Founded in 2020, Adre is a leader in socially responsible real estate development. Anyeley Hallova, CEO and founder, was inspired to start the company after leading the development of the Meyer Memorial Trust Headquarters as a former partner at project^.

The project allowed her to deeply engage with themes of social equity and environmental sustainability, compelling her to move away from conventional market-rate developments. It also drove her to embed equity-focused values into her work.

Hallova’s passion for social equity extends beyond real estate to a rethink of the entire built environment. Through her roles on various boards and commissions, she is committed to addressing historic injustices by policy alongside development work.

Adre has $139 million in real estate projects under pre-development or construction, totaling more than 145,000 square feet. It has raised $36 million in grants and construction debt for clients, with an 87 percent success rate for grants.

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Real estate and development firm Gerding Edlen is spearheading a new effort to preserve affordable housing in the Portland-metro area.

The Portland Affordable Housing Preservation Partnership was established by Gerding Edlen and Meyer Memorial Trust in October 2019. The partnership’s primary aim is to purchase and upgrade multifamily properties, and then offer units to people making between 60 and 120 percent of the regional median family income. Ultimately, the group wants to improve existing affordable units without displacing current residents.

The partnership recently acquired its first property: the Golfside Apartments in Gresham. Meyer Memorial Trust supplied $20 million to purchase the 53-unit property at 1999 N.E. Division St.

“Basically it fit the strategy really well,” Gerding Edlen partner Jill Sherman said. “We don’t have the ability to spend a ton per unit on renovations, so we do need a property that’s been pretty well kept. We do address issues that need to be fixed, but in general what we’re trying to do is buy a property that is in reasonably good shape, address deferred maintenance and improve water and energy efficiency, and then maintain the property over a very long period of time.”

The partnership’s fundraising goal is $100 million. Potential investors would likely be other foundations and high-net-worth individuals who have an active interest in the group’s goals, Sherman said.

“We’re trying to encourage investors to think of it as a different type of investment,” she said. “It’s counter cyclical – demand for lower-rent units is going to be high even in a downturn. So, these are full today, and you should be able to keep them full. There aren’t a lot of the risks traditional real estate development does have. We’re suggesting it has a return that is more like a fixed-income vehicle.”

That may mean returns as modest as 2 percent, Sherman added. But the risk should correspond with the returns.

“It’s definitely a new way of thinking about an investment in what is still fundamentally real estate,” she said. “It’s not a slam dunk that you explain and every institutional investor says, ‘Oh we want to do that.’ It will take proving.”

Potential properties are being scouted by the partnership. It is targeting communities previously considered more affordable but now are experiencing rapid increases in property values relative to the metro area. Gresham and much of East Portland fits that bill, Sherman said.

“There may be other areas that might be similar, like Gateway, where there’s not a lot of new construction and a lot of older units that aren’t subsidized but are affordable,” she said.

The partnership’s acquisition of the Golfside Apartments did not go unnoticed.

“Gresham’s housing policy recognizes the importance of having a full range of quality housing for its current and future residents,” said Elizabeth Coffey, the city’s communications manager. “Through that policy, the city also supports the rehabilitation and revitalization of our housing supply, so projects like these where there are investments being made have the potential to increase the quality of housing for residents.”

Now, at least two other potential acquisitions are in the works.

“We’ve just started over the past few months where we’ve been able to start getting serious about properties to acquire,” Sherman said. “That was our first closing, but we have another imminent and another tied up in due diligence.”

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Officials hosted a brief ceremony Monday to celebrate the start of construction on a new headquarters for an influential philanthropic organization.

Meyer Memorial Trust will occupy a three-story, 20,000-square-foot building due to rise on a 0.46-acre lot at 2045 N. Vancouver Ave. Project^ is developing the project, which was designed by LEVER Architecture. O’Neill/Walsh Community Builders is serving as general contractor.

Currently, Meyer Memorial Trust’s 42 employees work in 11,000 square feet of leased office space in the Gregory Lofts building, at 425 N.W. 10th Ave.

The new headquarters will have a 50-kilowatt photovoltaic solar array and other features expected to help gain a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum rating. A unique roofline is intended to provide as much south-facing area as possible for the solar array, LEVER Architecture project director Chandra Robinson said.

“With a focus on environmental sustainability, the building has been designed to use 30 percent less energy than if it was built to minimum code standards,” Project^ partner Anyeley Hallova said Monday. “In addition, we’ll be sourcing materials that were originally harvested and/or locally manufactured. This includes the mass plywood that will be sourced from a Central Oregon lumber mill and manufactured there.”

Freres Lumber, based in Lyons, southeast of Salem, is the manufacturer of the mass plywood panels. The veneer-based products are customizable, and can be as large as 12 feet wide, 48 feet long and 24 inches thick. Freres Lumber previously worked with LEVER Architecture on the Mass Plywood Pavilion built in 2017 at the Portland Art Museum as part of an exhibition.

The new building’s design, Robinson said, is intended to reflect the late Fred G. Meyer’s values. The team sought to create connections with the community and the natural surroundings, and ensure the building would be sustainable and equitable. There will be a prominent front porch, a plaza, bicycle parking and landscaping.

“It’s creating an asset that doesn’t currently exist in the neighborhood,” Robinson said. “The other thing about the ground floor of the building is it’s very transparent; you can really see through the building and see the activity happening inside.”

Light-colored, metal, folded panels accent the building façade and offer “simple yet dynamic visual interest throughout the day,” Hallova said.

Even the landscaping will bolster the design themes, with plants of significance to native Columbia River tribes.

Inside, a library, an educational garden, gathering space and other amenities will contribute to the same themes, Hallova added.

Officials expect construction to wrap up in about a year. One of the project goals is for at least 43 percent participation by minority-owned or women-owned firms. A similar percentage is being sought for participation by apprentices.

“Meyer has asked us to do much more than just meet goals for equity and inclusion,” O’Neill Construction Group President Maurice Rahming said. “We’re not interested in lip service.”

Meyer Memorial Trust, founded in 1982, is now one of Portland’s largest nonprofits. Since its inception, the organization has awarded grants totaling nearly $800 million to more than 3,300 recipients around the Pacific Northwest.

The group purchased the Vancouver Avenue property for $4.96 million in January 2018 and demolished an old cinder block and sheet metal building previously used by Sergeants Towing. Timber supports from the old building were salvaged for use in the new one.

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Grand plans are being formed for Portland’s Albina community, and the Historic Landmarks Commission got its first look at them on Monday. The concept is to redevelop and revitalize the disconnected area between the Lloyd District and the Willamette River.

“The thing to take away is that the city had a grid,” Rukaiyah Adams, chief investment officer for the Meyer Memorial Trust, told the commission.

Getting back to that grid is largely the idea for Albina Vision, which calls for new mixed-use development scattered among public open spaces and parks stretching potentially all the way to the riverfront. It even calls for “capping” portions of Interstate 5 that run through the neighborhood and building above the freeway. If that were to happen, however, work likely wouldn’t wrap up until at least 2027.

Hennebery Eddy Architects is leading design efforts for Albina Vision, an effort that began in 2015. Project partners include the city of Portland, Portland Public Schools, the Meyer Memorial Trust, the Portland Trail Blazers and many others.

The Oregon Department of Transportation and the Portland Bureau of Transportation, meanwhile, are developing plans for the expansion of Interstate 5 in the Rose Quarter. That work is expected to tie in with new development.

Albina Vision has four main components, Hennebery Eddy founding principal Tim Eddy said Monday. The most important, he said, is the connection to the Willamette River and how that can drive the designs of public spaces.

“These sites are really the only remaining places on the east side of downtown in the central city where there is a potential to create a significant public space that has access to the river,” Eddy said.

Some renderings for the district show that portions of streets could be pedestrianized, while mixed-use high-rises would be built along those corridors.

Another component is the need to establish a vibrant public realm based on public spaces, whether on the riverfront or not.

The other two components are incorporation of the area north of Veterans Memorial Coliseum, including a large parcel of land owned by Portland Public Schools, and tying the entire area back into the eastside grid.

“It was tempting to go beyond these areas,” Eddy acknowledged. “But we had to draw a boundary.”

Albina Vision also represents an opportunity to right historical wrongs of decades ago, when numerous buildings in the largely African-American community were razed to make way for the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and other development. By some estimates, more than 800 homes were demolished in a roughly 100-acre area.

“There have been lots of conversations about what should happen,” Adams told the Historic Landmarks Commission. “It took us a year of talking to each other and learning the history before we could really talk about the really hard history about why that neighborhood was bulldozed. We wanted to learn a little more about the people who lived there.”

The area once was the heart of Portland’s cultural scene, and Albina Vision plans call for at least partial restoration of that dynamic. Recreating the past isn’t realistic, she added. But the future certainly can be informed by it.

“This entire area was disconnected from the rest of the city due to the 1950s and 1960s decisions,” she said. “We realized we couldn’t define what would be there, so we wanted to set out a series of values to drive what would happen there that we would hope to inform the process.”

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Meyer Memorial Trust will build a new headquarters in Albina, with site preparation and construction to begin in late 2018, the organization announced.

The trust, one of Portland’s most prominent nonprofits, in January purchased an industrial lot at 2045 N. Vancouver Ave. for $4.96 million. The 25,000-square-foot parcel has been the site of Sergeants Towing since 1995.

Local developer Project^ will develop the new headquarters, and Fieldwork Design & Architecture will design the building, which is expected to be about 20,000 square feet.

The project will involve demolishing the existing cinder block and metal sheet structure, but timber supports inside will be “creatively used” in the new design, according to a news release. Initial plans call for a three-story structure.

A Fieldwork partner referred questions about the project to the nonprofit.

Meyer Memorial Trust CEO Doug Stamm acknowledged in a news release Albina’s history of urban renewal and gentrification that drove out many of the neighborhood’s African-American residents. The organization pledged to be “a good neighbor.”

“As new neighbors, we look forward to supporting efforts by many people and organizations, including the Albina Vision Trust, to ensure that as Albina evolves toward an exciting future, it remains an affordable, thriving and diverse central city community,” Stamm stated.

Many of Meyer Memorial Trust’s employees live in North and Northeast Portland, according to the news release.

The Vancouver Avenue property is near Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Ex Novo Brewing and a CrossFit gym. It’s also close to the Hill Block, a vacant lot owned by Legacy Health that is under consideration for redevelopment by the hospital group and Prosper Portland.

Meyer Memorial Trust will move from its existing, 11,000-square-foot leased office at 425 N.W. 10th St. in the Pearl District. The organization, with 42 employees, anticipates moving into the new Albina office in early 2020.

The Albina property was purchased with money from the nonprofit’s endowment. The organization is considering financing options for the design and construction phases. The property is zoned central employment, with a design overlay (EX-d).

Meyer Memorial Trust has $800 million in assets, and donates to a wide range of causes, including preservation of affordable housing, restoration of the Willamette River watershed and support of rural museums.

In February, Meyer Memorial Trust announced Michelle J. DePass will succeed Stamm as CEO on April 30.

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The Portland Development Commission is partnering with Transition Projects Inc. on a 72-unit apartment development, along with 14 tiny houses – all for formerly homeless individuals.

The proposed project is planned for 2221 N. Argyle Street in an industrial corner of the Kenton neighborhood.

The PDC and the developer want to build 36 studio apartments and 36 single-room occupancy units. The single-room units would be clustered in groups of six; each pod would share a common kitchen and two bathrooms.

Three small buildings would have two pods each, for 36 single-room units. The studio apartments, the manager’s unit and a large community room would be part of a separate three-story building.

Also, the tiny houses, designed by several architecture firms and Portland State University architecture students, would be deployed for a minimum of a year. Catholic Charities would manage the tiny house community on contract with the Joint Office of Homeless Services, a collaboration started in 2016 between the city of Portland and Multnomah County.

All of the units are intended to house people earning no more than 60 percent of the median family income, according to a PDC agenda.

The commission’s board voted unanimously Wednesday to authorize selling the 0.99-acre property to Transition Projects. A PDC staff report said a price has not been finalized; it will be set by an appraisal.

A February 2016 analysis estimated the property’s value at $1.33 million, according to the staff report.

A PDC spokesperson could not be reached for comment, and Transition Projects Executive Director George Devendorf was not immediately available for an interview, a spokeswoman said.

The lot is unimproved. If the purchase were to close, crews would break ground in 2018.

Meyer Memorial Trust in January awarded Transition Projects a $500,000 grant for the project. However, the nonprofit developer will need more than a year to secure approximately $11.2 million to finance the project, according to the staff report.

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