A new office building for the Oregon Department of Human Services is planned in Gresham, to allow consolidation of several smaller facilities in east Multnomah County.

According to plans submitted by TVA Architects to Gresham’s Urban Design and Planning Department, the three-story building at the junction of Southeast 223rd Avenue and Stark Street would feature over 95,000 square feet of space. Plans also call for 288 parking spaces for motor vehicles.

The 5.51-acre site targeted for the development is comprised of three separate tax lots. Two existing single-story buildings are tentatively set to remain on the property. Currently, a lot line review is taking place to allow consolidation of the three tax lots into a single parcel.

Primary vehicle access would be via 223rd Avenue, with a secondary entrance via Stark Street. The main building entry would be on the south side, and the employee entry on the north side. Eight interior parking stalls on the ground floor would be reserved for child welfare staff vehicles.

The primary entrance would feature a two-story lobby with full-height glass facing south and a two-story glass opening facing 223rd Avenue. Doors would open to both the east and west.

Materials planned for the exterior include ribbed and flat metal panels as well as a high-density fiber cement panel system.

Construction is tentatively set to start in June 2020, according to submitted documents.

The project team has consulted with the Gresham Design Commission, and is awaiting a formal design review hearing.

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The proposal for Civic Northwest – a massive transit-oriented development in Gresham – has received design approval.

Gresham’s Design Commission last week voted 4-1 to approve YBA Architects‘ design for the Wood Partners project, which calls for construction of eight buildings on a 7.4-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Northwest Civic Drive and Council Drive. The property is not far from TriMet‘s Civic Drive MAX station.

“Conceived as a ‘village on a hill,’ the development is a keystone within the larger Civic Neighborhood District and is devised to establish an urban, pedestrian-oriented center for neighborhood residents,” YBA Architects owner and principal Matt Brown stated in an email.

The total new floor area planned in the eight buildings, Brown stated, will be roughly 290,000 square feet. Two five-story mixed-use buildings, a four-story mixed-use building, four three-story apartment buildings and a retail pavilion will make up the development. Collectively, the structures are expected to hold at least 318 residential units and more than 12,000 square feet of retail space.

The half-acre plaza will be activated by multiuse play spaces and flexible commercial spaces on the ground floors of the five-story mixed-use buildings. The single-story, 1,200-square-foot micro-restaurant pavilion, meanwhile, will be the focal point of the entire development. The project team hopes it will become an 18-hour center of activity.

One site challenge for designers is that it features a nearly 25-degree grade change from the highest point to the lowest. To take advantage of this, Brown stated, a pair of woonerfs – spaces shared by vehicle drivers and pedestrians – will extend into the middle of the site to connect the upper and lower terraces. In addition, several open areas will be integrated.

In wider terms, the development fits within the Civic Neighborhood Vision and Design District Update approved by the city in 2017. That plan updated rules to remove obstacles for large developments of this type and also established design standards for new construction.

Civic Northwest project team members will next enter the permitting process, Brown stated. The goal at this point is to break ground this summer.

In addition to Wood Partners and YBA Architects, the team includes landscape architect Shapiro Didway Landscape Architecture and civil engineer Harper Houf Peterson Righellis Inc. The general contractor will be a firm affiliated with Wood Partners.

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The Gresham Design Commission has given a green light to the development team proposing to build a 37-unit multifamily project at the northeast corner of Southeast 202nd Avenue and Stark Street.

Plans for the Archibald Grove Apartments call for two buildings – one with 12 one-bedroom units and the other with 25 two-bedroom units; all would rent at market rates. The development will provide as many as 61 parking spaces for motor vehicles.

Taylor Kaplan, a principal with Gibbins Kaplan Development, is listed as the applicant for the project, which is planned for a vacant 1.53-acre parcel of land.

The property owner is UAA/GKD Archibald Grove Investors LLC, a corporation aligned with Gibbins Kaplan Development, a firm formed earlier this year to focus on workforce housing projects in the Portland-metro area. The firm was jointly founded by Kaplan and Wylie Gibbins; both formerly worked for Williams & Dame Development.

MWA Architects is designing the project, which will have entrances on both 202nd Avenue and Stark Street. While most utilities are already in place and serve the surrounding neighborhood, the site lacks stormwater drainage and will require installation of a series of rain gardens to compensate.

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A proposal to construct a 25-unit apartment complex has received approval from the Gresham Design Commission.

Plans call for adding two buildings on a 1.04-acre parcel at the intersection of Northeast 202nd Avenue and Northeast Glisan Street. The project is being developed by UAA/GKD Douglas Grove Investors LLC, and designed by MWA Architects.

The 45,253-square-foot site roughly forms the shape of a V and has 73 feet of frontage on 202nd Avenue to go with 269 feet of frontage on Glisan Street. A single-family residence that formerly occupied the property was demolished in April. Surrounding properties include a single-family residence, a retail building and vacant land.

According to a city staff report, the targeted property is zoned MDR-24, which allows attached dwellings on a single lot. The Douglas Grove Apartments will feature two separate buildings with associated site amenities and parking improvements. The southern structure will be a fourplex with four residential units, while the northern building will have 21 residential units.

Preliminary drawings produced by MWA Architects show that the larger building is designed to mimic four separate buildings connected by breezeways. The smaller building is designed as two distinct halves.

The design allows for 39 motor vehicle parking spaces and at least 12 bicycle parking stalls in building breezeways.

Currently, city records do not show that any building permits have been issued for the project.

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Metro is continuing to spur an effort to develop a group of properties it owns in Gresham‘s Civic neighborhood.

On top of Civic Northwest – a mixed-use development on five acres bordered in part by light-rail tracks and Northwest Civic Drive – a similar and even larger development (Civic Southwest) designed by SERA Architects was presented to the Gresham Design Commission on Wednesday for early assistance.

The proposed 400-unit Civic Drive Apartments project is being developed by Palindrome Communities. Plans call for two mixed-use buildings and one solely residential building on 4.23 acres. The development would be separated from Civic Northwest by only light-rail tracks; the two developments are poised to rise virtually simultaneously.

Preliminary plans for the Civic Drive Apartments presented Wednesday by Gauri Rajbaidya, a SERA Architects associate, show two five-story buildings and one four-story building. A below-grade parking garage would include storage space, building services, back-of-house space serving commercial tenants and approximately 400 parking spaces. Plus, 42 additional surface parking spaces would be built to accommodate visitors and commercial tenants.

Both Civic Northwest and Civic Southwest are being designed with the Civic Drive MAX Station in mind.

“We are looking to complement the activity that happens on the northwest side to really make the site very active,” Rajbaidya told the Design Commission.

Commissioners, however, asked that designers reconfigure Building C, on the property’s northeast side, to provide better views of the MAX station from both Civic Drive and an interior courtyard.

“It seems like it’s really blocking off the main driver to this project, turning your back on it and putting a barrier in the way of that MAX stop,” commissioner Pat Lando said.

Building A, on the southeast corner of the site, would be a U-shaped structure and include apartments, retail space, building services, tenant services, a leasing office, a fitness room and an exterior courtyard with seating and landscape amenities. This building would face the back the back of the Gresham Station shopping center, so a brewpub, fitness center or other active space would likely be pursued to energize the streetscape.

“It’s a shame that code wasn’t better written when Gresham Station went in,” Commission Chairman Rob Cook said. “As far as I’m concerned, landscaping and things of that nature are going to be your best friend to try to contain the beauty of your project from what’s across the street. There’s not much you can do with those hard concrete surfaces without any vegetation.”

Building B, on the southwest corner, would be rectangular and have a lobby and apartments on the ground level.

Finally, Building C would dominate the north side of the site. It would be V-shaped, according to preliminary drawings, and have a lobby as well as meeting and lounge space on the ground floor.

Initial plans do not indicate the exact composition of each building (one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments are planned), but 240 market-rate units would be split between buildings A and B, and 160 workforce units would be in Building C.

All three buildings’ exteriors would feature brick and fiber cement panels.

Overall, the commission expressed enthusiasm for the project, which is on track to continue the transformation of central Gresham between Burnside and Division streets.

“We’re really excited to see this project coming through to complete that Gresham civic core,” Cook said.

A formal pre-application meeting for the project will be scheduled next, prior to submission of a development application.

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A proposed mixed-use development with 310 residential units could help transform Gresham‘s Civic neighborhood into a much busier place.

At the heart of the proposal is a five-acre parcel located near the intersection of Northwest Civic Drive and MAX blue light-rail tracks in downtown Gresham. It is one of four Metro-owned properties in the area and the first of those being targeted for development.

The plan for “Civic Northwest” envisions as many as seven mixed-use or residential buildings being constructed on the site bordered by Northwest Fanning Way, Council Drive, Civic Drive and MAX tracks. Those buildings would surround a central parking lot and a public plaza with a playground and other amenities.

Metro and the city of Gresham nearly a year ago jointly released a for the project. They subsequently chose a development and design team of Atlanta-based Wood Partners and YBA Architects.

Design advice from the city planning department was requested in May, and site concepts were presented to the Gresham Design Commission shortly thereafter. The project is still in the design stage.

Early site concepts show four three-story residential buildings on the northwest portion of the trapezoidal property. Each of these buildings would have slightly more than 22,000 square feet and 24 residential units.

Then, on the southeast side, three other mixed-use buildings – two five stories and another four stories, would front Northwest Civic Drive. One five-story building would be 73,225 square feet and hold 87 residential units, and the other would be 71,190 square feet and hold 72 residential units. Each would offer ground-floor commercial space. The four-story mixed-use building would be 50,900 square feet and hold 55 residential units. It also would have ground-floor commercial space.

The plaza would feature prominently on the property’s southeast edge, near the MAX tracks.

Master planning efforts envision this part of the city featuring an array of housing, businesses and entertainment along with public gathering areas and green spaces. The Civic neighborhood is singled out as one of the city’s three core commercial areas for high-density, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented development.

Both Metro and the city of Gresham are offering financial incentives to develop this parcel and the three others in the neighborhood owned by Metro.

For instance, the city has up to $634,000 in system development charges and local improvement district funds available for construction of the plaza and open space, with the requirement that those amenities be dedicated to the city. In addition, the city offers vertical housing tax credits for projects on these four sites.

Meanwhile, Metro’s Transit Oriented Development program was created with projects like this in mind. TOD supports high-density development near high-capacity transit lines. It has two mechanisms to accomplish this: the land value write-down, and the purchase of a TOD easement.

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Preliminary plans have been submitted to build a 224-unit affordable housing complex on approximately 8 acres in Gresham’s Rockwood neighborhood.

According to city records, applicant Waechter Architecture has requested design review for a complex featuring multiple apartment buildings (all four stories) wrapping around a central community building.

The project site is comprised of two tax lots near the northeast intersection of Southeast Yamhill Street and 182nd Avenue. The property lies within an Open Space Overlay District in the Rockwood Town Center zone and would be subject to certain design regulations that don’t pertain to the rest of the city.

The Gresham Design Commission last month discussed the proposal with representatives of Waechter Architecture and Community Development Partners. At that meeting, according to a city staff summary, design commissioners asked about walking access for the site outside the complex and requested that the design be “permeable” for pedestrians.

Design commissioners want corner lot entries to face Southeast Yamhill Street and one of the future streets planned to bisect the property, the summary states. Southeast Yamhill Street is thus likely to be the public entryway into the central common space, with commissioners asking for an “active, engaging” facade.

According to public records, one of the two future streets would run north-south between Southeast 182nd Avenue and 187th Avenue. The other would run east-west along the property’s northern boundary.

The property owners are listed as Aspen Ho LLC, a corporation connected with Portland private equity firm Aspen Capital, and the Portland Lutheran Association.

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The city of Gresham is seeking two people to join its seven-person Design Commission.

The group operates in essentially the same fashion as its Portland counterpart. Commissioners review development applications and help ensure the city’s design standards and guidelines are met. The commission conducts public hearings as needed, particularly for public-private partnerships.

While design professionals are particularly qualified for the two vacant positions, other public citizens are eligible too. Also, candidates are not required to be Gresham residents.

“We always welcome new members of any gender, age, culture or ethnicity,” Gresham Director of Communications Elizabeth Coffee stated via email. “The commission is a dedicated group that is passionate about making Gresham a better place, and this is an exciting opportunity for new members to join and make a difference in their community.”

The city is seeking to fill the two vacancies by September, Coffee said.

Design Commission meetings are held the first and third Wednesdays of each month as needed from 6:30-9 p.m. at Gresham City Hall, 1333 N.W. Eastman Parkway.

The staff liaison for the commission is Jamie Thomes; she is available at 503-618-2842 or Jamie.Thomes@GreshamOregon.gov. Gresham City Council liaisons are Councilor Kirk French (Kirk.French@GreshamOregon.gov) and Councilor David Widmark (David.Widmark@GreshamOregon.gov).

For more information, visit .

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