The developer of a Northeast Portland commercial site has applied for adjustment review to serve a proposed two-building project.

Notices have gone out to neighbors of the property on the northwest corner of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Northeast Alberta Street. Applicant Phillip Brown of Majestic Realty plans to build 20,000 square feet of leasable space, plus 93 surface parking spaces, according to plans submitted to the Bureau of Development Services.

The site is bisected by a public alley, and current plans call for 27 spaces to be configured so that drivers must back out using the alley. That aspect triggered the adjustment review.

In this instance, the Portland Zoning Code allows up to four parking spaces to be designed so that vehicles back out into the alley.

The 1.67-acre property (composed of seven adjacent vacant parcels) is owned by the Portland Development Commission and located in the King neighborhood. Majestic has proposed building a retail shopping center, with Colas Construction as the primary contractor. A letter of intent was signed for Colorado-based Natural Grocers to be the anchor tenant, after Trader Joe’s declined.

A decision on the use of the alley will be made by BDS staff. Written comments will be accepted up to 5 p.m. on Feb. 2.

Plans accompanying the notice were prepared by Portland firm Mackenzie.

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Andrew Colas is adamant about his inspiration as president and co-owner of Colas Construction.

“My dad (Hermann Colas Jr.) started this business in 1997,” Colas said. “His ideals, his business approach, his work ethic is really what we’ve built on.”

That strong foundation helped the firm make headlines this past August when Colas Construction was selected to serve as general contractor for a new Natural Grocers store in Northeast Portland. Colas played a role in helping Majestic Realty, the developer of the mixed-use project, woo the company as an anchor tenant.

The contract is an important one for Colas and his firm. Ground will be broken at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street, in the historically ethnic King neighborhood. Colas is resistant to calling the project taking place in that neighborhood gentrification; he prefers, instead, to see it as an opportunity for minority-owned firms and businesses like his.

“Considering Majestic (the owners of the development where Natural Grocers is moving) is a large real estate company, they had the opportunity to choose any contractor they wanted.” Colas said. “Colas was chosen based on who we are, what we do and how we do it.”

Colas Construction has plenty to keep it busy until that project is in full swing. The company is working on the IronCrest Estates in Gresham and a new office building for Hacienda Project.

Colas also serves as president of the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors, a role that reinforces the basics on which he and his father have built their family business. Colas Construction not only seeks to employ minorities, but takes special care to select subcontractors that have a diverse workforce. The company also leads by example, helping subcontractors understand the positive ripple effect that hiring locally and making good jobs with living wages available for minority companies can have on neighborhoods.

“Most projects within the city are in neighborhoods.” Colas said. “Those new businesses and housing will serve those neighborhoods. Including people from those neighborhoods on construction projects builds community. These are opportunities that help a neighborhood to grow and prosper and opportunities for subcontractors, large and small. It creates economic impacts that sustain neighborhoods. You can’t outsource construction.”

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The Portland Housing Bureau is moving full steam ahead with plans to build more affordable housing in North and Northeast Portland.

Since the Portland City Council last week unanimously approved a proposal for implementing Mayor Charlie Hales‘ pledge to invest $20 million to increase access to affordable housing in those neighborhoods, PHB staffers have worked on initial steps, said Traci Manning, the bureau’s director.

The five-year strategy aims to address concerns about a history of gentrification in the area. The proposal is based on feedback gathered during an extensive community outreach campaign and calls for construction of at least 100 new units of affordable housing.

“The team is churning away as we speak,” Manning said. “Creating the affordable homes will take a bit longer, but we’d like to move on those right away.”

One of the first projects expected to benefit is a $4.5 million, 40- to 80-unit affordable housing complex with ground-floor retail space on a 32,400-square-foot, city-owned lot known as the Grant Warehouse site, at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Northeast Cook and Ivy streets. Plans call for larger, family-size units and family-friendly amenities.

Manning said she was unsure when the city will start soliciting proposals from firms interested in designing and constructing the complex, but noted that a project timeline will likely be established in the next couple of weeks.

Another $3.5 million investment will create 30 to 60 affordable housing units via redevelopment of additional properties owned by the city, Multnomah County, nonprofit agencies or private developers. Identifying these properties will be a long-term effort in collaboration with the Portland Development Commission and the resulting projects aren’t scheduled to move forward until 2017, Manning said. At this point, no sites have been selected for future affordable housing projects in the area, she said.

“I have nothing in my sights right now,” she said.

The PHB also plans to spend $3 million to buy more land for future affordable housing projects. The remaining $9 million will be spent helping homeowners repair their properties and creating homeownership opportunities.

Along with the $20 million investment, the housing strategy calls for increasing the PHB’s goals for hiring minority-owned, women-owned and emerging small businesses to work on affordable housing construction projects. The bureau’s current MWESB subcontracting goals are 20 percent of construction costs, but officials would like to increase that percentage for projects in North and Northeast Portland, Manning said.

This goal, along with plans to include construction trade pre-apprenticeship programs on affordable housing projects in the area, will be achieved through a continued partnership with the National Association of Minority Contractors‘ Oregon chapter, she said.

“It’s important to us, but we don’t know how we’ll work it out,” she said. “People want jobs … The economic benefits that accrue will accrue to the community.”

While developing the affordable housing strategy, PHB staffers also worked closely with industry firms with extensive experience in the area, such as Portland-based Colas Construction and Carleton Hart Architecture. Carleton Hart principal Bill Hart said city staffers reached out him for feedback on the proposal because the firm has designed a lot of affordable housing projects in those neighborhoods.

The mayor’s pledged investment in affordable housing stems from concerns raised by community members over the lack of transparency in a November 2013 PDC deal to sell the 1.79-acre lot at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Northeast Alberta Street to California-based Majestic Realty.

The developer planned a commercial development that included Trader Joe’s as an anchor tenant. Amid the controversy, Trader Joe’s pulled out in February 2014. Natural Grocers has since signed a letter of intent to take its place. Colas Construction crews are scheduled to start work on the project this month.

Meanwhile, an oversight committee will be formed by this summer, Manning said. Members will hail from the targeted neighborhoods and oversee all projects that result from the five-year plan. This will help combat a long history of input from North and Northeast Portland residents being left out of city development plans, Manning said.

“The idea of this committee is it is community-based,” she said. “Anybody funded under the plan will report to them.”

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An effort is under way to provide the Portland City Council with suggestions on how best to follow through with Mayor Charlie Hales‘ pledge to invest $20 million on affordable housing in North and Northeast Portland.

Portland Housing Bureau staffers are in the final stages of compiling recommendations into a five-year affordable housing strategy for the area; it will be presented to the council on Jan. 28, said Traci Manning, the bureau’s director. The recommendations are based on feedback gathered during four community meetings held this past fall; discussions focused on ways to improve access to affordable housing in those neighborhoods, she said.

City officials also are seeking to address a history of gentrification in North and Northeast Portland.

The five-year affordable housing strategy will include both short-term and long-term goals, but the city would like to start investing in projects soon, Manning said.

“We feel a real sense of urgency to get some money on the ground,” she said.

The bureau has reached out to private developers and nonprofits that own properties in the area to discuss potential affordable housing projects, Manning said. Bureau staffers also sought community input on what kind of affordable housing to build on a city-owned lot known as the Grant Warehouse site, on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Northeast Cook and Ivy streets, she said.

The mayor’s pledged investment in affordable housing stems from concerns raised by community members over the lack of transparency in a November 2013 Portland Development Commission deal to sell the 1.79-acre lot at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Northeast Alberta Street to California-based Majestic Realty.

The developer planned a commercial development that included Trader Joe’s as an anchor tenant. Following the controversy, Trader Joe’s pulled out of the deal in February 2014. Natural Grocers has since signed a letter of intent to take its place. Colas Construction crews are scheduled to start work on the project next month.

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Portland-based Colas Construction, a minority-owned firm, is getting its foot in another doorway via a deal to build a high-profile grocery store and adjacent commercial building in Northeast Portland.

That agreement between Natural Grocers, the Portland Development Commission and Majestic Realty, announced by the city Thursday, will bring the Lakewood, Colo.-based grocer to a site previously pegged for a Trader Joe’s store.

For Colas Construction, which had been selected as the builder for the Trader Joe’s store, the agreement represents a huge opportunity to grow and for minority-contracting firms to take on more such projects in the future, said Andrew Colas, the firm’s president and co-owner.

“There are a lot of barriers in the construction industry,” he said. “If you don’t have a portfolio for a certain type of work, it’s difficult to get that type of job. We haven’t built a grocery store before, but every company needs that first opportunity.”

Since Trader Joe’s announced in February that it was pulling out of the project, Colas Construction had worked with Majestic Realty to identify cost estimates for potential alternatives. Then Natural Grocers, which has four other stores in the Portland area, signed a letter of intent to open a store at the site – Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street.

The road to Majestic Realty’s deal with the contractor began via Colas’ longtime friendship with Adam Milne. He owns Old Town Pizza, which is located near the 1.79-acre property that Majestic Realty purchased from the PDC in November.

Majestic Realty officials reached out to local business owners around the property, and Milne recommended that they speak with Colas. That meeting, however, was just the first step, Colas said.

“I’ve met with countless developers, but at the end of the day they prefer to work with someone who has done those types of projects before,” he said. “There are countless barriers to getting that first job.”

The connection led to a lunchtime meeting with Edward Roski, Majestic Realty’s president and chairman who also is a co-owner of the Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Lakers franchises. The meeting brought out a deep connection between the two business owners, Colas said.

“He was not looking for a company that had built 10 other grocery stores,” he said. “He was intrigued because he was the same age as I was when he took over his father’s business. Both of us were second-generation companies. He wanted a family-owned business (to build the project).”

While Colas Construction has self-performed bigger projects than the estimated $8 million Natural Grocers project, including the $14 million IronCrest Estates project in Gresham and the June Key Delta Community Center project in North Portland, this will be the company’s most highly visible project to date, Colas said. His hope is that it will spur growth.

“There’s certain barriers you have to overcome as a small growing business,” he said. “We want to grow so we can continue to hire a diverse workforce.”

Majestic Realty ultimately chose Colas Construction, PDC spokesman Shawn Uhlman said, because it knew the contractor could do the work.

“Considering Majestic is a large real estate development company, they had the opportunity to choose any contractor they wanted,” he said. “Colas was chosen based on who they are, what they do and how they do it. They weren’t given this. They earned it.”

Community leaders who previously expressed concerns about the lack of transparency in the PDC’s sale of the 1.79-acre lot to Majestic Realty in November, were always on board with the project being built by a minority-owned firm.

“Northeast leaders were very excited about (the agreement),” said Dana Haynes spokesman for Mayor Charlie Hales. “They believe it will promote jobs in the area and are excited that it’s Colas Construction that will be doing the work.”

The design process will include development of a community benefits agreement, which will guide minority contracting goals and how they are met through the development process, Haynes said.

�ճ����Portland Housing Bureau also announced a series of workshops featuring discussions about how to create an affordable housing strategy for the area. The city plans to invest $20 million in affordable housing in North and Northeast Portland over the next five years. The first workshop will be held Sept. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Highland Christian Center in Northeast Portland.

Construction of the Natural Grocers-anchored development will begin by February 2015, Colas said.

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