The Portland Design Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a two-building multifamily proposal to add 363 apartments to the Slabtown neighborhood.

Greystar‘s development, designed by SERA Architects, includes a five-story, 149-unit building and a six- and seven-story, 214-unit building. The two structures will be split by Northwest Savier Street between Northwest 19th and 20th avenues.

The project, known as Slabtown Savier, on blocks 261 and 262, will neighbor U.S. Route 30 to the north and St. Patrick Catholic Church to the east.

Commissioners had seen the project in two previous design advice meetings and had few quibbles with the final design.

“The building’s looking great,” Commissioner Sam Rodriguez said. “From a public realm perspective, they nailed it. It’s a great infill building with very thoughtful articulation.”

Slabtown Savier is subject to the Con-way master plan, which was enacted in 2012. As such, the development is not required to provide rent-restricted inclusionary housing units.

Greystar and SERA worked with St. Patrick Catholic Church officials to ensure the development would not loom over the 130-year-old church, a landmark on the National Register of Historic Places and the oldest structure in the neighborhood. SERA did a “radical re-massing of the site to give St. Patrick Church more space and more breathing room,” principal Kurt Schultz said.

Slabtown Savier will be marked by a pocket park between Block 262 and the church, ground-level live-work units and front stoops. The brick exteriors will feature Juliet balconies on each side.

Some neighborhood residents had pushed for a taller building that would block views and noise from U.S. Route 30. But Chairwoman Julie Livingston said there’s nothing in guidelines to require that type of development. She called the project a “gigantic win for the neighborhood.”

“This development looks as if it really does have the potential to take back this street (Savier) and take back this neighborhood and restore some of the church’s dignity,” she said.

Greystar, based in Charleston, South Carolina, scooped up the property from Lennar Multifamily Communities, going under contract in March. Greystar’s Portland office most recently completed the Sawbuck Apartments next to Providence Park.

Slabtown Savier won exemptions from the Design Commission for building height, parking space widths and bicycle parking. Commissioners granted a modification for Block 262 to ascend to 83 feet, above the limit of 67 feet.

The project previously was the subject of two design advice hearings, in February and July.

Design commissioners praised the team of SERA’s Schultz and Lango Hansen Landscape Architects principal Kurt Lango.

“I would say Kurt and Kurt are the dream team,” Commissioner Zari Santner said.

Santner lauded the project team for “not just following, but listening and coming up with their own options to really respond to the core of the commission’s concerns.”

Doug Burges, Greystar’s director of development in Portland, said the firm wanted to honor the city’s process.

“We took the process seriously and used the process to better our design and get feedback along the way,” he said in an interview.

Greystar plans to break ground in October 2022, likely using its in-house construction arm, Burges said.

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Developed and built through a pandemic, new regulatory obstacles and a swift and severe economic downturn, Greystar‘s Sawbuck is nearing completion with 182 apartment units in Goose Hollow.

Crews are finishing apartments, installing mailboxes and laying brick on the podium patio deck in anticipation of residents. Apartments are available for preleasing. The eight-story building is on track to apply for a temporary certificate of occupancy in mid-to-late July, said Doug Burges, Greystar’s director of development for the region.

Sawbuck will also be one of the first large multifamily projects to offer inclusionary zoning units required by the city of Portland.

“We proved it by getting this project to go that we can attract investment at this scale and deliver affordable units,” Burges said.

Sawbuck, 1725 S.W. Salmon St., takes its place in an increasingly dense Goose Hollow. Providence Park is across the street on Eighteenth Avenue. On the building’s south side, across Salmon Street, is the massive under-construction edifice of Lincoln High School. Nearby, other office, commercial and residential projects are in various stages of development and construction, while others have stalled.

Portland’s multifamily market has been buffeted by the Covid-19 pandemic, increased regulations such as inclusionary zoning that make projects less profitable and perceptions about the city’s out-of-control homelessness and sometimes-violent protests. Sawbuck is one of a handful of sizable multifamily buildings that are due to be completed this year.

Sawbuck’s completion is more like an echo of past economic conditions than a sign of current market robustness, said Noel Johnson, principal with developer Cairn Pacific, who is not involved in the project.

“This project, and there are a few others that are still yet to finish, are examples of the market which is a distant memory at this point,” Johnson said. “That doesn’t take anything away from the project – we’re lucky to have new housing units – but it doesn’t say anything about today’s market.”

Sawbuck was backed financially by a major insurance company and received a construction loan from City National Bank.

Greystar is interested in building more projects in the city of Portland, Burges said. “We want to do business in the city of Portland because we believe in the long-term,” he said. “We know the challenges, but I think things are going in a positive direction.”

Greystar, which is based in Charleston, S.C., opted to meet its affordable housing obligations by providing 10 percent of units affordable at the level of 60 percent of area median income. The developer also used an option to provide an equivalent number of bedrooms rather than units. The result is 10 two-bedroom units offered at restricted rents.

In return for the inclusionary units, Greystar receives a 100 percent property tax abatement on all residential units for 10 years. Burges said the tax break “barely makes it work” financially to build the project.

Sawbuck was designed by SERA Architects and built by Hoffman Construction serving as general contractor. (Hoffman is also taking the lead at Lincoln High next door, making Goose Hollow a nexus of activity for the local contractor).

Construction continued despite the pandemic. When positive COVID-19 tests arose, crews were quarantined while others continued working, Burges said. “Hoffman did a very good job of dealing with it,” he said.

Construction and design were complicated by the subterranean presence of Tanner Creek, located about 40 feet below ground. Crews replaced a brick aqueduct dating from the early 20th century with structural steel. The building essentially straddles the creek, with no structural elements placed atop the waterway.

The creek also made it impossible to build a conventional below-grade parking garage. Sawbuck instead uses mechanized stackers for which steel was imported from China. The stackers can accommodate 86 vehicles.

Greystar purchased the property, a former parking lot, from TriMet for $6.5 million in 2019, according to public records.

Burges said Greystar was attracted by Portland’s market fundamentals and some perks of the Goose Hollow site: It’s on the MAX line and surrounded by long-term institutional properties including Providence Park, the Multnomah Athletic Club, Lincoln High and Zion Lutheran Church.

“It was not easy,” Burges said. “But it’s a project that’s built right. It’s attractive. And if you’re going to be among these institutions, you better build something to last.”

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National developer Greystar and a joint-venture partner have purchased a property near the University of Oregon campus in Eugene to construct a $100 million student housing project.

An existing Travelodge hotel, at 476 E. Broadway, will be demolished to make way for a 12-story, 357-unit multifamily building geared toward students.

Greystar, a Charleston, S.C.-based developer that has a Portland office, and joint-venture partner Star America Infrastructure Partners purchased the hotel property from the lodging operator.

Union on Broadway is the first joint project from Greystar and Star America Infrastructure Partners, and it also the first in Eugene for Greystar.

Portland-based Ankrom Moisan Architects is designing the project, and John Hyland Construction of Springfield will build it.

Demolition will begin later this month. Completion is projected for August 2022, ahead of the start of the 2022-23 school year for UO students.

Doug Burges, director of development for Greystar, said the firm was attracted to rising student enrollment at UO and a series of major redevelopments in Eugene, including the $1 billion Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, the Fifth Street Public Market expansion and the riverfront redevelopment led by Williams & Dame.

The 1.1-acre site is within a short walk of campus and also downtown Eugene.

Union on Broadway will offer units with one to four bedrooms. Retail space will occupy the ground floor.

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At the corner of Southwest 18th Avenue and Salmon Street, in the Goose Hollow neighborhood, a 27-year-old international real estate company is entering the Portland market.

General contractor Hoffman Construction is leading the effort to deliver an eight-story building with 182 apartments over 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a single level of below-grade parking. SERA Architects‘ design for Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar was approved by the Portland Design Commission in September 2018.

“18th and Salmon is ideally suited as Greystar’s first Portland project,” said Doug Burges, a director of development with the firm. “It leverages our core competency with extremely complex sites and experience in high-barrier-to-entry markets such as those in which we are very active along the West Coast.”

The site at 1715 S.W. Salmon St. is a wedge-shaped, 0.49-acre parcel. MAX light-rail tracks constrain the site on the west, and a massive underground culvert (following the historic path of Tanner Creek) bisects the site some 40 feet below grade.

Early subgrade work required crews from James W. Fowler Co. to perform a complex retrofit of the century-old brick culvert that channels the creek, stormwater and wastewater through the city center, Burges said.

“It’s an old creek that ran through Portland and it’s actually underneath here,” he said. “There are a bunch of buildings it runs underneath, but we had to structurally upgrade or retrofit 40 feet below ground surface.”

The work required personnel to don personal respirators and air monitors, Hoffman Construction project superintendent Mark Rado said. Also, a rescue team was on standby on the surface.

“They coated the galvanized steel plates and then went down there, bolted them up with five or six guys down below,” Rado said. “And they just feed these panels through and they build them up all the way. The existing (culvert) was a brick line or clay or whatever it was, and they would have an angular space between the existing structure and the steel plates and they had to grout to fill that in. So you have this reinforced creek now that is basically a 60-inch culvert.”

The culvert influenced the design of the building and limited the ability to excavate below grade. As a result, the project team settled on a single story of underground parking bolstered with car-stacking machinery. There will be an additional 278 bicycle parking spaces.

The building will feature a prominent “flatiron” corner at the junction of 18th Avenue and Salmon Street. The 85-foot-tall structure will have four stories of post-tensioned concrete decks below four stories of wood framing.

Ground was broken on the project in July 2019.

“Right now we’re basically trying to come up out of the ground to get to slab on grade,” Rado said. “We just got our first wall pour off on Monday, so a really critical path for us coming up out of the ground is getting all the walls formed and poured so we can go to backfill. That’s really our biggest push right now.”

Crews are finally enjoying decent weather conditions, Rado added.

“We had a really tough January underground with mud and muck and getting through that,” he said. “We survived because the water table is really low and we didn’t have to contend with too much water, but getting up enough to where we can get waterproofing done and get through the foundation – that was very difficult.”

With Hoffman crews also beginning construction on the new Lincoln High School across Salmon Street, communication and coordination are now essential.

“We have been eager to sink our teeth into the planning and coordination on this project,” Hoffman Construction Vice President Nima Darabi said. “It’s a complex site, but we look forward to partnering with Greystar and SERA Architects to deliver this pedestrian-oriented housing project. It will create a vibrant neighborhood focal point.”

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Greystar has sold a 12-building multifamily property in Hillsboro.

The buyer of Avana Orenco Station – a 264-unit development – was Jackson Square Properties, a San Francisco-based real estate investment firm.

The terms of the deal were not available from Washington County, and were not disclosed by the buyer or seller. The 9.8-acre property previously sold for $51 million in 2014. The county assessed the property’s market value last year at $61.9 million.

Avana Orenco Station is also known as the Grove at Orenco Station.

Jackson Square Properties acquired the property free and clear of existing financing, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, which marketed the property for Greystar.

The buildings have a mix of 156 one-bedroom, 100 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom floor plans averaging 925 square feet. The property is within walking distance of TriMet’s MAX Blue light-rail line and near Intel’s Hillsboro campus.

The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller was led by Senior Managing Director Ira Virden and Senior Director Carrie Kahn.

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Indigo at Twelve | West, a 22-story mixed-use tower developed by Gerding Edlen and Downtown Development Group in Portland’s West End, has sold for $206 million to Greystar Real Estate Partners.

The sale came after competition from multiple bidders, said Greg Goodman, co-president of Downtown Development Group.

“There was a frothy competition for it,” he said. “If we wouldn’t have gotten a price that we wanted, we wouldn’t have sold it.”

The tower has anchored downtown Portland’s West End since its completion in 2009. The Goodman family partnered with Gerding Edlen as well as a number of other investors. ZGF Architects designed the glass-and-steel tower topped by wind turbines.

“It’s something we’re really proud of,” Goodman said. “We were able to participate with others in a legacy building and a catalytic project for the West End. It was catalytic for hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in the area.”

The building has 273 luxury apartments, 86,000 square feet of office space and 10,000 square feet of retail space. ZGF anchors the office space, while tenants including Lardo, Grassa, Blue Star Donuts and Beer O’Clock fully occupy the retail units.

Goodman said the sale “validates” other projects coming to the West End, including Walt Bowen’s 35-story Block 216 proposal, the 12-story Graves Hospitality hotel at Southwest 10th Avenue and Alder Street and the 24-story tower from Gerding Edlen and Downtown Development Group at Eleven West, or Southwest 11th Avenue and Washington Street.

Indigo at Twelve | West was completed amid the Great Recession. The Goodmans had to drop rents to compete with other projects.

“We had (planned for) $2.42 a foot and opened at $1.90 a foot,” Goodman said.

Greystar, based in Charleston, South Carolina, is a major institutional real-estate investment, development and management firm. Last year, the company pulled out of a deal to develop a tower at the site of the Washington Center building at Southwest Fourth Avenue and Washington Street. That property is owned by Menashe Properties.

Jones Lang LaSalle‘s Capital Markets team brokered the deal. The commercial side was led by JLL managing directors Buzz Ellis and Paige Morgan, and Vice President Adam Taylor. Senior Vice President Mark Washington and managing directors David Young and Corey Marx led the multifamily team.

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Plans for a 30-story tower in downtown Portland are on hold as the developer, Greystar, works to finance the deal.

The Washington Center property at Southwest Fourth Avenue and Washington Street is back on the market, said Jordan Menashe, principal at Menashe Properties.

“It was not a bad situation for us at all, but as of (Monday), Fourth and Washington is available,” Menashe said.

Greystar in July 2016 proposed the project with an initial design by ZGF Architects. The Charleston, South Carolina-based developer had the property under contract since July, but the transaction has not closed.

The developer is working to salvage the deal, said Brad Schnell, Greystar’s managing director of development in Portland.

“We’re trying to get the deal back under contract,” he said. “It’s something we’ve worked on for a considerable amount of time, and we’re not just going to walk away from.”

Financing the project has proved difficult, Schnell said.

“Capital markets have changed in the last six to nine months,” he said. “There’s a lot more trepidation, and everybody wants a better yield. We’ve seen lenders tighten up their restrictions. Loan-to-cost had gone to a direction that doesn’t help yield.”

Greystar’s proposal called for a mix of 300 to 350 multifamily units and hotel space. Five floors of underground parking were envisioned.

The tower would be Greystar’s first large-scale development in Portland.

Menashe Properties purchased the parcel for $9 million in 2014. Washington Center has served as a temporary homeless shelter.

“We would have liked to see the project move forward for Greystar,” Menashe said.

Greystar’s project was one of several towers proposed in Portland last year. American Assets Trust‘s Oregon Square is expected to reach 24 stories in the Central Eastside. Downtown Development Group‘s 11 West is planned to reach 320 feet in height in the West End. Security Properties‘ multifamily tower may rise to 250 feet on the Press Blocks site in Goose Hollow.

Developers are working to capitalize on strong demand for urban living and high-end office space. However, the high-end apartment market has appeared to weaken in recent months, with leasing concessions being offered for certain properties. New inclusionary housing regulations have also contributed to uncertainty in multifamily development.

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Greystar, a major development and property management firm based in Charleston, South Carolina, is the developer behind a proposed 30-story tower at Southwest Fourth and Washington Street in downtown Portland.

“We’re looking at a tower that will have a residential, hotel and retail component,” said Brad Schnell, managing director of development for Greystar’s Portland office.

The property, as proposed in a pre-application notice, would include 300 to 350 residential units and five floors of underground parking.

The hotel brand is to be determined, Schnell said. The tower will also likely feature a ground-floor restaurant.

“It’s an evolving neighborhood, and we’re going to work to showcase the food scene, the tech scene,” Schnell said. He noted the property is near the future James Beard Market and the thriving Pine Street Market.

The property at 401-419 SW Washington St. is owned by Menashe Properties. Greystar has the property under contract, but the purchase has not closed, Schnell said. Neither side would disclose the purchase price.

Greystar has developed projects throughout the nation, but nothing of significant scale in Portland. “We’ve bought a number of deals here,” Schnell said. “This is our first big development deal here.”

Greystar is also a major owner of apartment rental properties. Nationally, the company has more than 400,000 multifamily units under management and a domestic development pipeline of $1.4 billion.

Julie Bronder of ZGF Architects is listed on the application for the Washington Street project. ZGF has designed other recently built Portland towers, including Park Avenue West and Indigo at Twelve West.

Schnell said ZGF is “probably the foremost architect” for this type of project. “Greystar is always looking to push the design envelope,” he said.

Menashe Properties purchased the Washington Center building in 2014 for $9 million. Jordan Menashe said he and his father, Barry, purchased the property “with a lot of hair on it” – including existing tenants and other complexities – but also strong potential.

“Barry had the eye for it, and we still believe today, it’s one of the best pieces in Portland for what and how big you can develop, and where it is coming off of the Morrison Bridge,” Jordan Menashe said.

The property was recently the site of a temporary homeless shelter in a deal struck between the Menashes and Mayor Charlie Hales’ office.

Jordan Menashe said the family firm is interested in a continuing relationship with the project.

“We would welcome the opportunity to discuss a way to stay involved in the deal because we believe in Greystar and what they plan to build,” he said.

Greystar’s big move comes as other developers propose what could be some of Portland’s tallest buildings. Urban Renaissance Group has proposed building up to 29 stories at the former Oregonian Publishing blocks in Goose Hollow. A pre-application notice was published Monday for a mixed-use tower of unspecified size at Southwest 11^th Avenue and Washington Street. And the Goodman family’s Ankeny Blocks proposal calls for five towers of 460 feet each.

Schnell said the 30-story project is supported by strong population and job growth and continued low vacancy rates in downtown Portland.

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