A mixed-use project rising in the Eliot neighborhood, in Northeast Portland, stands out for its commitment to the African-American community.

The Beatrice Morrow, now under construction at the site of the former Grant Warehouse on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Cook and Ivy streets, will have 80 affordable housing units as well as commercial and community space. For the residential units, priority will be given to people who either were forced out of the neighborhood because of gentrification or are at risk of being forced out.

“We’re definitely excited about the opportunity for folks who have been displaced or who are at risk of displacement from this neighborhood,” said Travis Phillips, director of housing development for nonprofit Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives. “We’ve certainly gotten a lot of interest from folks who want to live there.”

Gerding Edlen is developing the project, which has a budget of approximately $19.3 million. Costs are being covered with money from a mix of public and private sources. The five-story building is being built by Portland-based general contractor Colas Construction.

Carleton Hart Architecture, another Portland-based firm designed the structure; Leeka Architecture and Planning designed the retail space.

Dark brick cladding is being used for the upper four stories to help the structure blend in with the area’s many older, unreinforced masonry buildings. Also, a large rooftop solar array and similar elements are expected to aid pursuit of a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating.

Indoors, the residential component will feature a mix of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom units available for rent to families and individuals with incomes between 50 and 60 percent of the area median income.

The ground floor will be dominated by 6,000 square feet of retail space, a large community room and 112 bike parking spaces. A large playground will sit between the back of the structure and the parking lot.

“We have a particularly generous community room,” Phillips said. “The idea behind that being that, really, the community in Northeast Portland has seen a number of the larger gathering spaces go away and there aren’t the same spaces there used to be for folks to gather, so it was a priority for us.”

The building’s name comes from Beatrice Morrow Cannady – a well-known civil rights activist in early 20th century Oregon. Cannady served as editor of the Advocate, Oregon’s largest African-American newspaper. She used the platform to defend the civil rights of the state’s approximately 2,500 African-American citizens after she became owner of the publication in 1930.

The project also is an integral part of Pathway 1000 – PCRI’s initiative to build 1,000 new affordable units in North and Northeast Portland over the next decade. Developed by the group’s executive director, Maxine Fitzpatrick, Pathway 1000 envisions a mix of housing types ranging from large multifamily developments like Beatrice Morrow to a series of single-family row homes planned for completion this summer.

“If you can bring some of the old neighborhood back, they’ll be able to participate in the community as it used to be geographically, a community of color, and they can support the local businesses that are there,” said Bill Hart, founder and principal at Carleton Hart Architecture. “Their typical customers are the ones being moved out.”

Neighborhood residents’ response to the project has been positive, Carleton Hart project architect Martin Segura said.

“The existing site was a former warehouse and an empty lot,” he said. “And the fact we’re bringing back energy to a neglected piece of property has gone a long way.”

Segura added that the interior design conceived by local firm Mia Knox Design features artwork from local African-American artists. Meanwhile, a broad palette of bold colors will render each residential story unique.

PCRI was formed in the 1990s on the heels of a well-publicized scandal that revealed mortgage lenders had set minimum mortgage amounts and effectively redlined a large swath of North and Northeast Portland. In the fallout, banks started lending in formerly redlined areas, kick-starting the long process of gentrification. Today, houses in the immediate vicinity of the Beatrice Morrow are selling for an average of nearly $600,000. The Beatrice Morrow is intended to roll back that reality by at least a small amount.

“Relative to the number of units that are needed, it’s a drop in the bucket,” said Hart, a Portland native. “But I think the fact she (Fitzpatrick) is focused on this Pathway 1000 and the commitment to bring folks back is the driving force that separates this from other projects.”

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