture there, and I really feel the Woody Guthrie project started with an understanding of that culture,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o, the way this development is programmed is with the idea that it’s here to serve families in the neighborhood.鈥�