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Mamook Tokatee may seem like an odd name for a new affordable housing structure rising in Northeast Portland. But its meaning 鈥� 鈥渕ake beautiful鈥� in Chinook Wawa 鈥� will surely be important to its future residents.

Community Development Partners and the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) have joined forces for their second housing project in the Cully neighborhood. Carleton Hart Architecture designed the project, and it’s being built by LMC Construction.

The four-story, 56-unit building is being constructed at 4636 N.E. 42nd Avenue, at the intersection with Northeast Going Street. By the end of this week, the long shoring pillars supporting the recently poured concrete deck will be removed, marking completion of the four-month concrete phase.

Currently, rods upon rods are laid out, waiting for construction crews to come by to posttension the concrete. Forty truckloads of concrete were used to fill the deck, LMC Construction Senior Project Manager Ken Bello said.

The structure will be three stories of stick framing over concrete. Timeframe Inc. is doing the wood framing. Crews plan to begin in early March, and finish in three months 鈥� one month per floor.

The building will feature studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units as well as a community room and an art studio.

LMC Construction is using an old bakery storefront as its on-site office. Afterward, the plan is to turn the space into an art gallery for the residents to display their artwork.

Mamook Tokatee is one of three affordable housing projects that Community Development Partners and NAYA are bringing to the neighborhood. The first was Nesika Illahee, at 6370 N.E. 42nd Ave. Work on a third building, Hayu Tilixam, is expected to begin in mid-March near the intersection of Northeast Prescott Street and Cully Boulevard.

The team’s focus is to house the urban Native American population in Portland, 鈥渨hich has been an underserved community for years,鈥� Bello said.

The goal, Community Development Partners Development Manager Lucy Corbett said, was to locate the buildings near each other and the NAYA campus so residents can easily access services there.

The new housing will provide affordable options in Cully, where home prices have risen to around $400,000.

鈥淚 think Cully used to be one of the more affordable neighborhoods close to the core of Portland,鈥� NAYA Director of Community Development Oscar Arana said. 鈥�(It’s) no longer affordable to the average Native American 鈥� just because the prices are so high.鈥�

Creation of affordable housing has become really important to NAYA, Arana added, so Native Americans aren’t pushed out of the city.

Bello has witnessed a demographic change in Cully. He moved to the neighborhood in 1994, when it was inhabited mostly by working-class people, but has since seen it become more gentrified. He has focused his career on affordable housing projects, he said, and by chance was selected to work on these three projects near his home.

鈥�(I) consider it a privilege and absolute joy to be part of the neighborhood,鈥� Bello said.

LMC Construction is working with Zavala Corporation (concrete), Solid Form (structural steel), Union Drywall, MSI (plumbing), Andersen (HVAC systems) and Cox Electrical. The site was excavated by Lauzon Contracting.

The project team broke ground in August 2020 and is expected to finish in December.

Financing was provided from the sale of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and $2.36 million from Oregon Housing and Community Services. The Siletz Tribe contributed a $1 million Indian Housing Block Grant, which will secure 20 of the building’s units for Native households. Also, Metro provided a $300,000 Transit-Oriented Development grant.

鈥�(It’s) really important for the Native American community to have housing that’s designed and created by and for them because that’s how we will effectively reach the population that we’re trying to serve and that’s tailored for their needs,鈥� Arana said.