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A six-story residential building on Northeast Grand Avenue is now providing 40 permanent supportive homes for Black senior citizens with deep ties to the surrounding neighborhood, completing a project that blended cultural design, passive engineering and equitable construction practices.
Kafoury Court, located at 4080 N.E. Grand Ave., was developed by Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives and built by Colas Construction. The 34,116-square-foot building was completed in November 2025 and dedicated in honor of Ernest Warren Jr., a longtime community attorney and advocate for the developer.
The building achieved Earth Advantage Gold Certification, and investment from the Portland Clean Energy Fund enabled installation of high-efficiency appliances, water heaters and HVAC systems in every unit. The building鈥檚 design relies heavily on passive ventilation through jalousie windows 鈥� adjustable horizontal louvers that allow residents to control airflow year-round without mechanical cooling. Semi-enclosed porches and sunrooms act as thermal buffers, moderating interior conditions and extending usable outdoor space throughout the year.
Fifteen units include private patios or balconies, and ADA-adaptable units are designed to accommodate residents鈥� evolving mobility needs over time.
Construction presented significant logistical challenges. The urban site offered limited staging space, requiring just-in-time material deliveries and constant trade coordination. Overhead power lines adjacent to the site during the first half of construction constrained crane operations and material sequencing, requiring close coordination with Portland General Electric and Comcast.
The project was completed injury-free. Safety measures included multiple flaggers, detour signage, physical barricades, controlled site access and regular coordination meetings. Colas Construction used OSHA consultation services, the Safety Culture platform and PROCORE safety tracking throughout the project.
The project achieved 40 percent certified MWESB participation, with an emphasis on minority- and women-owned firms across multiple trades. The on-site project team was majority-woman-led, including the project manager, project engineers and the foreman overseeing self-performed structural concrete work.
Artwork curated by Studio Abioto features full-height murals at each floor鈥檚 elevator lobby, celebrating Black culture and history. Shared community spaces are distributed on every floor to encourage daily interaction among residents.
鈥淲hen you walk through Kafoury Court, you can feel what this building stands for,鈥� Andrew Colas, president and CEO of Colas Construction, said in the Top Projects nomination form. 鈥淚t is about honoring Black elders in our community with housing that reflects dignity, belonging, and pride. Projects like this remind us why we do this work and why partnerships rooted in shared values matter so much.鈥�