Woody Guthrie, an Oklahoma native known for writing the song “This Land Is Your Land,” spent time in many parts of the U.S. In 1941, he arrived in Portland and was hired to write songs for the Bonneville Power Administration. Now the folk music icon’s name is on a new affordable housing complex in Lents, where he once lived.

Designed by Carleton Hart Architecture to resemble – in shape and color – a line of traditional wood-sided boxcars, Woody Guthrie Place was built by Walsh Construction at 5800 S.E. 91st Ave., near Southeast Foster Road. On the exterior, masonry and metal-panel cladding were chosen to suggest natural wood. The building features wood framing atop a slab-on-grade foundation.

ROSE Community Development‘s new building has 64 apartments – 16 for families with incomes not exceeding 30 percent of the area median income; 21 for those not exceeding 80 percent AMI; 26 for those not exceeding 100 percent AMI; and one for a manager. Each unit – ranging from 570 to 1,410 square feet – has either one, two or three bedrooms.

“It’s completely residential with various income restrictions,” said Erik Pattison, a real estate developer for ROSE Community Development. “The whole ground floor on the west side is three-bedroom townhomes. The entrances are facing the street.”

After the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued permission for occupancy on July 1, tenants were able to start moving in. Apartments are being leased quickly, Pattison said.

Some of the units are coupled with project vouchers funded by Home Forward. Others were funded by Prosper Portland.

“The voucher units obviously go quickly,” Pattison said. “They’re taken immediately, and then the 80 percent units are mostly leased along with a couple of the 100s.”

Amenities include a rooftop terrace, bike parking, a large community room on the ground floor, along with smaller communal spaces and outdoor patios near the elevator lobbies on each floor. An outdoor playground for children sits at the building’s south end, next to the community room.

A Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold rating is officially being sought for Woody Guthrie Place. A large photovoltaic solar array sits on the south-facing roof, and is expected during times of peak output to offset as much as 70 percent of residents’ power usage.

Also, a central HVAC system provides pretreated air to residences.

“All the units are on that one system, which is a little unique but very efficient,” Pattison said.

While the project is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification , the energy use index and other performance measures thus far have led the project team to become confident the building actually could tally enough points to earn LEED Platinum certification.

The building is the last of four projects in the��Lents Town Center��Urban Renewal Area to be completed as part of the Lents Five-Year Action Plan approved by the city in 2014. Prosper Portland oversaw development of the $109 million in projects; others are the Lents Commons and Oliver Station mixed-use projects and the Asian Health & Service Center. The urban renewal agency is��planning a second round��of development in the neighborhood.

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After overseeing $109 million in projects that brought 263 apartments and commercial space in five buildings to Lents, Prosper Portland is moving forward on a second round of development in the neighborhood.

Preliminary plans include a new multifamily building on a vacant lot and renovations to the existing Brewery Blocks property, at 5716 S.E. 92nd Ave., that is home to Zoiglhaus Brewing Co.

The projects have been long in coming. Palindrome Communities, a Portland development firm led by Chad Rennaker, was chosen as the developer after a 2014 request for proposals.

The program for what Prosper Portland is calling Lents Town Center Phase II has not been finalized. The agency will host a public open house on Monday from 6-8 p.m. at Wattles Boys & Girls Club, 9330 S.E. Harold St.

Prosper Portland and Palindrome Communities are considering construction of a 200-to-250-unit multifamily development on a 4.4-acre property on Southeast 92nd Avenue between Harold and Ramona streets. Portland’s inclusionary housing policy will apply, providing a complement of affordable housing.

“There’s no prescription here yet,” Prosper Portland spokesman Shawn Uhlman said. “The investment is real, and certainly we want to have that engagement as we move into Phase II.”

The first-phase multifamily units are effectively fully leased, said Alison Wicks, Prosper Portland’s Lents project coordinator. The first phase included 204 units at various levels of affordability, 57 market-rate units and two managers’ units.

The Phase I commercial space is approximately 50 percent leased, Wicks said.

Prosper Portland developed Lents Commons. The Asian Health & Service Center developed its own building. Rose Community Development developed the Woody Guthrie building. Palindrome Communities developed the two-building Oliver Station project.

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Hundreds of people turned out for a celebration held Wednesday to mark the opening of the Asian Health and Service Center, a cultural, educational, health and social service hub in the Lents neighborhood. The three-story, 30,000-square-foot building contains treatment space for physical and behavioral health, the Asian Cancer Resource and Support Center, a 6,000-square-foot multipurpose room, a healing garden, and small multipurpose rooms for classes and group programs. The building also holds a ground-floor commercial space occupied by Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic.

The Holst Architecture-designed project was built by O’Neill/Walsh Community Builders, which broke ground in early 2017. The building features a distinctive metal sunscreen structure along the south façade consisting of prefinished aluminum attached to color-matched steel columns. The building’s southwest corner contains a three-story curtainwall system, which provides ample daylight for a stairway from the ground-floor lobby to the third-floor public spaces.

The building is one of four in the Lents Town Center urban renewal area to receive partial funding from Prosper Portland. Others include the now-complete Lents Commons and Oliver Station mixed-use projects as well as Woody Guthrie Place, a mixed-income apartment project now under construction.

The development team includes Asian Health and Service Center, Housing Development Center, Mark Sherman Consulting and Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic. The project team includes civil engineers KPFF Consulting Engineers, ABHT Structural Engineers, MEP engineers MFIA Inc., and NNA Landscape Architecture.

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A nonprofit organization dedicated to bridging the gap between Asian and American cultures is building its first permanent home in the Lents neighborhood. The Asian Health & Service Center will contain physical and mental health care space, offices, and community and event space. The project is one of several in the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area that have received partial funding from Prosper Portland.

O’Neill/Walsh Community Builders began work this past spring on the Holst Architecture-designed project, at Southeast 91st Avenue and Foster Road. The building consists of three stories of structural steel over a slab-on-grade, post-tensioned concrete foundation. Crews are slated to top out the building late next week. They will then begin concrete deck pours, to be followed by commencement of steel stud framing in early 2018.

The 28,000-square-foot building’s ground floor will house a commercial space to be occupied by a Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, as well as multiple consulting rooms, a waiting room and a main lobby. Its second floor will contain open-office desk pods, office space and conference rooms, which will be made available for community use.

The top floor will feature a 6,000-square-foot multipurpose hall for community events as well as consulting rooms, a resource library, a commercial kitchen and an outdoor terrace with a movable storefront for all-season use.

Completion of the project is slated for May 2018, at which point the ground-floor tenant improvement will begin. O’Neill/Walsh Community Builders and Holst Architecture are also serving as the respective general contractor and architect for the build-out, which is expected to require one month of work.

The project team also includes ABHT Structural Engineers, MFIA Inc. Consulting Engineers (mechanical, electrical and plumbing design), KPFF Consulting Engineers (civil engineering) and Nevue Ngan Associates (landscape architecture).

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The keystone intersection of Southeast 92nd Avenue and Foster Road in Portland’s Lents neighborhood is a cacophony of beeping construction equipment and passing traffic.

Crews from Bremik Construction and subcontractors build on a vacant lot. Traffic on Interstate 205 provides a constant hum that is occasionally joined by the high-pitched whine of a MAX green-line train whizzing by.

Few pedestrians bother to join the chaos, except construction workers bringing equipment back and forth where the New Copper Penny – a rough-and-tumble bar – once stood.

For many years, the Portland Development Commission has been trying to make Lents happen. The agency has poured millions of dollars in loans and grants into the east Portland neighborhood.

Now the key question facing the neighborhood is whether it can stand on its own. After all of the city’s efforts, can private developers take the baton?

Lisac Brothers Construction is the latest firm to gain a foothold in Lents. The Clackamas-based company purchased a 0.38-acre property at Southeast 93rd Avenue and Woodstock Boulevard from the PDC in April 2016 for $500,000.

Lisac Brothers plans to construct a commercial building with a restaurant or pub, along with a small food-cart pod in the first phase. A second phase would consist of a 12-unit apartment building.

The biggest project is coming from Chad Rennaker’s Palindrome Communities. It’s at work on two separate blocks on 92nd Avenue between Foster Road and Woodstock Boulevard. Plans call for 120 affordable apartment units and 25,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space in two buildings in the project known as Oliver Station.

Rennaker also is a partner in Zoiglhaus Brewing, a restaurant and brewpub that is becoming a central gathering place for Lents residents.

The PDC owns a large parcel of about 3 acres that fronts Harold Street along 92nd Avenue. The property is targeted for future development, likely with a housing component, said Leila Aman, Lents project manager for the PDC.

However, work on that Harold Street property will wait until the projects under way are stabilized, Aman said.

“I wouldn’t expect that to happen for another few years,” she said.

At 9101 S.E. Foster Road, the PDC is itself developing a 54-unit multifamily building after Williams & Dame walked away from the project in June 2016. The PDC, acting as developer for the first time, broke ground this past October. The building also will hold 7,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. The agency plans to reserve half that space for locally owned businesses that will contribute to the streetscape, Aman said.

The Asian Health & Services Center is planning to build a new headquarters at Southeast 91st Avenue and Foster Road. Designed by Holst Architecture, the project will include 34,200 square feet of commercial space. Ground is expected to be broken this spring.

Public infrastructure is growing too. The Portland Bureau of Transportation is leading the Foster Road Transportation and Streetscape Project that extends from 50th to 90th avenues. Crews will widen sidewalks in Lents to 9 feet, up from 5 feet, install marked crossings and bike lanes, and add trees and lights. The project team is aiming to reduce traffic fatalities and contribute to a pedestrian atmosphere in the area.

Throughout the urban renewal area, plans call for widened sidewalks and streetscape improvements.

“It’s going to create a much more hospitable, safe and fun pedestrian environment,” Aman said.

Zoiglhaus looms large in the neighborhood. The 200-seat restaurant opened in 2015, and the brewing operation has attracted praise for its unusual lineup of mostly German-inspired beers.

“That development has really proven to be a game changer for this part of town,” said Shawn Uhlman, spokesman for the PDC.

East Portland is one of the densest places in the entire nation for breweries, which planners like because they generate street-level activity.

“Putting a brewery in that spot was definitely something the community wanted and something the PDC wanted as landlord,” Zoiglhaus co-owner Alan Taylor said.

But before Zoiglhaus, no brewery had taken a chance on Lents.

“It’s definitely a growth neighborhood,” Taylor said. “It’s been a good spot.”

An amateur baseball team, the Portland Pickles, began playing at Walker Stadium in Lents Park last summer. Taylor said he noticed a modest pregame bump in sales on Pickles game nights. The neighborhood could become the next Williams Avenue, Alberta Street or Mississippi Avenue, he added.

There are some challenges to the transformation. I-205 effectively cuts the neighborhood off to the east. Nor is it as close to downtown as some of East Portland’s bustling districts, like Alberta or Hawthorne. The business district is small – only a few blocks – and surrounded by single-family residences.

The PDC and other city agencies are looking to create a corridor from Lents into the heart of Portland. The PDC is keeping a close eye around Southeast 67th Avenue and Foster Road, where there are signs of life.

“There’s kind of this growing small business district that’s coming out,” Aman said. “We’re looking at that area as well – from an urban corridor perspective, that is the corridor that leads to the center.”

Some small businesses are popping up near 92nd Avenue. Dimitry Kuzmich opened NW Pro Gear, a bicycle shop and snow sports retailer, in 2014. Kuzmich said he’s excited for the neighborhood’s transformation but also concerned his business could be priced out.

“It’s definitely been changing,” he said. “It’s an up-and-coming neighborhood. I’m looking forward to the construction being done. “

The location draws business from Washington residents looking to avoid sales tax, as well as Gresham and Clackamas residents, Kuzmich said.

Running a small business in Lents has its challenges. The storefront has been broken into three times in the last year alone, Kuzmich said, prompting him to install a metal gate and video surveillance.

And then there’s the homelessness issue. Lents residents and business owners say the homeless have returned in force after an earlier sweep of the Springwater Corridor Trail, which runs through Southeast Portland.

“The homeless people haven’t been helping, because they constantly deter people from using the Springwater trail,” Kuzmich said.

Joel Rebik has lived in Lents for seven years and repairs bikes at NW Pro Gear. He’s likewise frustrated by the enduring effects of homelessness in the area.

“I can’t send my daughters out on the bike trail,” he said. “It’s totally useless to them. People tell me I shouldn’t use it, either, but I’m going to use it.”

The bike shop’s customers sometimes come in armed after riding on the Springwater Corridor Trail, Kuzmich said.

The PDC sees Lents as an appealing location for affordable housing.

“For a multitude of reasons, and this includes our partnership with the Portland Housing Bureau, we’re creating a substantial amount of affordable housing,” Aman said. “There is a role here.”

If all goes as planned, the neighborhood will be reinvigorated via multifamily housing, modern storefronts, food carts and an environment more conducive to walking and biking.

“You’re going to see an extremely different pedestrian environment,” Aman said.

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The Portland Development Commission and Palindrome Communities will break ground for Oliver Station on Dec. 8 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The project will be built at 5932 S.E. 92nd Ave., which is the site of the former New Copper Penny.

Oliver Station, one of several key projects planned for the Lents Town Center, will feature two mixed-use buildings, with ground-floor retail space and 145 residential units, including 126 affordable units.

The ceremony is open to the public, and refreshments will be served. The event is free, but registration is requested. To learn more and to register, visit .

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For the first time, the Portland Development Commission is forming its own limited liability company and will act as developer and owner of a project.

The PDC’s board voted 5-0 on Wednesday to approve the plan for the agency to take over a mixed-use project in Lents after Williams & Dame backed out.

The PDC had planned on taking ownership of the project at some point, spokesman Shawn Uhlman said.

“It was always contemplated there was the potential for PDC to step back in and take ownership of this property and this project, and this was always contemplated by both parties,” he said. “I don’t know if there was ever a clear delineation of when that would happen.”

The project calls for a 65,504-square-foot building. It would include 54 apartment units, including 16 affordable units pegged at 60 percent of median income, nearly 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 32 parking spaces.

Uhlman acknowledged that the PDC’s role in the Lents project is unprecedented.

“This is the first time we’ve gone down this path of forming our own LLC and acting as developer,” he said.

The PDC’s staff has the expertise to carry the project to completion, Uhlman added.

The PDC’s own documents suggest that the agency did not plan to complete the development on its own.

“As the project financial returns, public benefits and time commitments were refined and better understood, (Williams/Dame & Associates) decided not to proceed with the development beyond the design and permitting phase,” a board report prepared for Wednesday’s meeting says. “There was no intent, nor any reasonable ability to foresee that responsibility for project completion would be transferred to PDC. As such, no contracts between WDA and their consultants or contractors were entered into or had terms arranged that premeditated a transfer of project responsibility.”

The board report merely lays out the reasons for going forward with a no-bid process to complete the project, Uhlman said.

Homer Williams, chairman of Williams & Dame, did not reply to a message seeking comment.

Williams & Dame principal Dike Dame said in a news release issued by the PDC that the developer has always believed in the future of Lents, and is proud to have been a partner in the project. The statement did not address Williams & Dame’s decision to hand off the project.

Williams & Dame’s move to forgo developing the Lents project placed the PDC in an awkward spot. Instead of reopening bids to develop the project, PDC staff approved a no-bid process to allow the PDC to act as developer.

The process is designed for PDC to keep together the firms already engaged on the project: Bremik Construction and Hacker.

“To take the designs out for open bids at this point could potentially increase costs,” PDC senior project coordinator Will Thier told the commission on Wednesday. “There’s a very strong argument to be made that moving forward with Bremik Construction is the most cost-effective way to do this.”

Keeping Bremik on board makes sense, PDC Commissioner Aneshka Dickson said.

“General contractors spend a lot of time up front,” she said. “It does really seem appropriate to keep them on throughout the contract. That role takes time and money and effort.”

The Lents community supports the PDC’s move to step up as developer, Dickson added.

No commissioner at Wednesday’s meeting raised serious questions about the move, although Chairman Tom Kelly asked if there was any precedent for the PDC developing a building from the ground up. PDC staff confirmed there was not.

The PDC has long sought to redevelop the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area. The 0.63-acre vacant parcel targeted for the building is at 9101 S.E. Foster Road, at the northwest corner of Southeast 92nd Avenue and Foster Road.

The PDC is providing financing up to $15.3 million to complete the project.

��

Leadership changes

Also at Wednesday’s meeting, PDC officials bade goodbye to PDC Executive Director Patrick Quinton and Dickson.

Quinton announced in February he would step down after five years in the role. Chief Financial Officer Faye Brown is serving as interim executive director while a national search proceeds.

Dickson served two, three-year terms. She was first appointed in 2010. Mayor Charlie Hales recently named Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia, executive director of the Avel Gordly Center for Healing at Oregon Health & Science University, to take Dickson’s place on the commission. Moreland-Capuia will serve a three-year term.

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Three developers backing projects in Lents recently asked for, and received, $6.3 million in Portland Development Commission loans in the face of higher construction costs and a tight lending environment.

The PDC’s board on Feb. 10 approved the additional loans to encourage Palindrome Communities LLC, Williams & Dame Development and Asian Health & Services Center to move forward with a cluster of projects at Southeast 92nd Avenue and Foster Road.

The unanimous vote came as Palindrome approached the April 3 expiration of its option to purchase the New Copper Penny site at 5932 S.E. 92nd Ave. All three developers pleaded for more money to address increased construction costs and a lack of private financing. The extra money also will allow Palindrome to purchase and develop a highly visible corner parcel that is home to a Chevron gas station.

At the same time, PDC commissioners made clear that the additional loans would be the projects’ final line of credit.

“This is the most we’d be willing to do at this point,” Commissioner Aneshka Dickson said.

Added Commissioner William Myers: “If we come to an agreement on this, this’ll be the last time.”

With the additional $6.3 million, the PDC’s commitment to the developments has grown to $19.2 million.

The developers are aiming to transform a keystone Lents intersection that is anchored by the New Copper Penny, a long-established bar, and the gas station.

Palindrome Communities plans to demolish the New Copper Penny and add a mixed-use building on the site, and another on land occupied by the Chevron and a parcel owned by the PDC. The bar is a neighborhood icon, but it has drawn repeated shooting incidents and police calls in recent years.

The new buildings would boast 126 rent-restricted affordable units and 19 market-rate units, along with 29,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space.

Williams & Dame, doing business as 91st and Foster Development LLC, plans to construct a four-story mixed-use building with 16 affordable units and 38 market-rate units, 9,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a public courtyard.

The Asian Health and Services Center plans to add a building with 30,000 square feet of commercial space for AHSC offices, clinic and community space, and 4,600 square feet of leasable commercial space.

Local residents have long pined for renewal in the neighborhood after years of false starts. There are at least some signs the urban renewal area is coming to life.

In September, Palindrome Communities’ Chad Rennaker, who previously created PINTS Brewing Co. in Old Town, opened a German-inspired brewpub, Zoiglhaus Brewing, at 5716 S.E. 92nd Ave. The PDC contributed more than $1 million to the brewpub project.

Rennaker said the brewpub and mixed-use development are part of the same vision for Lents.

“It’s a community that’s on the rise,” he said. “It just needed a few things to kind of spark it. We wouldn’t do a brewery in a location like that unless there were going to be other opportunities for mixed-use development.”

Zoiglhaus has been hailed as a much-needed space for community events and socialization in Lents.

“It’s a good asset to the community and it’s starting to build the identity of Lents as a healthy business district within Portland,” said Nick Christensen, a former president of the Lents Neighborhood Association.

Christensen said residents want more businesses and more rental housing, both affordable and market rate. The projects backed by PDC address those needs, he said.

“It’s really going to help preserve the affordability of the neighborhood while also providing jobs and improving the economy,” he said.

Christensen said he supports the PDC providing additional money to get the projects up and running.

“In the grand scheme of things, PDC spent more than $100 million in Lents over many years without many results – whereas these projects are going to have significant results,” he said.

Lents is getting its own sports team too. The Portland Pickles will begin play June 3, competing in a wood-bat baseball league. The Pickles’ opening season follows renovations – funded in part by the PDC – to Walker Stadium at Lents Park.

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Jesse Cornett, chairman of the Lents Neighborhood Association, said turnout at a recent meeting about development in Lents shows that progress is finally being made.

Developers on Tuesday outlined four projects that were made possible, in part, via $3.3 million in predevelopment loans and almost $13 million in development loans from the Portland Development Commission. Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and PDC Executive Director Patrick Quinton attended the group’s monthly meeting, which Cornett said typically draws about 25 people; this one attracted about 150.

“This is huge for Lents, absolutely,” he said. “It’s an area that has been primed (for development), but has faced many challenges, including the PDC (officials) struggling to meet their commitments. But the thing that we’re seeing is that they have doubled down and tripled down to make sure they are fulfilling long-standing promises.”

Cornett said that the Lents Urban Renewal Area was started in 1998 – the same year the Pearl District was formed. A five-year action plan for Lents was adopted last year, he said, and although he at first had his doubts, it’s now becoming reality.

“I thought, yeah sure, another plan, but these are pages out of the plan book,” he said of the development plans outlined at the meeting.

The four PDC-led projects being planned for the Lents neighborhood are:

• A new three-story, 29,000-square-foot office building being developed by Asian Health & Services Center for its new headquarters at Southeast 91st Avenue and Foster Road. The project will include community space, a medical clinic, two market-rate commercial spaces and one level of parking. It’s designed by Holst Architecture.

• A new four-story, 68-unit apartment building being developed by Rose Community Development at Southeast 91st Avenue and Reedway Street. One-, two-, and three-bedroom units will be offered at either market or affordable rates. It’s designed by Carleton Hart Architecture.

• Two five-story, mixed-use buildings being developed by Palindrome Communities on 1.07 acres near the northeast corner of Southeast 92nd Avenue and Foster Road. Approximately 120 units will be offered at either market or affordable rates. The development also will include 25,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and parking. It’s designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects.

• A mixed-use building on 0.63 acres being developed by Williams & Dame Development near the northeast corner of Southeast 92nd Avenue and Foster Road. Plans call for 54 units at either market or affordable rates, ground-floor retail space, bike parking and storage, and a public laundromat. A public courtyard will be created on Foster Road with a plaza and community event kiosk on 91st Avenue. It’s designed by Hacker.

Mary Bradshaw, director of construction management for the Asian Health & Services Center, said the new building will allow the agency to offer more classes and meet community medical needs. A third-floor, 6,000-square-foot community room with a large kitchen will be available to community members.

“We think it will be a great asset to the neighborhood,” she said.

Plans are still being finalized for the new four-story apartment building being developed by Rose Community Development. The project recently received tentative approval, PDC spokesman Shawn Uhlman said. Nick Sauvie, Rose Community Development’s executive director, said the building will be named the Woody Guthrie Apartments in honor of the famed Depression-era folk singer, who lived in Lents for about a month in 1941.

“He wrote songs for the Bonneville Power Association, including ‘Roll On, Columbia,’ ” Sauvie said.

Some of the apartments will be “deeply affordable” and available to pregnant women and young families with small children, Sauvie said.

“This is a really exciting time for us and the neighborhood,” he said. “We have been working in this part of Portland for 30 years, and a lot of people put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to this point.”

Uhlman agreed that this is a big step for both the PDC and Lents.

“We finished the five-year plan about a year ago and it was a big milestone,” he said. “We got a number of established development teams that wanted to work on these projects as a direct result of PDC efforts and also the neighborhood being involved and wanting to see those things.”

All the developments are focused near Lents Town Center, Uhlman said. Other new developments in the neighborhood include a new brewpub and renovations to Walker Stadium baseball field.

“There’s a tremendous amount of energy, and as these projects on 92nd (Avenue) develop we’re starting to see a lot of activity,” he said. “There’s really much more in progress. This is not the final step.”

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The Portland Development Commission’s board this week approved loans for three projects that promise to bring new life to the Lents neighborhood.

A total of up to $3.4 million in predevelopment loans and up to almost $13 million in development loans will go to the Asian Health and Service Center, Palindrome Communities LLC and Williams and Dame Development.

After hearing staff presentations and discussions on the proposals, the board voted unanimously to approve loans for all three. They were selected by the PDC in January from a field of applicants interested in developing PDC-owned land in the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area.

Jina Bjelland, the PDC’s director of real estate and lending, told the PDC board that the urban renewal area for Lents will expire in five years and that funding is needed to entice development.

“No developer would move forward without PDC funding,” she said. “We have about $3 million at risk from a $60 million budget.”

Although there is some risk in the loans, she said, funding will come from other capital sources and deed restrictions will give some control to the PDC.

Board member Charles Wilhoite is OK with the risk.

“It’s a signature first step,” he said, and board member Mark Edlen agreed.

“It’s really great to see these three projects move forward in Lents,” he said.

A predevelopment loan of $786,800 and a development loan of $3.05 million will go to the Asian Health and Service Center to develop property at 8931 S.E. Foster Road. Early plans call for a mixed use, built-to-suit facility on PDC-owned property. The development will include community meeting space, office space, a medical clinic and two market-rate commercial spaces. The plan also includes tuck-under and surface parking.

Williams & Dame will receive up to $1,256,077 for predevelopment and $4.75 million for development on 0.63 acres at the northwest intersection of Southeast Foster Road and 92nd Avenue. The initial development idea calls for construction of a mixed-use building with market-rate and affordable housing units, ground-floor commercial space and surface parking.

Palindrome Communities’ plans for 1.07 acres of property, also at Foster Road and 92nd Avenue, call for a mixed-use building – including affordable residential units, ground-floor commercial space and surface parking. Palindrome Communities also intends to buy two more parcels nearby – commonly known as the New Copper Penny and the Chevron Station properties – to include in the project. The Chevron property is in negotiations, Bjelland said, and the New Copper Penny land is under contract.

Chad Rennaker of Palindrome Communities said the PDC board’s approval of the three projects was “a pivotal day” since he and his wife moved to Portland 30 years ago and first lived in the Lents neighborhood.

“We have seen the ups and downs of Lents – mostly downs,” he said.

Trevor Rowe, vice president of construction at Williams & Dame, said his company has been in weekly meeting for months with the PDC to come up with the deal.

“Our first task was to engage with the neighborhood and listen,” he said. “We want a high-quality project.”

Dr. Erik Szeto, board chairman of the Asian Health & Services Center, said his organization serves 65,000 local residents, 25 percent of whom are minorities, and will help pay for construction costs.

“We create jobs, provide meals and health education,” he said. “We will have a capital campaign and will bring $7 million to the project.”

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