Portland city councilors indicated on Thursday they will support a proposed construction excise tax when it goes to final vote next week.

Much of the discussion at the council meeting involved specifics about the tax: how the money will be spent, whether developers of brownfield property would be taxed and whether multifamily property would be classified as commercial or residential.

The tax as currently devised would assess developers of residential and commercial properties 1 percent of total assessed value. It would generate between $47 million and $57 million by 2035, according to Kurt Creager, director of the Portland Housing Bureau.

Under a plan proposed by Commissioner Dan Saltzman, 100 percent of that revenue would go toward efforts to build more affordable housing for families earning 60 percent of the area’s median family income. Previously, a different plan proposed by Mayor Charlie Hales called for the proceeds to also go to police and programs fighting homelessness.

Supporters of affordable housing who crowded into City Hall on Thursday waved papers that read, “Dear City Hall, Do the Right Thing on CET – Keep it 100,” to encourage councilors to not divide the tax’s revenue among other budget areas.

“I think this is a momentous day,” Commissioner Nick Fish said. “My sense now is there is strong support up here on dedicating the full 100 percent.”

The tax was enabled by a new state law that came out of the 2016 legislative session. The package, which struck down a 17-year ban on inclusionary zoning, also included a law allowing construction excise taxes.

The proposed Portland construction tax was supported by everyone who testified at the Thursday meeting, including developer and Portland Housing Advisory Commission member Dike Dame.

Fish said he had gotten some letters from some trade associations opposing the tax.

“What is your reaction to some of this pushback?” he asked Dame.

Dame responded that he “wasn’t interested in listening to people gripe – this is something we have to do.”

“We all live here,” he said. “We all have an obligation to help our community be a good place to raise a family, and if we are going to push people out because they can’t afford to live in the same city they work, then we’re not really doing that.”

Commissioner Amanda Fritz returned repeatedly to the question of whether multifamily developments – traditionally classified as residential properties, could be considered commercial in this instance. Fritz said doing so would potentially send $778,000 per year to the city, rather than the state.

According to the city’s comprehensive plan, which the council approved earlier in the week, Portland has 13,500 affordable units, with 1,500 in production. There’s a shortage of 24,000 affordable units, and 10,000 more will be needed by 2035.

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One construction sector is being heavily disrupted because of changing attitudes and new laws: demolition.

Builders and developers in the Portland area are being pressured to . Proponents of deconstruction (i.e., taking a structure apart with recovery of reusable materials in mind) have a host of arguments in their favor: environmental stewardship, salvage, historical considerations, public health and aesthetics. Now Portland Mayor Charlie Hales wants to make the practice the norm.

Hales’ long-term goal, according to spokeswoman Sara Hottman, is to require deconstruction for some structures – starting with houses age 100 or older. The Portland City Council on Wednesday will hear a proposal that would get the ball rolling. The potential ordinance would require deconstruction for structures built in 1916 or earlier, or if designated as historic resources.

The 1916 date was chosen because one-third of homes demolished in Portland were built before that year, and the city’s Deconstruction Advisory Group, which prepared the proposed resolution, set one-third as a target for reducing demolitions.

The DAG was established by the council last summer to devise a plan to incentivize deconstruction. Its meetings were a “lively” affair due to the diversity of the interests represented on the committee, said DAG member Stephen Reichard, who runs the .

“We ran the gamut from folks who would like every single home in Portland deconstructed to those who would like none deconstructed,” he said.

Hales’ support for deconstruction is part of his larger agenda to address the negative effects of demolition, which are said to include harm to health and the environment. Another tool he’s looking at to address this is revising residential infill development standards, according to Hottman.

The group United Neighborhoods for Reform recently issued a statement declaring reluctant support for the Hales’ resolution.

“We are supporting the resolution as written,” the statement reads. “However, we ask the (Portland City) Council to amend the resolution to compress the timeline and more quickly expand the date requirement to affect more houses.”

Last year, approximately 300 single-family homes were demolished in Portland, and the mayor’s office is worried that number will rise as the economy improves.

One barrier to the advancement of deconstruction is that it typically costs between $3,000 and $6,000 more than demolition. To help, the city has offered grants to homeowners. So far, eight projects have received $25,000, and the city has applied for additional grants from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

This is occurring at a time of drastic change in waste recovery. of the SP Fiber Technologies paper mill in Newberg in November set off a chain reaction, according to Wood. The mill burned wood – mainly treated or processed wood – for energy, and received about 85 percent of the Portland-metro area’s wood waste. Wood formerly sold for use as fuel now goes to the landfill, and the cost to dispose of treated or processed wood is significantly higher.

Andy Webber, president of Konell Construction and Demolition Corp., called it a “real game-changer.”

“We went from being able to dispose of wood for free to paying $97 per ton for disposal,” he said. “And that just gets passed right down the line.”

Webber’s business performs both deconstruction and demolition. He said many more downtown clients are now asking to keep materials like timber beams for reuse.

“We started out just doing (deconstruction) for the environmental aspect of it,” he said. “But obviously with the dump fees being what they are in Portland right now, and not being able to get rid of wood waste, I mean that’s obviously a driving factor in this.”

A year ago, approximately 50 to 60 percent of a demolished house in Portland was burned as fuel, said Shawn Wood, the city’s construction waste specialist. “Today it’s closer to 0 percent.”

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Portland’s development into an attractive, livable city wasn’t a happy accident, according to city officials, but rather the result of decades of careful planning and decisions made with people – not motor vehicles – in mind.

Officials conveyed that message Tuesday to a visiting delegation of mayors and other government leaders from Japan as part of its FutureCity Initiative, which seeks smart urban planning. This is the first time a FutureCity event has taken place outside of Asia.

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales noted that the city has close ties to Japan, including its oldest sister city relationship (dating to 1959) with Sapporo and its Portland Japanese Garden.

Portland officials were eager to show off the city. They led a tour of the Pearl District on Monday, and a visit of East Portland on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the group met at the Portland Art Museum to share their lessons learned.

The session gave Portlanders an opportunity to bask in their own reputation for smart planning. Zeljka Carol Kekez, a principal at PLACE Studio, pointed to the Pearl District, where Jamison Square provides public space. Smart design in the Pearl led to the city’s biggest housing boom in decades, she said.

Also, nature was brought back into the city, Kekez said, and the local economy was decoupled from carbon emissions. Portland leaders, she said, “transformed freeways into parks, parking lots into neighborhoods and rails into trails.”

Kekez described several successful mixed-use projects, including the Lloyd District’s Hassalo on Eighth (1,600 housing units) and Oregon Square (2,000 housing units), and the South Waterfront District’s Zidell Yards.

Bob Hastings, TriMet‘s agency architect, gave a thorough history of Portland’s development, from automobile-centric postwar plans such as the rejected Mount Hood Freeway to construction of the MAX orange line and Tilikum Crossing.

Hastings said smog and water pollution became major problems in Portland by the 1970s.

“What it had become was an environment that couldn’t sustain life for very long,” he said. “There was a recognition that we needed to change.”

Urban growth boundaries and public transportation were embraced.

“Back we went to mass transit and electric mobility, particularly,” Hastings said.

When some residents expressed displeasure that Portland was becoming a city crisscrossed by freeways, a transit mall was created. Then the city pursued creation of parks, water fountains and other public spaces.

“This is not something that happened out of whole cloth,” Hastings said.

Hales summed up the case for Portland-style planning: If officials can work toward creating livable, prosperous cities, the benefits can be immense.

“The world will come to you, as it has come to Portland,” he said.

The Japanese mayors said they share Portland’s goal of creating easily walkable cities with access to mass transit. Mobility is a particularly acute concern in Japan, where approximately one-third of the population is expected to be older than 64 by 2030.

The Japanese mayors said they’re seeking how to serve a rapidly shrinking and aging population. Masashi Mori, mayor of Toyama, described efforts to encourage density. The city provides purchase subsidies in Residence Encouragement Zones to bring residents closer to the city core and mass transit.

As a result, population is expected to grow in Toyama’s center, even as it shrinks elsewhere.

Major developments are also boosting Toyama’s image, Mori said. Perhaps the most prominent is a Kengo Kuma-designed building that houses a glass art museum, a municipal library and a bank.

The mayors are particularly concerned with revitalizing smaller cities in Japan. Many are losing population to Tokyo, they said.

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When Barry Menashe, president of real estate firm Menashe Properties, told his son, vice president Jordan Menashe, that he wanted to use one of their empty buildings to accommodate homeless men, the buy-in was immediate.

“When Dad brought up the idea, I said, ‘Let’s roll,’ ” he said.

The idea, Jordan Menashe said, is to help people – homeless disabled veterans, in particular – endure the winter. So Washington Center, at 425 S.W. Washington St., became a night shelter.

With the city’s support, the building opened this week and filled with 100 homeless men on the first night, Jordan Menashe said.

“We are working with Commissioner (Dan) Saltzman and the mayor and the Portland Business Alliance,” he said.

The temporary shelter is being managed by Transition Projects, a nonprofit that manages many of the city’s homeless shelters, Jordan Menashe said.

Some property owners in the vicinity were not happy about the building being used by homeless individuals, but Jordan Menashe said he believes detractors should “have a heart.”

“That’s our decision and we stand by it,” he said. “There are no lines (and) the same folks are sleeping there (each night). They can keep their stuff dry and people can bring them food.”

Menashe said the shelter helps alleviate downtown homelessness.

“We have 400 people sleeping (on the streets) in a four-block radius and here they sleep inside like human beings should,” he said.

The temporary residents are given clean cots to sleep on as well as access to bathrooms and a “wake-up room” where they can have coffee and tea in the mornings before returning to the streets at daytime.

“Everyone staying there has been nothing but appreciative,” he said.

Despite the complaints, Jordan Menashe said he has been “overwhelmed” by the hundreds of positive messages and emails he has received in the past few days.

“Really, people are saying, ‘How can we help at the shelter,’ ” he said. “Even though it’s a temporary shelter, we are bringing hope and respect for those people living there. We are all human beings.”

Homelessness touches everyone, Jordan Menashe said, and touched his father’s family directly.

“He had a brother and sister, both with mental problems, who were on the street for many years and are now passed away,” he said. “So homelessness is a soft spot for our family, and we wanted to help – even though it’s temporary.”

Although the agreement with the city is for the temporary shelter to stay open for up to six months, the building is still on the market, Jordan Menashe said. Menashe Properties acquired the building last year for $9 million, he added.

Jordan Menashe said he plans to keep seeking ways to combat homelessness. He hopes other property owners will step up and help.

“We all need to work together,” he said.

Saltzman, who oversees the Portland Housing Bureau, said opening a building that is unoccupied but still on the market is highly unusual.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this and really appreciate the generosity of the Menashe family for even thinking of this potential use,” he said. “I don’t think most property owners think about it, but I’d absolutely encourage them and would love to have other properties to provide shelter opportunities.”

The city has an agreement with Menashe Properties to provide the building, free of charge, as a night shelter for three to six months, Saltzman said. The city is paying for utilities.

“I hope it’s six, but it’s at least three months,” Saltzman said. “It’s out of the blue and the shelter is full, and so far, so good.”

Roma Peyser, director of development for Transition Projects, noted that the city in November opened a nighttime shelter for women and couples in the Jerome F. Sears Army Reserve Center at 2730 S.W. Multnomah Blvd. The shelter, also temporary, now houses 167 people and will be open through the winter months.

“Like the one (at Washington Center), it is a ‘low barrier’ shelter so people can bring a pet with them,” she said.

Peyser said her office is calling the Washington Center shelter the “Peace Shelter” and said she hopes more building owners like Menashe Properties will offer their vacant properties for temporary shelters.

“As far as we know, it is the first time a private owner has offered up a building, but also with the intention of speaking about it so publicly in order to have others join in on this,” she said.

Anyone who wants to help the city provide even temporary lodging for homeless residents can contact Transition Projects Executive Director George Devendorf at 503-280-4700 or Mayor Charlie Hales at 503-823-4120, Peyser said.

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The city of Portland has around $25,000 remaining in grant money available to people interested in deconstructing their home.

The grants are offered to promote the salvage of reusable materials and discourage the waste associated with mechanical demolition.

The previous funding period ended Dec. 31. The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has accepted applications for the current funding period since September, and about half the allotted money has already been awarded.

The maximum grant size is $2,500 for full deconstruction, and $500 for partial projects. Applications are limited to houses or duplexes within Portland city limits. People interested in grant money can apply online by visiting .

Though the current funding period doesn’t have an end date set, the money could run out by spring, said Shawn Wood, the city’s construction materials specialist.

BPS has applied for an additional $50,000 for deconstruction grants from the state Department of Environmental Quality. DEQ will announce the grant recipients next month.

As part of a push to address long-standing issues related to housing and homelessness, Mayor Charlie Hales recently proposed and then dropped a plan to charge developers $25,000 for “one-for-one” home demolitions.

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After dropping his plan to charge developers $25,000 for razing habitable single-family homes, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is now looking for other ways to pay for affordable housing.

The week before Christmas, Hales’ office sent a letter to stakeholders informing them that he was abandoning a demolition tax proposal he had formed to achieve two goals: discourage adverse developments in residential neighborhoods, and pay for ambitious efforts to tackle rapidly rising rents and homelessness.

Hales introduced the one-of-a-kind idea in September. Public hearings were held Oct. 14 and Nov. 25, and the proposal went to a vote Dec. 2. Three commissioners expressed opposition – Steve Novick, Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish – but the mayor left the meeting committed to identifying revisions that could win over a majority of commissioners.

Ultimately, he couldn’t find any.

“In subsequent conversations with commissioners, Mayor Hales concluded there are no reasonable changes to the proposal that will satisfy a majority of the City Council,” the mayor’s policy director, Jillian Detweiler, wrote in the letter. “As a result, he will withdraw it.”

The mayor’s office now plans to put forward two proposals addressing negative impacts of demolition – one revising infill development standards to make new houses compatible with existing neighborhoods, and the other promoting the use of deconstruction over demolition to lessen environmental damage.

After Hales announced his tax proposal, building groups and others responded with stark opposition. Oregon Home Builders Association CEO Jon Chandler called the idea a “stunt” that would violate a state law banning cities from establishing excise taxes on construction activities.

Some building industry professionals and neighborhood association members expressed concern that the proposal would misfire and actually increase construction costs and rents, according to Paul Grove of the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland.

“I think the council was very thoughtful on the proposal and understanding about the impact to affordability it would have had,” he said.

In recent months, Hales and Dan Saltzman, the commissioner in charge of the Portland Housing Bureau, have helped set aside $204 million to meet affordable housing goals. New, permanent funding sources are still being sought, the mayor’s spokeswoman, Sara Hottman, stated in an email.

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The force behind the James Beard Public Market has died.

Local-food proponent and Portland restaurateur Ronald M. Paul died Dec. 21 of complications from cancer. He was 65.

“He was so much a visionary,” said Fred Granum, who succeeded Paul as executive director of the James Beard Public Market. “He brought his background as a chef to work for his community and moved into a successful career as a public servant. His loss saddens us all. He will be sorely missed.”

Paul was respected as a chef before entering public service as chief of staff to Charlie Hales when the mayor was a city commissioner from 1999 to 2002. Paul helped establish the vision of a public-private food market to rival Seattle’s Pike Place Market – to be named in honor of James Beard, a towering figure in American cooking and a Portland native.

For nine years, Paul led the effort to build the market at the Morrison Bridge’s west end. Multnomah County has accepted a proposal to sell four blocks for use as the market. Conceptual designs have been adopted by the market’s board, and it expects the property purchase to close this month, according to Granum. The board has worked with Melvin Mark Development Co., architects Snohetta and SERA, and landscape architect Mayer/Reed.

Project delivery is scheduled for 2018.

Paul’s death came the same week that Portland was named by the Washington Post as America’s top food city.

“How fitting and how sad that this recognition comes now,” Hales posted on Twitter on Tuesday. “Thanks, chef, market-maker and civic entrepreneur Ron Paul.”

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A plan to streamline and simplify Portland zoning rules for accessory dwelling units hit a bump last week, with a potentially restrictive new provision now before the city council.

An amendment proposed by Commissioner Amanda Fritz would make it more difficult to build ADUs near property lines.

“The purpose of setbacks is to allow light, air and privacy; it’s right there in the code,” she said.

Fritz is worried that the draft rules as written could allow a wall of ADUs to fully enclose a property owner’s backyard.

Fritz said that at a public forum Monday at Portland Community College‘s campus on Southeast Division Street, between 50 and 60 people expressed their agreement with her on the issue, and only one person raised a hand to show opposition. (She also sought input on Mayor Charlie Hales‘ proposed $25,000 tax on home demolitions; the crowd’s feelings on that issue were evenly split, she said.)

“Once people are made aware of it, they were like, ‘No, I do not want a new home on my property line,’” she said.

After Fritz proposed the amendment at last week’s council meeting, two of the five commissioners – Hales and Commissioner Dan Saltzman – spoke in opposition.

The updates to the Portland Zoning Code have already passed first reading by the council. It will consider the amendment at Wednesday’s regular meeting. Fifteen minutes has been requested, and no public testimony is scheduled to be taken. If the council approves the code update as written – and no new amendments are proposed – they will take effect Jan. 4, 2016. Then a window of sorts would be open for ADU builders. With a waiver on system development charges (representing possible savings to builders exceeding $10,000) set to expire in July 2016, planner Phil Nameny said his office has been contacted by many people who hope to submit plans before SDCs are reinstituted.

The city has worked since January to update its zoning regulations regarding accessory structures as part of a larger effort to modernize the city’s land use code. In this instance, a major goal was to plan based on an accessory structure’s “form” over its “function,” and took aim at the regulations permit-seekers most often contest. The proposed changes, developed with assistance of a citizen focus group and approved by the Planning Commission, would treat residential outbuildings more like garages, Nameny said.

Under the proposed changes, a one-story accessory structure could be built closer to setbacks and property lines. In another, the uniform height maximum for all detached accessory structures would be raised from 18 feet to 20.

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The city of Portland has pulled the plug on Harsch Investment Properties‘ redevelopment plans for the Centennial Mills site in Northwest Portland.

In March 2013, the Portland Development Commission and Harsch signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding that the two parties would work toward successful negotiation of a binding disposition and development agreement for redevelopment of Centennial Mills. That MOU expired earlier this year, but was being renewed on a month-to-month basis.

On Wednesday, PDC Executive Director Patrick Quinton sent Harsch President Jordan Schnitzer a letter informing him that the agency had decided that the MOU would not be renewed again.

“As you well know,” Quinton wrote in the letter, “the landscape and development options and budget have dramatically changed during this time. Now that we have a better picture of the demolition costs, the plans for the Mounted Police Unit site and the size of the remaining public resources available for the project, the original development concepts both you and we had in 2013 are no longer practical.”

Schnitzer was not immediately available to comment.

The Harsch team’s preferred plan for redevelopment would have cost $115.8 million. The company in October 2014 proposed covering $77 million of that amount, and relying on public subsidies totaling $38.8 million. That project had called for revitalizing the 4.75-acre site to hold 120,000 square feet of multifamily units, 80,000 square feet of office space and 24,000 square feet of retail space. Of that total, 50,000 square feet would have been in the only two buildings that could be saved – the Feed Mill and the Flour Mill.

The PDC acquired Centennial Mills in 2000. Bruce Wood, real estate and construction services manager for the agency, said that Wednesday “was just another day in the progression of decisions that will determine ultimately what’s going to happen here. The decision yesterday was to basically say that the project has changed. If you read the MOU, it describes a very, very, very different type of project. What we know at this point is that that project is not going to move forward.

“We’ve been working on Centennial Mills for quite some time. It’s not like decisions are made at the spur of the moment. There has been 15 years of process as this very complicated project works toward whatever its ultimate outcome is going to be.”

The decision to let the MOU expire was announced at the PDC’s board meeting on Wednesday. Also at the meeting, an update was given on the estimated costs to preserving/demolishing the Feed Mill and the Flour Mill buildings.

The Feed Mill, a five-story, 25,000-square-foot building with a basement, was built in 1920. The cost to demolish it was approximately $57,113, while the cost to renovate it was approximately $8,334,350. The Flour Mill, a six-story, 44,000-square-foot building with a basement, was built in 1910. The cost to demolish it was estimated at $1,134,726, while the cost to restore it was estimated at $14,586,560.

In July, Mayor Charlie Hales requested that the PDC investigate the costs and feasibility of preserving more structures.

“It’s really generated a lot more questions than answers,” said Irene Bowers, senior project/program coordinator for the PDC.

City staffers announced at the PDC board meeting that Phase I demolition of warehouses A, B, C, D and F as well as elevators A, B and C began the first week of October and will conclude in June 2016. Demolition crews have witnessed several instances of structural collapse and accelerating deterioration. Non-demolition personnel are no longer permitted on the property.

Whatever happens with Centennial Mills, it is not certain that Harsch, or another developer will not be a part of it.

“We have not abandoned the possibility of a private development on the site,” Quinton wrote to Schnitzer. “If we ultimately reach a decision to pursue a substantial private development component on the site, we will come back to you to see if Harsch is interested in leading a private development effort.”

Wood, who has worked for Harsch, said he expects the PDC and the development company to be on good terms moving forward.

“We’ve worked well with Harsch,” he said. “We’ll work well with Harsch in the future.”

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Jesse Cornett, chairman of the Lents Neighborhood Association, said turnout at a recent meeting about development in Lents shows that progress is finally being made.

Developers on Tuesday outlined four projects that were made possible, in part, via $3.3 million in predevelopment loans and almost $13 million in development loans from the Portland Development Commission. Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and PDC Executive Director Patrick Quinton attended the group’s monthly meeting, which Cornett said typically draws about 25 people; this one attracted about 150.

“This is huge for Lents, absolutely,” he said. “It’s an area that has been primed (for development), but has faced many challenges, including the PDC (officials) struggling to meet their commitments. But the thing that we’re seeing is that they have doubled down and tripled down to make sure they are fulfilling long-standing promises.”

Cornett said that the Lents Urban Renewal Area was started in 1998 – the same year the Pearl District was formed. A five-year action plan for Lents was adopted last year, he said, and although he at first had his doubts, it’s now becoming reality.

“I thought, yeah sure, another plan, but these are pages out of the plan book,” he said of the development plans outlined at the meeting.

The four PDC-led projects being planned for the Lents neighborhood are:

• A new three-story, 29,000-square-foot office building being developed by Asian Health & Services Center for its new headquarters at Southeast 91st Avenue and Foster Road. The project will include community space, a medical clinic, two market-rate commercial spaces and one level of parking. It’s designed by Holst Architecture.

• A new four-story, 68-unit apartment building being developed by Rose Community Development at Southeast 91st Avenue and Reedway Street. One-, two-, and three-bedroom units will be offered at either market or affordable rates. It’s designed by Carleton Hart Architecture.

• Two five-story, mixed-use buildings being developed by Palindrome Communities on 1.07 acres near the northeast corner of Southeast 92nd Avenue and Foster Road. Approximately 120 units will be offered at either market or affordable rates. The development also will include 25,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and parking. It’s designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects.

• A mixed-use building on 0.63 acres being developed by Williams & Dame Development near the northeast corner of Southeast 92nd Avenue and Foster Road. Plans call for 54 units at either market or affordable rates, ground-floor retail space, bike parking and storage, and a public laundromat. A public courtyard will be created on Foster Road with a plaza and community event kiosk on 91st Avenue. It’s designed by Hacker.

Mary Bradshaw, director of construction management for the Asian Health & Services Center, said the new building will allow the agency to offer more classes and meet community medical needs. A third-floor, 6,000-square-foot community room with a large kitchen will be available to community members.

“We think it will be a great asset to the neighborhood,” she said.

Plans are still being finalized for the new four-story apartment building being developed by Rose Community Development. The project recently received tentative approval, PDC spokesman Shawn Uhlman said. Nick Sauvie, Rose Community Development’s executive director, said the building will be named the Woody Guthrie Apartments in honor of the famed Depression-era folk singer, who lived in Lents for about a month in 1941.

“He wrote songs for the Bonneville Power Association, including ‘Roll On, Columbia,’ ” Sauvie said.

Some of the apartments will be “deeply affordable” and available to pregnant women and young families with small children, Sauvie said.

“This is a really exciting time for us and the neighborhood,” he said. “We have been working in this part of Portland for 30 years, and a lot of people put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to this point.”

Uhlman agreed that this is a big step for both the PDC and Lents.

“We finished the five-year plan about a year ago and it was a big milestone,” he said. “We got a number of established development teams that wanted to work on these projects as a direct result of PDC efforts and also the neighborhood being involved and wanting to see those things.”

All the developments are focused near Lents Town Center, Uhlman said. Other new developments in the neighborhood include a new brewpub and renovations to Walker Stadium baseball field.

“There’s a tremendous amount of energy, and as these projects on 92nd (Avenue) develop we’re starting to see a lot of activity,” he said. “There’s really much more in progress. This is not the final step.”

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