Along MAX Orange light-rail tracks, visions of transit-oriented multifamily development are slowly becoming reality.

Completed in 2015 at a cost of $1.49 billion, the route between Milwaukie and downtown Portland was meant to more tightly link the region and encourage car-free transportation alongside dense, transit-oriented multifamily development.

Only now is the multifamily piece of the puzzle beginning to fall into place.

One example is the Dean River Apartments, which is rising in Southeast Portland. The four-story, 72-unit building is being constructed on a 0.32-acre triangle left over from creation of the Orange Line. A light-rail station is located only a block away at Southeast 17th Avenue and Rhine Street.

The project is from Northwest Sustainable Properties and Siteworks Design-Build. Both companies are owned and managed by Jean-Pierre Veillet, a local sculptor-turned-developer who has focused on urban infill projects in Portland neighborhoods.

The Dean River Apartments will have living units on all four floors, and no parking. The building will include 47 studio units, two one-bedroom units, 21 two-bedroom units and two three-bedroom units. The project is subject to inclusionary zoning, and a complement of units will be provided to renters at 60 percent of median family income.

“I don’t think this is just for young people,” Veillet said. “It’s for people who don’t want a big house in the West Hills, or even a small house.”

The building – named for a pristine natural river in British Columbia – might also make sense for retirees, Veillet said.

“They can retire to an environment where they can get everywhere on transit,” he said.

The building, designed by Siteworks’ David Mclaughlin, places a premium on units. There was no room within the 45-foot height limit for a rooftop deck. However, the building does have an amenity deck and bike parking. Special attention was paid to soundproofing in the busy corridor.

The small parcel at 3255 S.E. 17th Ave. was carved out from land left over after construction of the Orange Line. Neighbors had urged TriMet to allow them to cultivate a garden on the parcel. Instead, the transit agency sold the property to Veillet for $959,000.

“They put $1.5 billion into the MAX line,” Veillet said. “The best and highest use is apartments that are going to drive (rail) traffic.”

Veillet said he expects the project to cost approximately $13.5 million. Earlier this week, a crew from subcontractor Barry Bray Construction Co. was pouring concrete for the foundation and doing some framing. The project is expected to go vertical soon, with completion anticipated next summer.

“The Orange Line was really unique,” said Bob Hastings, a TriMet official who serves as a liaison with developers. “It was cutting through so many different sectors, from downtown to OHSU’s Schnitzer campus. When we crossed over to the Eastside, we realized this would be more fine grain, more entrepreneurial. So what it’s attracted is folks who see a different thought or spin on things.”

Another developer, Michael Tevis of Intrinsic Ventures, is planning to construct a seven-story building at Southeast Eighth Avenue and Division Street on land purchased from TriMet. The building would have 115,600 square feet of occupied space, including industrial and traditional office, manufacturing and production, and ground-floor retail.

Further south, adjacent to the downtown Milwaukie stop, Guardian Real Estate Services is building Axletree – a five-story, mixed-use building with 110 apartments. The developer’s website touts Axletree’s close proximity “less than 300 feet away” from the MAX station.

“If we were urban planners, we’d be drawing this project up,” said Shawn Sullivan, senior project manager for Guardian. “It’s right in the core … It’s the poster for light-rail stop multifamily urban development.”

The building is on track to be ready for occupancy in mid-to-late September, Sullivan said. Earlier this week, crews were finishing siding and the fifth-floor punch list.

TriMet has been more aggressive in recent years working with developers.

“We want development to happen around our light-rail stations, so we’re looking to be more proactive,” Hastings said.

There may be more to come. A new proposal was submitted Aug. 2 to the Bureau of Development Services for a 160-unit multifamily building designed by Hacker. The building at 4245 S.E. Milwaukie Ave., in the Brooklyn neighborhood, would be five blocks from the Orange Line.

Discussions are picking up to develop the Clinton Triangle, an industrial area off of the Orange Line that includes land owned by Portland Fire & Rescue. The Portland Housing Bureau has expressed interest in eventually building affordable housing in the area.

“The whispers are turning into audible voices and discussions,” Hastings said.

A new home for the fire bureau would have to be found prior to developing the site. Hastings said TriMet still has plenty of remnant properties that could conceivably host a fire station. Discussions are still in an early stage, according to Housing Bureau spokeswoman Martha Calhoon.

“There hasn’t at this point been coordinated conversation about the removal of essential city services from the property for future development,” she stated in an email.

Veillet said he has taken an interest in the Clinton Triangle.

“That whole area is locked up and it’s right near a transit station,” he said.

Some commercial growth has occurred too, including Mt. Hood Brewing Co.’s Tilikum Station location and Ruse Brewing’s taproom in the Iron Fireman Collective building.

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is working on a master plan to develop its 18.5-acre campus along the Willamette River. Gerding Edlen is serving as master developer.

For Northwest Sustainable Properties and Siteworks Design-Build, the Orange Line project followed previous ones, including a major historic building renovation for Pine Street Market. Veillet’s multifamily portfolio includes Sunshine Apartments, a 90-unit development next to Hopworks Urban Brewery off of Southeast Powell Boulevard and 29th Avenue, and ecoFLATS on North Williams Avenue.

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Beam Development is looking to build a trio of industrial office buildings to further cement the Central Eastside Industrial District‘s future as a home for creative jobs.

Beam was selected in May by Prosper Portland as preferred developer for the ODOT blocks – three parcels along Southeast Water Avenue. The Oregon Department of Transportation retains the western portion of each block.

Beam Development founder Brad Malsin and his son, fellow principal Jonathan Malsin, said they envision each block holding one building. Two would be mid-rise buildings, likely topping out at six stories. The ground floors may become hubs for light manufacturing or “maker” space, and be topped by five floors of creative office space.

Each building would include up to 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, likely for food and beverage. Each building is allowed to have up to 5,000 square feet of traditional office space, according to zoning under the proposed Central City 2035 plan; the City Council is slated to adopt the plan this week.

The middle building may include structured parking that could be owned by Prosper Portland, although plans for the ODOT blocks are in an early stage.

“We feel there’s that opportunity to work to the benefit of the city, to the benefit of the district, to the benefit of the businesses and the community at large,” Brad Malsin said.

Developers are flooding the Portland market with office space in response to strong employment growth. Construction crews were building more than 1 million square feet of offices during the first quarter of 2018, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. And new proposals keep coming, such as Platform – planned as a half-block building with seven stories of offices. That project from local developer Project^ recently received rave reviews in its debut before the Portland Design Commission. Meanwhile, Intrinsic Ventures of California envisions two potential creative-office buildings for the Lower Division neighborhood.

Rents for new construction have risen and pre-leasing has been strong. The Towne Storage building, converted into offices via an adaptive reuse project, fetched a local record $630 per square foot when it sold in April to CBRE Global Investors.

Beam Development will look to lease space in the ODOT blocks to a mix of large and small companies, the executives said. The firm hopes to lease the space to employers, and perhaps avoid adding to the surge of co-working space from fast-growing chains such as WeWork and CENTRL.

Beam seeks to differentiate from other office projects being delivered, Jonathan Malsin said. Industrial or manufacturing space could give users access to lab equipment or machinery.

Parking will play a major role in ODOT blocks development. Prosper Portland, in its request for proposals, asked for twice as much parking as office space. Beam’s proposal falls short of that, but the developer is looking to contribute a significant number of spaces.

“We are motivated to try to solve some of the parking constraints in the district at large,” Brad Malsin said. “I can’t tell you how many spots we’re going to be able to offer and what’s going to make sense, but we certainly want to address the fact that there’s a major parking shortage for the foreseeable future.”

Hacker and Mackenzie are on board to design the project. Colas Construction will serve as general contractor. It’s possible the three buildings will be built in phases, Jonathan Malsin said.

The buildings may be designed with mass-timber frames and concrete diaphragms and cores, he said.

The blocks are along Water Avenue between Taylor and Madison streets. The developable parcels are 34,809 square feet, 34,862 square feet and 25,601 square feet, respectively.

Prosper Portland paid $2.485 million for the ODOT blocks. ODOT acquired the properties decades ago as part of the right of way for Interstate 5. The state agency will retain those portions of the property for the foreseeable future, a spokesman said.

ODOT considers the site useful for managing water runoff from I-5. And it could come in handy if the agency at some later date decides to widen I-5.

“That’s always a possibility,” ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton said. “There’s nothing in the works on that right now.”

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The first time developer Michael Tevis toured Southeast Portland’s Ford Building, it was 14 percent occupied, not including the pigeons that had taken up residence via some broken windows.

Today, it’s a bustling creative office building with a hip ground-floor café.

Now Tevis, president of Intrinsic Ventures, which is in the process of moving from Menlo Park, California, to Oakland, plans a round of ground-up construction to add to Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District‘s growing tech-office scene.

Tevis has completed big projects in the Central Eastside Industrial District before. He redeveloped the Ford Building, an 82,124-square-foot former auto plant built in 1914, into offices. He also redeveloped the former 65,000-square-foot warehouse at a retired Darigold site into a creative office structure known as the Dairy Building.

Intrinsic Ventures’ two new project proposals would add more than 185,000 square feet of mixed-use space, mostly creative offices targeted at tech tenants, to the fast-changing Central Eastside. Tevis has commissioned preliminary designs, but has not requested an early application meeting with the Bureau of Development Services.

One development would rise on a vacant site formerly owned by TriMet along the orange light-rail line. The seven-story building would hold 115,600 square feet of occupied space, including 58,100 square feet of industrial offices, 47,500 square feet of manufacturing and production space, 5,000 square feet of traditional offices and another 5,000 square feet of retail space. The building at 2425-2445 S.E. Eighth Ave. would have 210 vehicle parking spaces and 30 bike stalls in two underground levels.

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, an architecture firm also known as BCJ, will design the building, Tevis said. The firm is well-known for contemporary projects that use glass, including Apple stores and the Square Inc. headquarters in San Francisco.

A second project, known as the Allan Building, would come to Southeast 11th Avenue and Division Street, at 2421-2455 S.E. 11th Ave. The site currently has a low-slung office building. Tevis plans to demolish the existing structure and construct a six-story building, plus a rooftop penthouse, totaling 70,845 square feet of occupied space. Two floors of underground parking are planned as well.

The Allan Building would have 119 auto parking spaces and 25 bike parking spaces. The project is being designed by LRS Architects.

“I like to mix up with different architects on different projects,” Tevis said.

In both buildings, Tevis said he wants to celebrate the Southeast Portland neighborhood’s industrial character.

“To me, that means exposed timbers, exposed concrete and really tall ceiling heights,” he said.

Tevis said he will not build either project on speculation without backing. He’s looking for either a financial partner or a tenant to commit to 50 percent of a building before he’ll kick off either project.

“We would do it if we got a partner who was like-minded and committed to long-term hold, or if we got 50 percent of it pre-leased,” he said during an interview at Ford Food and Drink, a Ford Building tenant.

Tevis got started developing in Silicon Valley during the 1980s. After a succession of successful projects in California, he began developing in Portland around 2004.

“I wanted diversification out of the corporate risk from Silicon Valley,” he said.

Tevis said he’s drawn to Portland’s lower costs and concentration of creative industries. Along with his wife, Tevis owns nine commercial properties in Portland. The Dairy Building is his only Portland project with additional partners who were brought on to help finance the renovation, which included a full seismic retrofit. Tevis and his wife even bought a house in the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood.

“Portland is a cross between San Francisco and the Midwest, where I grew up,” he said. “It’s affordable. It’s very creative. There’s a lot of small businesses. The Bay Area has become very corporate.”

Both of Intrinsic Ventures’ new project proposals are shaped by Central Eastside Industrial District zoning that limits traditional office and retail space to 5,000 square feet per site. It prohibits residential uses.

Tevis said the zoning work in the Central Eastside has been “masterful,” but he also chafed at the restriction on building residential units.

“I’d like to see more encouragement of residential density,” he said.

During discussions for the Southeast Quadrant and Central City 2035 plans, city planners heard clearly calls to preserve the Central Eastside’s industrial character, said Tyler Bump, senior economic planner for the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

“There was a focus on job production and these industrial and industrial office types in the (general industrial) zone,” he said. “The intent of the zone is to reflect that flexibility with industrial office and industrial users being able to share the same building.”

Brad Malsin, principal of Beam Development and president of the Central Eastside Industrial Council board of directors, said he sympathizes as a developer with the desire to build housing. But he said the zoning rules that preserve the Central Eastside for jobs and business development have “benefited the Central Eastside in a huge way.”

“The results of that speak for themselves,” he said. “We’d have to be very shortsighted to be able to say that we should develop any significant area of the industrial sanctuary as residential.”

Both proposed projects would be within a short walk of the MAX orange line, which has begun to spur a spate of redevelopment alongside. Nearby, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is planning a major redevelopment of its 18-acre campus.

Intrinsic Ventures’ projects, if they move forward, would add to an influx of creative office projects in the Central Eastside. Developers have snapped up older warehouses for office use or built ground-up contemporary projects. As multifamily development continues to stall in the face of competition and affordable housing rules, more developers are jumping into creative office space that is attractive to startups and tech tenants.

Tevis said he’s looking for rents of $32 per square foot on a triple-net basis at the former TriMet site. Intrinsic Ventures is seeking a major anchor tenant.

“We think it’s a corporate headquarters kind of location, and we’re going to pursue corporate headquarters users,” he said.

Intrinsic Ventures looks for a mix of creative tenants. The Ford Building has 90 tenants – mostly small businesses. The firm’s Troy Laundry building at Southeast 11th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard has dozens more.

“Even if Amazon comes along and signs a big lease, they’re still going to be with these small businesses,” Tevis said.

Keeping rents low helps encourage a good mix of creative tenants, Tevis said. He pointed to Ford Food and Drink, which hosts events including a monthly all-ages drag show.

“We’re in it to build a sense of community, a pool of tenants,” he said. “I like hanging out with actors and artists and musicians a lot more than boring real estate people.”

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