After nearly a decade of progress in fits and starts, the Cornelius Place project team is finally on the verge of breaking ground. The $18.5 million building will include a public library and senior housing when it opens in late 2018.

“It’s been a story of commingling funding streams to get the funding to work,” said Ryan McCluckie, project manager and architect with Scott | Edwards Architecture.

Multiple firms are involved in development of Cornelius Place, which will be built on North Adair Street, between 13th and 14th avenues, in the small city between Forest Grove and Hillsboro. It was originally supposed to be a simple replacement for the city’s aging downtown library, but now it will stand three stories and include 45 residential units for seniors.

“There aren’t many three-story buildings in Cornelius,” McCluckie said. “It was going to be just a library. We wanted to add value by creating another great use for the site.”

Securing money to pay for those uses was the overarching problem. Voters rejected a $2.4 million bond measure in 2013. A proposal in 2014 for a similar bond measure was scrapped in favor of using other money.

“Voters in Cornelius are very sensitive to tax increases for public benefit,” McCluckie said.

Developers’ funding plan became a patchwork of federal and state grants, Oregon Lottery dollars, private donations, low-income housing tax credits and private investments.

“I am a consultant and worked all over the country,” said Sharon Nielson, a principal with the Nielson Group, which is helping developer Bienestar Inc. tackle Cornelius Place. “This is a project that has one of the largest number of funding sources I have ever seen.”

Bridge Housing also was brought aboard to help coordinate funding.

“Bienestar will still be involved with the project as an administrative service provider,” McCluckie said. “They will create programs for the residents.”

For Bridge Housing, which has a large portfolio of affordable housing projects in California, Cornelius Place represented a chance to increase its presence in Oregon.

With funding secured, designers were able to move past the conceptual stage in September 2016. What emerged was a design for a new 16,000-square-foot library to replace the city’s existing 3,000-square-foot structure. The apartments – including studios and one- and two-bedroom units – will occupy the structure’s second and third floors. Building residents will be seniors, age 55 and older, with incomes up to 60 percent of the area’s median income.

“There will be some project-based vouchers, which will help those that need deeper subsidies of the rent,” Nielson said.

The development will also include a community space, a resident meeting space, a 5,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard and a YMCA community room. Stakeholders hope the project will boost downtown Cornelius’ image.

“It is a catalyst for downtown,” McCluckie said. “It really caps a piece of the downtown where the city has tried to make improvements.”

Developers believe Cornelius Place can show entrepreneurs what the city has to offer.

“It has been the discussed as the gateway to Cornelius,” McCluckie said. “It is a landmark. Cornelius has been moving toward an inclusive business climate.”

On the Boards is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects in Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91��Ƶ architecture and engineering reporter Kent Hohlfeld at 503-802-7224 or khohlfeld@djcOregon.com.

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