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In the Portland-metro area, housing developments are continuing to rise. One that is advancing in Gresham’s Rockwood neighborhood may not look much like others when it’s finished.

General contractor LMC Construction is building Rockwood 10 鈥� a six-building, 224-unit complex 鈥� slightly north of Southeast Yamhill Street at 186th Avenue. The project is being developed by Community Development Partners, a certified B Corporation with a Portland office on Northeast Alberta Street. Hacienda CDC is a co-developer and co-general partner. Waechter Architecture provided the design.

Low-income housing tax credits are being used for the project, so a portion of the apartments will be affordable housing units.

鈥淚t’s always been envisioned as an affordable housing project,鈥� said Jessica Woodruff, CDP’s director of development for Oregon. 鈥淏ut we were always looking for ways to provide community benefit.鈥�

Those benefits are twofold. First, Rockwood 10 will provide a highly diverse collection of units: 14 four-bedroom, 89 three-bedroom, 74 two-bedroom and 47 one-bedroom apartments 鈥� a mix virtually unheard of in today’s market. The residential buildings also will be unusual in that the ground-floor units will feature front entrances, rather than typical loaded corridors.

鈥淭his was really envisioned as family housing, so there are lots of larger units,鈥� said Wendy Klein, CDP’s development manager for Oregon.

Second, the entire development will wrap around a large central park area and community building. The park will provide amenities ranging from play structures for kids to a large field suitable for sports. The community building, meanwhile, will feature a kitchen and an area for food carts. The structure will be used for events, classes and even small conferences. An existing grove of evergreen trees on the 7.4-acre site will remain and become host to a picnic area and walking paths.

A new stretch of Southeast 186th Avenue, meanwhile, will bisect the site north to south and create easy access between Yamhill and Stark streets. The park area will be open to the public and accessible not only from the new street, but also from apartment complexes to the east and the Knova Learning public charter school to the west.

鈥淚t’s really opening up that street to invite the public in,鈥� Klein said.

LMC Construction Superintendent Reed Ledbetter noted the development will have a sustainable stormwater system.

鈥淎ll site water is trapped and reintroduced (to) the site,鈥� he said. 鈥淒rainage for the parking areas is done with a PaveDrain system that will basically take all the surface water from the paved areas and let them into a permeable paver system, and then there is basically a drywell system underneath.鈥�

The new street, he added, will feature a series of vegetated drainage areas that direct street runoff into a series of drywells.

鈥淏asically this has a net-zero impact to the existing storm infrastructure,鈥� Ledbetter said. 鈥淚t is purely just reintroduction to the soil.鈥�

The project team also is focusing on hiring minority-owned, woman-owned and disadvantaged subcontractors as well as many east Multnomah County firms, said Richard Reese, LMC Construction vice president of construction.

鈥淲e have quite a few of these subcontractors who are local to the Gresham area,鈥� he said.

Major subcontractors include: Time Frame Construction, Jet Electrical, Jet Mechanical, Jet Fire, Atlas Plumbing, LaRusso Concrete, Van Lom Concrete, Gresham Roofing, KO Contracting and Westside Drywall.

Rockwood 10 also will have public art throughout, Klein said. CDP has issued a request for proposals from parties interested in handling some of the remaining installations. Overall, the art will include a bright orange structural post, murals, custom light fixtures, metal sculptures and even custom fabrics for the furniture in the community building and other parts of the complex.

鈥淲e are actually on the search for local artists to do it,鈥� Klein sad. 鈥淭here are a host of opportunities for art that we’re trying to solicit artists for.鈥�

Rockwood 10 is poised to become one of the most unique housing complexes of its type in the metro area.

鈥淚n my development experience, you often are trying to develop toward something, so this one is very interesting,鈥� Woodruff said. 鈥淚t’s more looking inward, but we’re excited to have a development that looks and feels different.鈥�

The first of the five residential buildings is scheduled for completion in April 2021, with the remainder set to open in intervals ranging from one to two months thereafter.