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A new affordable housing project rising in Northeast Portland is being built to serve the region’s Native American population.

Nesika Illahee, meaning 鈥淥ur Place鈥� in the Chinook language, is a collaborative development effort by the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), the Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest (NARA), Community Development Partners, and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

The historic project marks the first time these groups have partnered to construct affordable housing for tribal members in Portland. The building is being funded in large part through the Siletz Tribe’s Indian Housing Block Grant, which has traditionally been used to build housing within reservation lands.

The three-story, wood-framed building was designed by Carleton Hart Architecture and is being constructed by LMC Construction on a 0.64-acre parcel at the corner of Northeast Holman Street and 42^nd Avenue.

Currently, crews with the Muirlands Corp. and Juan Luis Morales Construction are framing the ground floor atop a slab-on-grade concrete foundation. The building is being outfitted with prefabricated panels from Pacific Wall Systems.

The soils on the property have proved challenging, according to LMC Construction superintendent Tim Williams, forcing crews to employ three feet of over-excavation below each concrete footer.

The 59-unit building will contain 13 studio apartments, 30 one-bedrooms, nine two-bedrooms, and seven three-bedroom units. An exterior plaza and large community room are intended to bring together residents and the surrounding neighborhood, while on-site counseling services will be provided for those in NARA’s rehabilitation program.

Large folding doors and a prominent wood trellis are intended to transition the interior community room to the hardscaped plaza outside. There, curvilinear benches and radial concrete scoring will decorate the space.

Exterior materials are intended to lend a more residential feel to the building with board and batten along neighborhood side streets and wood panels along 42nd Avenue. Elsewhere, carved wood columns, painted murals and additional Native artwork will decorate the building, while designers envision both the lobby and community room as storytelling spaces.

Outside, the plaza will look to fill that same role, while on-site amenities such as a garden, a community room with kitchen and an exterior plaza with bench seating will also be included.

The project is slated for substantial completion this November.