Affordable housing and Lake Oswego might seem to be a contradiction in terms, but in one of Oregon’s most expensive and exclusive suburbs, officials broke ground Wednesday on a small apartment project dedicated to providing units at below-market rates.

A few dozen dignitaries and industry officials busted out ceremonial golden shovels for El Nido, a 55-unit development on Boones Ferry Road near Lake Oswego’s Lake Grove neighborhood.

The $32 million project is Lake Oswego’s second affordable housing project funded by Metro bonds. The first, Mercy Greenbrae at Marylhurst Commons, was completed with 100 units in May 2024.

“I’m very pleased that this project is in Lake Oswego,” Clackamas County Commissioner Ben West said. “Affordable housing sites should be distributed throughout the county.”

Metro purchased the site in 2023 from the city of Lake Oswego for $2.3 million. Before that, the parcel had long served as construction staging for the Boones Ferry Road project, Lake Oswego Mayor Joe Buck said.

Using the land for affordable housing is “life changing, and it’s the most impactful thing we could do,” he said.

Construction commenced after developer Hacienda Community Development Corp. successfully legally challenged a decades-old 25-foot setback requirement from an adjacent road that severely constrained the site’s buildable area.

“I thought, we’re going to be left with a dining room table in the middle,” joked Ernesto Fonseca, chief executive of Hacienda CDC. “Clearly, that’s not going to work.”

The building will outlive today’s troubled times, he said, noting “so much persecution of minorities in this country.”

“This will pass,” Fonseca said, while the building will continue to provide affordable housing well into the future. “This will be here for a long, long time ahead.”

El Nido’s design team is a partnership of Mackenzie and Access Architecture. Colas Construction is serving as general contractor alongside subcontractors including J.A. Mechanical and SOS Exterior Remodeling.

Andrew Colas, CEO of Colas Construction, recalled that Hacienda CDC first hired the Black-owned contractor in the late 1990s. Hacienda took a chance on Colas Construction for a project with two six-unit buildings when Colas had not yet tackled a project that large, he said.

“There was always an RFP written that said you shouldn’t try,” Colas said, referring to a request for proposals.

Colas said he had worked with the subcontractors on increasing their capacity to take on bigger jobs, including co-signing for a line of credit in one case.

El Nido — Spanish for “The Nest” — is part of Metro‘s drive to build thousands of affordable housing units funded by the $652.8 million regional housing bond passed by voters in 2018. The regional government is on track to build 5,600 affordable housing units, well above the initial goal of 3,900 homes, Metro Councilor Christine Lewis said.

“We’re overdelivering,” she said Wednesday. “We’re killing it.”

Ten units at El Nido will provide permanent supportive housing with services for residents. One apartment, to be used by the property manager, is not a regulated affordable unit, leaving El Nido with 54 affordable units.

The post Ground broken on El Nido housing project in Lake Oswego appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A 135,000-square-foot transit-oriented affordable housing development is in the works for property at TriMet‘s Willow Creek Transit Center, at 235 S.E. Edgeway Drive in Hillsboro.

Mercy Housing’s Northwest office and the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) are co-developing Willow Creek Family Housing and Early Learning Center – a project that gained the Hillsboro City Council’s approval late last month.

In February, the city and TriMet entered an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) to spur development of affordable housing at the transit center. The parties agreed to work together to solicit development proposals for a 2.89-acre parcel on the undeveloped portion of the park-and-ride facility at the north end of the property. Pursuant to the IGA, TriMet will make the subject property available for purchase by Mercy Housing at a discounted price of $1.25 million.

Currently, the total project cost estimate is $66.5 million, according to the city.

The city will dedicate an allocation of Metro affordable housing bond funds, estimated at $15.5 million, to support the project. Mercy Housing plans to invest $3.5 million.

Carleton Hart Architecture is the project architect. Neither a general contractor nor subcontractors have been selected yet. A general contractor will likely be selected in June 2026, according to a city of Hillsboro staff report.

Plans call for a five-story building with 118 units – 29 with one bedroom, 68 with two bedrooms, 16 with three bedrooms, and five with four bedrooms. Forty-one units will be for occupants earning up to 30 percent of the area median income. Some units will be for people earning up to 50 percent of AMI and others will be for those earning up to 60 percent of AMI. Also, 18 permanent supportive housing units will serve people exiting homelessness. There will be one manager’s unit.

Amenities will include a fully accessible community room with a kitchen, a tech center, a children’s area, and smaller meeting spaces. A smart screen in the lobby will provide transit information. Each floor will feature a laundry/lounge space and secure indoor bike storage.

“The design intent will connect residents with each other, the community, and nature with a forecourt plaza, walking path, gardening (space), and play areas,” Mercy Housing developer Justine Ealy stated in an email.

Mercy Housing will partner with IRCO to provide an on-site, 3,500-square-foot early learning center on the ground floor. The center will hold two preschool classrooms each able to accommodate up to 20 students.

Resident services, led by IRCO, will include health and wellness programs, meals for seniors, after-school activities, career coaching, workforce development, and more, the city’s staff report states.

The design plan calls for construction of 59 parking spaces, including 30 tucked under the building, according to the staff report. Parallel parking spaces will be included along the public street to the south, so that early learning center attendees can be dropped off and picked up.

Design details may change during the land use and permitting process.

Construction is anticipated to start as soon as late 2026 and require approximately 20 months to complete.

The post Affordable housing planned at Willow Creek transit hub appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.