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The Vera is gaining a neighbor.

BRIDGE Housing‘s 203-unit affordable housing structure opened in Portland’s South Waterfront District in June 2020. Now, general contractor Walsh Construction is building for the real estate developer a similar structure at the corner of Southwest River Parkway and Moody Avenue.

RiverPlace Phase II will have 178 apartments 鈥� a mix of studios and units with one, two or three bedrooms. The units will be available to residents with incomes up to 60 percent of the area median income.

鈥淲e’ve got 50 units of family housing, which is always desirable,鈥� said Nicole Peterson, a BRIDGE Housing senior project manager.

Also, 20 units reserved for veterans will be rented out through Veterans Affairs via project-based vouchers.

The Phase II building will have five stories of wood framing over two levels of post-tensioned concrete. The ground floor will have a mixture of office space, retail space and residential space, while the upper stories will hold apartments and community spaces. A second-level outdoor courtyard will be enclosed on three sides and open to the south, where a Pacific Power facility exists.

鈥淲e’re targeted to be done in the fall of next year, and it’s been going pretty well,鈥� Walsh Construction project manager Brian Johnson said. 鈥淭he biggest limitation being it’s the last block to build in this space. It’s about as tight as it gets. You’ve got the streetcar on two sides, you’ve got The Vera, and then PP&L doesn’t really want us to put stuff in their yard.鈥�

The RiverPlace Phase II building, like The Vera, was designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects. A Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating will be sought through the LEED for Homes program. Johnson said the intent is to lean on the energy component to reach that goal. Even without an active photovoltaic array, the efficient building envelope (designed by RDH Building Science) and judicious use of high-quality windows and materials, insulation and brick masonry cladding should allow that to happen.

鈥淗ow many bike racks you have 鈥� OK, that’s helpful,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淏ut if you really want to talk about the intent of sustainability, figuring out a way to reduce energy usage in buildings is number one. So, you start there.鈥�

The material usage aspect of LEED is 鈥減retty straightforward,鈥� he added.

鈥淲e’ve got a lot of great local supply, and wood framing helps us out there,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then you get points for the location. Just by virtue of using this site, the transit-oriented development, the amenities, you chalk up a whole bunch of points. It’s a good place to build, and it’s challenging, which is probably the reason it’s the last block to get built here. But it’s compelling.鈥�

Because of site constraints, the building will feature panelized wall systems built by Pacific Wall Systems of Olympia, Washington. Also, motorized scaffolding will be used on all four sides of the building for installation of cladding.

鈥淚t would be nice to have a panel company a little closer, but capacity is also an issue,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淭here is so much work going on right now, getting a partner is everything. They’ve been taking wood material for two months and have started putting the panels together, so we should see them middle of August.鈥�

Nobody has inventory of almost anything, Johnson added. That has become a fact of life for teams tackling projects of all sizes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淚t’s funny in a way because it’s kind of followed the flow of construction,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or a while there you couldn’t get form ply, you couldn’t get a bunch of wood material, you couldn’t get engineered wood material, you couldn’t get dimensional wood material.鈥�

These days, flooring materials are difficult to procure because the cost of international shipping has tripled in recent months, according to Johnson. Also, there is a dire shortage of paint caused by a lack of polymer compounds normally manufactured in Europe and Asia. Even overhead doors suddenly experienced a 25 percent price increase overnight.

Currently at the RiverPlace Phase II site, carpenters with Whitaker/Ellis are building formwork and preparing to pour the second concrete deck, while mechanical, electrical and plumbing subcontractors Tapani Plumbing, Affordable Electric and American Heating are starting to work on the ground floor.

鈥淲e are finding ways around it and that’s where we have to work as a team,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淲e have to be open with communication and say here’s what’s available now. And let’s look at options and see if we can be flexible. We certainly knew we would face challenges, but we couldn’t know where.鈥�

The project’s financial partners include: the Portland Housing Bureau, Prosper Portland, Oregon Housing and Community Services, Home Forward, Metro, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, Bank of America and Barings Multifamily Capital.