By JAMES POLLARD
Associated Press/Report for America

PHILLIPS COMMUNITY, S.C. (AP) — The Rev. Elijah Smalls Jr. once grew okra, butter beans and other vegetables in the neighborhood where his family has lived near the South Carolina coast since not long after the Civil War. That was before new half-a-million-dollar homes in a nearby subdivision overwhelmed the drainage system.

Runoff meant for sewers now pools in the 80-year-old veteran’s backyard, making gardening impossible.

Smalls and his relatives are among the many original families still living in historic settlement communities around Charleston. People who had been enslaved at Phillips Plantation bought patches of it to make their futures. Their descendants question whether the next generation can afford to stay.

“This is the only place I wanted to live and raise my family,” said Fred Smalls, standing outside the home where his two sons grew up.

All along the South Carolina coast, land owned by the descendants of enslaved people is being targeted by developers looking to make money on vacation getaways and new homes. From Myrtle Beach south to Hilton Head, Black landowners who inherited property have been embroiled in disputes with investors looking to capitalize on rising real estate values.

State reforms approved in 2017 provided what supporters described as “shark repellant” — a law that made it harder for developers to strike deals below market prices with distant heirs who had long since moved away.

But skyrocketing property taxes are creating a growing burden as assessments rise. Younger family members may not qualify for homestead exemptions and other tax breaks. Elders worry that their family legacies — established by formerly enslaved ancestors who acquired land despite entrenched racism across the defeated South — are slipping away.

Most of the hundreds who still live on the remaining 450 acres or so of Phillips Community trace their lineage to the founders. Residents enjoy the pace of the South Carolina Lowcountry in the settlement communities, where neighbors have long taken care of each other.

“If we don’t take steps to protect them, we’re going to lose them parcel by parcel,” said Coastal Conservation League Executive Director Faith Rivers James.

Orange mesh fencing lines the dirt expanse of a new development site that encircles the ranch-style house where Josephine Wright has taken her stand. The 93-year-old woman is the matriarch of a family that has owned land on Hilton Head Island since Reconstruction.

“I’m being surrounded, really,” Wright said recently in the Brooklyn accent she picked up before returning to her late husband’s home 30 years ago in Jonesville Historic Gullah Neighborhood.

They wanted tranquility as his Parkinson’s disease progressed. But gone is the lush greenery that once grew on 29 acres previously owned by other relatives bordering Wright’s home. A Georgia-based developer, Bailey Point Investment, LLC, broke ground last summer on a 147-unit vacation rental complex there.

Managers of her family’s trust failed to pay escalating tax bills. The land sold at a 2014 tax auction for just $35,000 — a fraction of its current worth.

Then the investment company sued Wright, who owns her one acre separately. The company alleged that a corner of her screened-in porch, a shed and a satellite dish encroach on the construction project. A lawyer for the company did not return a call from The Associated Press.

She suspects they want to run her off, but she’s not intimidated. NBA superstar Kyrie Irving and filmmaker Tyler Perry have lent their support. Town officials don’t intend to issue building permits until the case is closed. She says other residents have thanked her for holding out.

She expected to spend these days in peace. Her small home remains the gathering spot for an extended family that includes 40 grandchildren, generations who she hopes will also enjoy the land.

“I just want to be able to live here in this sanctuary with a free mind,” Wright said.

The first self-governed town of formerly enslaved people in the United States was located on Hilton Head Island. Wright’s neighborhood gets its name from a Black Civil War veteran named Caesar Jones who had escaped enslavement and purchased more than 100 acres himself, finding refuge in marshland that had been dismissed by colonists as unsuitable for farming.

It’s hardly undesirable today. The advent of air conditioning helped make coastal land more appealing. New highways improved access to the coast, where population increases have made South Carolina the 10th fastest-growing state during the past decade.

Those searching for land found easy targets in the Gullah Geechee community, owned by descendants of West Africans who were forced into slavery on rice, indigo and cotton plantations along the Atlantic coast. They developed their unique culture on isolated islands, but their separation from the U.S. legal system left them vulnerable to exploitation.

Developers took advantage in many cases of what’s known as heirs’ property — land transferred from generation to generation without a will and shared equally by part-owners whose numbers balloon with each branch in the family tree. South Carolina developers could buy a single heir’s interest and wind up taking everything from outmatched families suddenly navigating an unwieldy system.

Heirs’ property is under threat throughout the Black Belt. Roughly 5 million acres over 11 states worth almost $42 billion collectively remains trapped in cloudy titles, according to the most conservative estimates from a 2023 study led by rural sociologist Ryan Thomson at Auburn University. It’s a strain acutely felt by Black landowners given the Deep South’s legacy of enslavement.

Some remaining owners are more determined than ever to stay.

Julia Campbell, 60, has spent two decades establishing a family tree to identify every heir with even the slimmest stake in the 25-acre John’s Island land her family has held since the 19th century. The former member of a Charleston group established to protect Black cemeteries emphasized that the ground itself bears witness to history.

It’s important for her to document — especially at a time when she said “some people want to close the book on us.”

“These people who could barely read or write were able to hold onto the property,” she said. “We should be able to hold onto it.”

South Carolina’s 2017 reforms stymied some predatory behavior, according to Josh Walden of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation. The Charleston-based non-profit has helped clear titles for over 3,000 tracts worth some $17.5 million since 2009, but his most modest estimates suggest about 40,000 tracts remain held in heirs’ property across six coastal counties alone.

Risk persists for those facing heightened assessments that come with exurban gentrification.

“Obviously, people are still looking for land,” Walden said. “They’re still approaching heirs’ property owners asking if they’ll sell their interests.”

The clamor for these lands is so feverish that even people with clear titles remain vulnerable. James calls it “the next frontier in preserving African American property.”

South Carolina tax law evaluates residential land at its highest usage — a boon to sellers but a burden for those who want to stay.

“They’re not planning to take the money and run,” Phillips Community Association President Richard Habersham said of his neighbors. “They’re planning to pass it down.”

James has proposed that state lawmakers ease growing pains by passing a new “cultural property preservation” tax exemption to provide incentives to support historic communities, just like existing credits help preserve historic buildings.

A statewide measure could resemble local efforts. One ordinance blocked a golf course on Gullah Geechee land on St. Helena Island. Last month, the Beaufort County Council rejected a developer’s request to remove a 502-acre plot from a zoning district that bans gated communities and resorts in locations considered culturally significant. Other officials are soliciting feedback from Gullah Geechee and African American communities to identify historical sites in the Charleston area for preservation.

“Property is not just a commodity,” James said. “Property has a sentimental value that the law should recognize.”

That value became more elusive for Queen Mary Davis when a housing development next door restricted her access to a family cemetery by requiring her to gain admission from security guards.

A formerly enslaved ancestor named Dennis Allen purchased the first patches of what is now the family’s 31-acre property back in 1897. It’s nestled in a Hilton Head neighborhood that is home to some of the largest Gullah extended families.

But Davis, 70, could soon lose nearly a third of it. The land is stuck in a cumbersome legal dispute with other heirs dating back to 2009. A judge has ordered that 11 acres be placed on the market for $7 million. A previous deal fell apart after a North Carolina firm rescinded its $7.5 million offer.

The situation is an egregious example of sagas that attorney Willie Heyward has seen all too often during a 37-year career largely focused on heirs’ property. He’s represented members on both sides of Davis’ contentious case at various points, and says many families get mired in costly, yearslong court battles that ultimately diminish the returns for everyone.

This generation of heirs’ property owners will be the last with numbers Heyward considers manageable — about 250 relatives is the most he’s seen.

As family trees number thousands of people, any outcome other than land loss can become impractical — a “crushing” prospect for his elderly clients clinging to the last vestiges of their ancestry.

Relatives interested in selling have a legal right to pursue that option, and defending land becomes especially difficult when families aren’t united. Heyward and James both want legislators to expand opportunities for mediation so resource-limited families don’t rack up legal fees trying to protect their interests.

What was once a vehicle for maintaining ownership has become an engine of its demise.

“I see a very dark future on the horizon if something is not done,” Heyward said.

Longtime residents report that Phillips Community sounds different nowadays. Traffic thrums along a busy road. The scuttle of fiddler crabs no longer accompanies walks to a nearby creek. Woods once filled with the calls of raccoon hunts have been replaced by a quiet subdivision.

And still more development looms. A private Charleston-based company has plans for several dozen houses in the center of the neighborhood, spreading closer to the 35 acres bought by the Smalls’ great grandfather and largely kept within the bloodline since 1875. The Rev. Elijah Smalls Jr. said he’s heard rumblings about new commercial enterprises entering the frenzy.

“If that comes in, that would definitely be the death of the community,” he said.

Some of Smalls’ neighbors may have left, but the pastor says he’s not going anywhere. He built the brick house that sits right off Elijah Smalls Road. He can’t start over at his age, and nearby homes cost too much anyway.

Fred Smalls isn’t moving either. Wearing a black baseball cap with “ARMY” emblazoned in gold, he notes that many original members fought for their own freedom in the 128th Regiment of the U.S. Colored Infantry. Paintings of 19th century African American soldiers hang on his walls.

His Army service took him to Germany, Turkey, Alaska and Oklahoma. But he always knew he’d return.

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Approximately $91.3 million has been added to the 2021-2024 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for Oregon Toll Program back-office systems, roadside technology design and development. Programmed, unallocated toll funds of $6 million will be added as part of the action. The money will come from the House Bill 2017 program for urban mobility projects.

The Oregon Transportation Commission on Thursday approved the STIP tolling amendment, which adds $10 million for the I-205: OR 213 – Stafford Road variable-rate tolling project for gantries, sign structures, power services and tree removal. Travis Brouwer, Oregon Department of Transportation assistant director of revenue, finance and compliance, stated during the meeting that in order to meet the timeline for going live with Interstate 205 tolling next year, the order needs to be placed to obtain the gantries and set them up.

The Statewide Toll Development Implementation Project supports creation of a statewide tolling back-office system that processes toll information gathered on Oregon Department of Transportation’s tolled highways so customers can be billed through their toll accounts. The project will also develop a customer service interface that will allow toll users to establish accounts, pay bills and monitor their tolled highway usage.

The Statewide Toll Development Implementation Project will provide the back office, customer service and roadside technology backbone for future toll implementations in Oregon, a staff report states. This work is necessary to begin ODOT’s first three toll projects: the I-205: OR 213 – Stafford Road variable-rate tolling project, the I-5 and I-205: Regional Mobility Pricing project (RMPP), and the I-5: Columbia River (Interstate) Bridge.

The I-205 Toll Project will toll users of the I-205 Abernethy Bridge over the Willamette River and Tualatin River bridges to raise funding for the I-205: I-5 to OR 213 Phase 2 project and help manage congestion. The RMPP will implement congestion pricing on all lanes of I-5 and I-205 in the metro area. Tolls will be charged for use of the replacement I-5 bridge over the Columbia River to pay for the project and manage traffic.

ODOT plans to pay for implementation of tolling via toll revenue, pending completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes under way for each project. In the meantime, ODOT will use the money set aside in HB 2017 and HB 3055 for the Urban Mobility Strategy to pay for $95.3 million of these costs until toll revenue becomes available.

“There will be additional funding that is needed for some of the RMPP system activities and for construction of both I-205 and RMPP,” Brouwer said.

ODOT will later bring additional funding requests to the commission.

The gantries will be like informational signs, although they will be custom designed for tolling. They will have specialty hardware, including cameras and transponder readers, Brouwer added. Some areas will need to be expanded for fiber connection, as the gantries will need some broadband connection.

The Legislature made the decision in 2017 to toll in Oregon. HB 2017 states there will be tolling in the metro area, Oregon Transportation Commissioner Lee Beyer stated during the meeting. The amendment will help secure the system and equipment needed for tolling.

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North Dakota-based Brandt Hospitality Group appears to be moving forward with plans to build a pair of hotels on 6.91 acres of property in Beaverton, a bit south of the intersection of U.S. Route 26 and Northwest Cornell Road.

The Beaverton Planning Commission last month voted unanimously to approve plans for a project that calls for construction of two Marriott-branded hotels, the AC and the Element, on property that consists of three separate tax lots. Combined, the hotels would offer 224 rooms. A pair of separate restaurants, one 5,600 square feet and another 4,700 square feet, also would be built.

“This is a very, very good project,” Commissioner Gerry Uba said during the July 25 meeting. “It’s good for our city, it’s good for the area, and as fellow commissioners have said, I personally like the design. They improved the design, with all the changes, including the parapets and the color changes. It’s just beautiful.”

On Aug. 17, the Planning Commission’s approval became final because no appeals were filed. Brandt Hospitality Group may now finalize design and apply for building permits. Previously, during a meeting in June, commissioners requested a number of revisions to the design.

“Looking at your revised drawings and considering where we were nearly a month ago, I think you guys have done a nice job in responding to our concerns,” Commissioner Terry Lawler said during the July meeting. “I think it’s a really advanced design.”

The site, shaped somewhat like a pork chop, is bounded by Northwest 158th Avenue, Greenbrier Parkway and Blueridge Drive. The property is zoned for industrial and commercial uses, and sits near buildings occupied by Columbia Sportswear, Body and Face Solutions, Nike and Papa’s Pizza.

Concept plans drawn up by North Dakota-based ICON Architectural Group were presented to commissioners by Brandon McDougald, a LEED Accredited Professional with Kimley-Horn of Salt Lake City. The drawings show two four-story hotel buildings, each with a distinctive, branded entryway.

The AC Hotel will occupy the northernmost portion of the site, and offer 117 rooms. The Element will take up the southwest portion, and offer 107 rooms. The two restaurant pads would sit in the southeast corner.

Based on city requirements, there will be approximately 333 vehicle parking spaces and 16 covered bike parking spaces.

The AC Hotel will be rectangular and have light-colored stucco exterior cladding. The entryway will be a darker gray and feature a prominent bump-out feature.

The Element, meanwhile, will be L-shaped and also features prominent bump-outs. But in contrast to its neighbor, this entryway will be slightly recessed.

Several commissioners asked McDougald about existing or future plans for the restaurants.

“There is some question as to the timing of when those restaurants will be built,” he replied. “But the developer does have the LOI from two restaurants they’re talking to right now, so we don’t anticipate construction of those restaurants will trail too far behind the hotels.”

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Luxury condos, once regarded by developers as a dead end, are making a comeback. The latest example: the ambitious proposal from Portland developer Walt Bowen for a 35-story tower on a full block in downtown.

The Block 216 project would have approximately 148 high-end residential condominiums. The skyscraper would also include a 250-room luxury hotel and 175,000 square feet of office space.

A few other major projects now under construction in Portland include condos, including Vista Condominiums, a 153-unit building in the north Pearl District from Hoyt Street Properties, and TwentyTwenty, a 162-unit project in the Sullivan’s Gulch area, from PHK Development. Also, The Waterfront Vancouver will have 40 condos adjacent to a luxury hotel. That project, from Gramor Development, is expected to be completed in 2020.

The move to build luxury condos represents a modest comeback for the product type. After the economy tanked in 2009, condo development all but halted in the Portland area.

At the same time, a flood of apartment construction in recent years has resulted in a softer market for luxury apartments. Rents in Portland were down 2.2 percent in May compared to a year earlier, according to Apartment List.

Many luxury apartment managers are offering concessions to sign up new residents. In that environment, some developers are looking anew at condos as a more competitive product.

Bowen, in a response to questions via email, stated the Block 216 condos will be unique in the city.

“Portland does not have any high-end, co-branded hotel condominiums like other cities,” stated Bowen, who is president of BPM Real Estate Group. “We believe there is demand for this type of product.”

The condos will begin on the 21st floor, giving buyers commanding downtown views. Bowen also pointed to timing: Vista will deliver more than three years before Block 216 is ready, allowing plenty of time for market absorption.

An alternative multifamily option was explored for Block 216 and rejected, according to Bowen.

“Market-rate apartments are not economically viable for this project,” he stated.

Cost is one of the challenges for condos because they tend to be more expensive to build than apartments. Condos are typically built with concrete and steel stud frames, while apartments often have wood frames. Condo developers also face greater legal liabilities from homeowners.

Patrick Kessi, president of PHK Development, said he does not believe the Portland area will see a rush of condo building.

“I think it’ll be a measured amount of building with condos,” he said.

At TwentyTwenty, condos will start around $300,000 for one-bedroom units and $500,000 for two-bedroom units.

Hoyt Street Properties’ Vista Condominiums in the Pearl District is expected to be completed in October.

So far, 90 of the 153 condos have sold. Tiffany Sweitzer, Hoyt Street Properties’ president, said she expects sales to accelerate once potential buyers are able to tour the units. Prices range from $441,000 to $3.2 million.

“People are not wanting to buy a year or two ahead of time,” she said. “They’re wanting to look at product.”

Sweitzer doesn’t believe condos alone would work at Block 216.

“They have hotel and office that can help their bottom line,” she said. “Could a luxury tower be built without those other components to it? I don’t think so.”

The city’s inclusionary zoning rules pose another significant obstacle for condo developments. The policy requires developers build affordable units or pay a hefty fee. The Block 216 project team has indicated it will take the latter route, with plans to pay $7.5 million into the city’s affordable housing fund.

City officials are looking at possible changes to the policy to address complaints from developers.

The rules are unworkable, Sweitzer said.

“We will not be building for-sale product with the rules that are currently in place, but the rules are in flux,” she said.

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The Zidell family’s dreams of transforming their 33 acres of South Waterfront property are on hold after the developers could not come to terms with the city of Portland on how much each side would contribute to public infrastructure at the site.

The impasse threatens to throw away years of work on the South Waterfront. The Zidells’ ZRZ Realty Co. proposed to build approximately 5 million square feet of residential, office and retail space on the west bank of the Willamette River.

All development and design work on Zidell Yards is halted, ZRZ Realty President Jay Zidell said Monday.

Talks with city bureaus fell apart over costs concerns, according to interviews with ZRZ and city officials. The construction of Zidell Yards would have required millions in local government spending to extend Bond Avenue through the site and help pay for parks and the Greenway Trail.

“We had one view of how that needed to be funded, and the city had a different view,” Zidell said. “At the end of the day, the city’s position required ZRZ to make a substantially greater investment that impairs the returns on the buildings to the point where we do not believe we could go to the capital markets and get the capital we need to do the buildings. It kind of collapsed on itself.”

The two sides mutually terminated a development agreement last week. It’s not clear where the South Waterfront goes from here.

“We don’t currently have Plan B,” Zidell said. “We’re picking up the pieces and figuring out what to do.”

The phased project would have remade a long-neglected former industrial area just south of downtown Portland that city leaders believe could be home to dense housing and commercial development.

ZRZ and Prosper Portland forged a development agreement in 2015 calling for the city to spend $23.7 million on public infrastructure in conjunction with Zidell Yards. After further study on development needs and private financing, ZRZ’s estimate of the city’s needed contribution grew to $53 million. That’s as high as the city could go, said Lisa Abuaf, development manager for Prosper Portland. And then the price tag went higher.

“We weren’t prepared for investment beyond the $53 million,” Abuaf said. “They did a tremendous amount of work really putting detail on the vertical development needs and private financing analysis together with the public funding contribution, and we couldn’t get to an agreement on what that share would be.”

The city’s inclusionary housing rules were not a major obstacle, Zidell said. “That was a minor consideration in what really happened,” he said.

The Zidells have owned the South Waterfront parcels for decades. The site was used for building and scrapping barges by Zidell Marine Co. The last barge was launched in 2017 as the family firm shifted its focus to property development.

Substantial work has been done on design and planning for Zidell Yards. Sasaki Associates, a firm based in Watertown, Massachusetts, and Shanghai, China, completed a detailed master plan for the property in 2017 on which Place Studio and West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture also worked. SCB of Chicago and GBD Architects were engaged on building design. The Zidells also staffed up at ZRZ Realty, hiring experienced developers Thomas Henneberry and Sarah Zahn to guide the project.

The city remains open to the Zidells’ plans, Abuaf said. “We remain absolutely supportive of their vision,” she said. “Our lines of communication are certainly open.”

The decision to halt Zidell Yards could affect other major institutions in the area, including Oregon Health and Science University, a fast-growing employer and institutional developer, and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, which is pushing its own master plan across the river for a large-scale mixed-use development requiring new public infrastructure.

Regardless of the status of Zidell Yards, the city is committed to working on infrastructure priorities in the South Waterfront, including extending Bond Avenue and the Greenway Trail and providing affordable housing, Prosper Portland spokesman Shawn Uhlman said.

Zidell offered to meet with Mayor Ted Wheeler to discuss a way out of the impasse.

“Notwithstanding where we find ourselves today, I’d love to sit down with the mayor for both of us to roll up our shirtsleeves and figure out a way to put this back together,” Zidell said. “It’s just too big of a lost opportunity to the city to not figure out a way to get it done.”

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In this short video Gresham Redevelopment Commission Executive Director Josh Fuhrer gives a brief overview of Rockwood Rising, a long-awaited plan to redevelop a key property in the impoverished Gresham neighborhood of Rockwood. Once an unincorporated area of the county between Portland and Gresham, Rockwood has remained behind the development curve in spite of the region’s red-hot housing market. This has left plenty of room for enterprising developers to seek out public-private partnerships like Rockwood Rising, which has seen RKM Development team with the city of Gresham to make the project work. Check it out here:

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Wapato Jail, a lingering embarrassment for Multnomah County, could finally come off the books if the Board of Commissioners agrees to sell the property to a developer.

Commissioners are set to vote on a revised deal with developer Marty Kehoe during a meeting that will begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

The county and Kehoe Northwest Properties in October entered into a letter of intent to sell the property to the company for $10.8 million. After a due-diligence period, the two sides are working on a revised deal at $5 million. If the county opts not to sell for that price, Kehoe is releasing the property back to the county, according to a letter from his attorneys to the county.

Kehoe has said he wants to turn the never-used jail into a distribution facility for medical devices. It’s not clear if that’s still the plan.

“Our representatives are still talking with the county and we’re trying to find a way to make this transaction work for all parties,” Kehoe said.

Adding intrigue is an 11^th-hour offer from Oregon Harbor of Hope, a nonprofit organization founded by developer Homer Williams. Harbor of Hope has offered $7 million to turn the property into a homeless shelter.

Williams’ offer is not up for official consideration on Thursday.

Don Mazziotti, who is working with Williams and Harbor of Hope, declined to comment on the offer. “I’m not going to go into any details of the offer,” he said. “I don’t want to prejudice the decision in the press – it’s too important.”

County Chair Deborah Kafoury has expressed skepticism that the property could be used as a homeless shelter or a hub for social services. The property is zoned for heavy industrial use, and Oregon courts have rejected shelters in industrial zones.

Wapato Jail is also far from social services used by the homeless and is difficult to get to. The nearest bus stop is more than a mile away.

The Street Roots newspaper published an editorial against using the facility as a shelter, saying “rather than segregate our homeless neighbors to a jail on the edge of town, we should continue efforts with shelters that allow people to remain in their community.”

The county has struggled to find a use for the empty jail. It was built after voters approved a $46 million bond measure in 1996. The facility was dedicated in 2004, but never opened as the county found itself short of operating funds. At the same time, crime declined.

The county had to wait until Oct. 1, 2016, when the bonds were paid off, to sell the property. CBRE marketed the listing.

Multnomah County has been eager to get rid of the property. It costs $300,000 a year to maintain the facility, according to the county.

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Check out this brief video from Oregon Health and Science University’s new Knight Cancer Research Building on the South Waterfront. The $190 million research center is expected to be finished later this year and will host up to 700 scientists, researchers, students and support staff. The building was designed with input from those parties, as well as contractors involved in the process, leading to a unique design that features widespread use of common spaces and open floor plans.

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Portland’s City Council on Wednesday approved a property-tax exemption for a multifamily development in Northeast Portland that will include 18 affordable units.

The exemption is part of the city’s Multiple Unit Limited Tax Exemption, or MULTE, program, which provides a 10-year property tax exemption in exchange for providing rent-restricted apartments for 10 years.

The project at 2821 N.E. Everett St. comes from Urban Development Group. Of the building‘s 119 units, 18 apartments, or 15 percent, will be affordable at the level of 80 percent of area median family income.

The building will have 33 studio apartments (including five affordable units) and 86 one-bedroom apartments (including 13 affordable).

The city and Multnomah County will forego an estimated $210,000 of property tax revenue.

“Developers, who are taking full stock of their options, are choosing to opt in to these offsets,” Housing Director Kurt Creager told commissioners. “We think this is the beginning of a trend, and we’re very closely interested in all of their success.”

Portland has sought to persuade developers to include affordable units in projects that vested before the city’s inclusionary housing rules took effect on Feb. 1. Creager, pointing to Portland’s years-long pipeline of housing projects, said the Housing Bureau is open to any developer who wishes to opt in to MULTE.

“We remain open for business and will work with any developer with a project in the pipeline,” Creager said.

Separately, the City Council also set a formal goal to create 2,000 additional supportive housing units by 2028 as part of the Joint Office of Homeless Services. Supportive housing pairs housing units with intensive services to enable residents to stay in their homes.

Portland officials said supportive housing is the best way to get homeless people off of the streets for good.

“We can show other communities up and down the West Coast how to actually make progress on this seemingly intractable issue,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said.

Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said supportive housing could be expanded. “This is only a next step, and not a solution, to the need for supportive housing,” she said.

Multnomah County, which also contributes to the Joint Office of Homeless Services, was expected to approve a similar resolution at Thursday’s Board of County Commissioner’s meeting.

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Prosper Portland‘s board agreed last week to sell 3 acres to Mortenson Development for a hotel near Portland International Airport.

The parcel at Cascade Station would be home to a 200-room midrise hotel to serve business travelers and visitors flying through PDX.

The final purchase price will be approximately $1.57 million, depending on the final size of the acreage sold, according to a staff report. Any additional land needed for the project will be charged at $12 per square foot, or the final appraised price, whichever is greater.

Prosper Portland has sold off 13 acres at Cascade Station during the past six years for government and corporate offices and a hotel.

Mortenson officials said the airport market is underserved for hotels, particularly at a higher price point.

“We feel it’s a great market for a hotel,” said Brian Gunn, real estate development specialist for Mortenson. “It’s well-suited for it.”

Growth at Cascade Station has added amenities that draw in visitors, Gunn said.

Mortenson has a hotel operator in mind, but has not finalized the deal, said Dan Mehls, vice president and general manager for Mortenson in Portland.

Cascade Station, off of Airport Way, has several big-box stores, including an Ikea, and chain restaurants such as Buffalo Wild Wings. The area’s hotels include Hyatt Place, Residence Inn by Marriott and Aloft, a brand owned by Marriott International Inc. A Holiday Inn Express is under construction.

The FBI also has its local headquarters at Cascade Station in a 121,000-square-foot office building.

Mortenson is also the developer of the 600-room Hyatt Regency at Oregon Convention Center that broke ground last week and an associated parking garage. The Minneapolis-based company previously developed the $50 million, 204-room AC Hotel in downtown Portland.

Developers have rushed into Portland’s hospitality market. Travel Portland, a tourism organization, is tracking 2,728 rooms in the development pipeline.

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