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Portland developer Cairn Pacific is moving forward with plans to construct eight small multifamily buildings near Forest Park in Northwest Portland.

The Northbound Collective development would feature cutting-edge architecture and building materials in a unique checkerboard site plan to maximize open space and corner units.

The buildings would be constructed of mass timber 鈥� either cross-laminated timber or mass-plywood panels 鈥� and range from 15 to 19 units. In total, the development would have approximately 144 units.

The concept is for something better than a typical apartment box, Cairn Pacific principal Noel Johnson said.

鈥淚n a post-COVID world, people will value their home even more,鈥� he said.

The proposed development is part of a roughly 3-acre group of properties Cairn Pacific has collected in the area of Northwest 29th Avenue and Roosevelt Street. Nearby, the firm is proposing to build 14 East Coast-style attached row houses. Those are being designed by local architect Richard Potestio.

For Northbound Collective, Johnson invited Waechter Architecture and Jones Architecture to split the design task. Each firm is designing four of the buildings. Each building is unique 鈥� similar to, but not quite like any other.

Johnson described the idea as 鈥渧ariations on a theme,鈥� as in classical music.

Each lot in the checkerboard layout will have no-build easement to create implied property lines and space for window openings on adjacent buildings.

鈥淲hat’s cool is that the combination of a scheme we worked on jointly 鈥� and then we each went our own direction in architecture 鈥� has resulted in something that’s much richer than we would have come up with collaboratively,鈥� said 鈥� Alan Jones, principal at Jones Architecture.

About 70 percent of the units will sit on building corners, far more than in a typical apartment building, providing more natural light and views.

鈥淲e’re able to put window openings on that property line fa莽ade,鈥� said Ben Waechter, principal of Waechter Architecture. 鈥淓ven though these are zero-lot-line buildings, we’re essentially able to put windows on all four sides on all of our buildings.鈥�

The buildings will be different than most. The Waechter-designed structures are arranged in a donut shape, with a central landing or atrium on each floor. That enables the apartments to have no hallways.

Johnson, who previously lived next to the site for about 10 years, said he’s eager to provide housing in a growing neighborhood near Forest Park and employment centers such as Montgomery Park.

鈥淚’ve been trying to figure out how to make this totally underutilized area into something cool since about 2004,鈥� Johnson said.

It’s a different approach for Cairn Pacific: The developer, with Johnson and founding principals Tom DiChiara and Rob Hinnen, has been a major force in transforming the Slabtown neighborhood with large-scale mixed-use projects including the L.L. Hawkins and Leland James buildings.

Northbound Collective appears likely to become one of the largest multifamily projects to avoid Portland’s inclusionary housing ordinance. It requires developers of buildings with at least 20 multifamily units to designate a portion of them as rent-restricted or pay a fee in lieu.

鈥淭here’s no inclusionary housing encumbrance,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淭he unit count was driven by design considerations that are unique to each building.鈥�

Mechanical parking will be provided in a ratio of 0.45 spaces per unit.

On Monday, the Portland Bureau of Development Services sent other city bureaus a request for responses to the developer’s proposal.

For now, the project team is waiting on permission to extend roads in the area. Cairn Pacific plans to build portions of Northwest 30th Avenue, Roosevelt Street and Wilson Street around the development.

The streets were supposed to have been built out after a 1982 City Council resolution, but the Portland Bureau of Transportation simply never built them, Johnson said. Cairn Pacific must record plats for the new development, but can’t do so until the roads are built, he said.

The project team is in discussions with general contractors experienced in building with mass timber. The developer and architects are aiming to bring the efficiency, visual warmth and environmental benefits that mass timber has given large office projects to a residential scale.

鈥淲e think there can be quite a bit of efficiency using CLT in a smaller footprint,鈥� Jones said.