A cluster of 50 new townhomes will offer affordable homeownership opportunities for 190 people who have been displaced or are at risk of displacement in the University Park neighborhood of North Portland.

Portland City Council on Wednesday authorized a land transfer of a three-acre property to Habitat for Humanity Portland Region for construction of the True North project. The Portland Housing Bureau issued a Notice of Funding Availability and subsequently chose True North in 2022. The total project cost estimate is $29.1 million, according to the bureau’s website.

Previously known as Carey Boulevard, the property is adjacent to 6631 N. Syracuse St. The site was formerly the home of the Belmont Goats and then a Safe Rest Village until last year.

OnPoint Community Credit Union will offer affordable 30-year fixed-rate loans and Proud Ground will provide permanent affordability and lower purchase prices through the Community Land Trust model.

Councilor Mitch Green said the project is an example of the impact of land banking.

“The result of that is we were able to build a number of … family-sized units at a cost that pencils out for these families,” he said.

MWA Architects designed the project for Habitat for Humanity, which is serving as both the developer and general contractor.

True North will include 20 two-bedroom units, 19 three-bedroom units, and 11 four-bedroom units.

Homes will be regulated to maintain affordability for 60 years. At initial sales, 25 units will be for households earning up to 60 percent of median family income (MFI) and the other 25 for those earning up to 80 percent of MFI. After initial sales, all 50 units will be for people earning up to 80 percent of MFI.

All units will be subject to the city’s North/Northeast Preference Policy, in which preference is given to applicants who are current or former residents of North or Northeast Portland or who have been displaced or are at risk of displacement from the area.

“Right now, with Portland being in a housing crisis, we need more pathways,” Councilor Candace Avalos said, “not just into housing but into stable affordable homeownership for Oregon families.”

Five common areas will be developed with playgrounds, community gardens, picnic or gathering areas, as well as three access points to the Peninsula Crossing Trail. The homes will also have energy efficiency features and be Earth Advantage Net-Zero Energy Ready certified.

The Portland Housing Bureau plans to close on financing with partners on May 28, said Kara Hamilton, housing portfolio finance coordinator for the bureau. Habitat for Humanity plans to begin site development shortly thereafter.

Construction is scheduled to start in June and finish in 2029. Home sales will begin in 2028.

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Vertical construction will begin later this week at the Williams & Russell project site, in North Portland. It’s a milestone for the Hill Block development intended to restore a cultural and economic center of the city’s Black community.

Housing will come first. Twenty townhomes with an additional four ground-level units will rise on the north side of the 1.7-acre block bounded by North Williams and Vancouver avenues and Russell and Knott streets — in the Eliot neighborhood.

Crucially, the townhomes will be offered for purchase to residents selected according to the city’s North/Northeast Preference Policy, administered by the Portland Housing Center. The policy aims to restore justice to residents whose homes were razed as part of the 1960s Emanuel Hospital Urban Renewal Project.

The Portland Housing Bureau will provide down-payment assistance to eligible homebuyers. More than 1,200 people initially applied via the North/Northeast Preference Policy, said Dana Fuller Shephard, executive director of the Portland Housing Center.

“We have more people than we have units,” Shephard said.

Homeowners will be able to earn equity over time, and if they choose, eventually sell the homes.

“The homeownership component was something that people really, really wanted to see in the project,” said Bryson Davis, president of Williams & Russell Community Development Corp., the nonprofit group leading the project.

The trade-off between keeping the homes affordable and enabling homeowners to build equity was a keenly debated issue in planning.

“That tension was a key component of a lot of our discussions,” Davis said. “Through the hospital expansion, the community lost a lot of wealth. We leaned towards — and for this project we are doing — the homeowner gets the benefit of their equity.”

However, project team members said they expect most homeowners at Williams & Russell will hold onto the homes long-term. North/Northeast Portland remains the center of the city’s Black community, but homebuying has become difficult amid prices spiraling upward, said Ta’Neshia Renae, chief operations officer of Williams & Russell CDC.

“Really, we’re looking at folks that have historical ties to the community and want to be a part of that,” said Anyeley Hallová, founder and CEO of Portland-based developer Adre.

A second phase will involve the construction of 85 units of subsidized rental housing in family-size configurations. Finally, a 26,000-square-foot business hub, built from cross-laminated timber, will include a mix of affordable office, retail and collaborative space.

The CDC was also able to acquire from Legacy Health a half-block north of the Hill Block that brings the project site to 2.99 acres. In total, the project is expected to cost $16.4 million.

Each project component was designed after an extensive public engagement process. Homeownership, with backyards and parking spaces, was important to Albina residents, and so was affordable rental housing in multibedroom units. Market-rate development has brought a steady supply of studios and one-bedroom apartments, but few larger units.

“The market doesn’t naturally produce the larger-sized units,” Hallová said. “So, the ability to produce those larger units at an affordable price is definitely a desire for the community.”

Vertical construction can begin only now after an extensive environmental remediation process. Legacy Health, which formerly owned the block, provided $10 million for environmental remediation. The Portland Housing Bureau and Prosper Portland also contributed some funding for remediation.

Crews ended up removing 41,000 tons of dirt from the site, Davis said. When the buildings on the Hill Block were demolished in the 1970s, debris from the demolition was used to fill 12-foot-tall basements.

“As you can imagine for buildings that were built in the early 1900s, there were elevated levels of heavy metals and all sorts of other contaminants all around the block,” Davis said.

Also, a gas station once occupied the southwest corner of the block. Decades-old fuel tanks had to be unearthed and removed.

“Despite all of that, it went pretty well,” Davis said.

Project team members are keenly aware that the site in the heart of the former city of Albina has sat vacant for decades, and know how important it is for Portland’s Black community to get it right.

“As a real estate developer and as part of Black community, I knew about the significance of the site to the community, the historical significance, and then also the fact that nothing had transpired on the site for fifty years after it was taken from the community,” Hallová said.

They’ve had plenty of time to think about it: The project team came together in 2021 in response to a request for proposals from the project working group that later transformed into the CDC.

The project is being designed by LEVER Architecture and Hood Design Studio. Colas Construction, Portland’s largest Black-owned contractor, is serving as general contractor.

The project will add housing at a time when state and local leaders say more options are desperately needed. But Williams & Russell means more to its backers than square footage, timber and drywall.

“What we’re bringing back is more than just buildings,” Renae said. “We’re bringing back people and their descendants. We’re bringing back culture.”

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