More housing is arriving in the Portland-metro area one project at a time.

In Hillsboro, Walsh Construction is working with developer DBG Properties, Washington County and other partners to build the six-story, 120-unit Willow Creek Crossing. TVA Architects designed the apartment building, which is rising on a 1.3-acre parcel on Southwest Baseline Road, at the intersection with Southwest 185th Avenue.

The project team broke ground in August 2018 and now is in the homestretch of construction; delivery is planned for Dec. 24. Work is taking place on multiple floors.

“Right now we’re doing finish carpentry on six, cabinets on five and they’re doing finish painting in the units on six as well,” Walsh Construction superintendent Erik Holte said. “On four they are finishing up painting and they’re doing texture on the second half of four.”

The building features five levels of wood framing above a post-tensioned concrete podium.

“It’s been a good project insofar as I’ve never had a project with so much real estate,” Holte added.

Power lines in close proximity to the building on both the north and east sides have provided some challenges and forced PGE to shut down power on the east side while crews install cladding. But overall, Holte said, the project has had few hiccups.

“It’s been a good collaborative effort between us and the jurisdiction,” he said.

Funding for the $33.1 million project is coming from several sources. These include the city of Hillsboro ($300,000), Metro ($500,000) and the Meyer Memorial Trust ($250,000), as well as the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program ($12.8 million) and Oregon Housing and Community Services‘ LIFT program ($4.5 million).

All apartments are reserved for residents at or below 60 percent area median income, which is $48,840 for a family of four in Washington County. There will be 38 studios, 71 one-bedroom units and 11 two-bedroom units.

“They actually have a nice layout,” Holte said of the apartments. “They have big windows and a lot of natural light. It’s all luxury vinyl plank so it resembles a wood look, and painted trim. And beyond that they are fairly standard apartment units. They do have a ‘barn door’ that separates the living room from the bedroom – so there’s this massive eight-foot-tall by six-foot door that basically it’s like ‘don’t look in my bedroom.’ I think it’s cool and it opens it up a little bit.”

On the exterior, a combination of fiber cement panels and metal panels are being used.

“It’s a Hardie Reveal – it’s a thicker product, 9/16ths of an inch thick,” Holte said. “It’s a fiber cement panel, but they made it thicker so you can drill and countersink your fasteners so that all the fasteners are drilled and countersunk and puttied over. When you’re done you have a panel-sided wall where you don’t see any of the nail heads.”

Martin Sheet Metal is installing the metal panels. Other project team members include Wood Mechanix (wood framing); Anning-Johnson (drywall), Peninsula Plumbing, Crown Fire Systems, Merit Electric and Jet HVAC. Lanz Cabinets, Precision Countertops and Basco Appliances are among other subcontractors working on the interior.

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