A multifamily development of three buildings is on the rise on Marquam Hill in Southwest Portland.

The Marquam Hill Apartments will have a total of 72 units and amenities in 99,463 square feet.

Gabe Headrick of Steelhead Architecture is the project architect. MCH Construction Co., the general contractor, is building the development for Scotia Western States Housing.

Steelhead Architecture is a small, two-person design firm that focuses on residential and commercial buildings, but with a niche in breweries, pubs and cideries. For this project, the buildings were spread out to reduce mass and create interconnected spaces for activities between them.

“Breaking all of the apartments into three buildings helped break up what would’ve been a giant structure,” Headrick said.

The buildings are being constructed at 3158, 3178 and 3192 S.W. 12th Ave. Building one will have 55,655 square feet, building two 35,409 square feet and building three 8,399 square feet. Construction started in March 2020. Crews didn’t experience any slowdowns due to the pandemic; they’re expected to finish this spring.

The white brick skin and white wood paneling of the buildings give a modern contemporary feel amid the wooded landscape, Headrick said. The site sits above the OHSU Hospital and peers out onto a forested hillside.

The two larger buildings are designed as “intersecting geometries with floating roofs above which unify the forms,” Headrick said.

Building one will offer 40 units in four levels of wood framing over one concrete level. The ground floor will include a lobby. There will be structured parking with 40 spaces.

Construction of the concrete podium and wood framing is done. The first floor took a month to complete, and then “bam, bam, bam” – the wood framing went up, Headrick said. Currently, crews are installing windows as well as plumbing and electrical components.

Building two will be also be five stories, but with 24 units. The concrete podium is complete and ready for wood framing.

The wood framing is built off-site at a lumber yard and then delivered in large trucks, MCH Construction superintendent Rick Haley said. A crane is used to lift the individual panels onto the concrete podium. Each floor takes about a week to complete, he said.

“The contractor has done an excellent job handling all of the subcontractors with COVID-19 and the permitting delays,” Headrick said.

Building three will be a three-story, wood-framed structure. It will include eight units, a common space, a workout room, a kitchen and a living room to accommodate sizable gatherings.

“The smaller third building has its own character as a cantilevered cube,” Headrick said. “It relates to its larger companions in the cladding materials but as it contains all of the common space uses building three acts as a smaller-scale focal point to the site.”

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A proposal for a five-story, 27-unit multifamily building in Portland’s Homestead neighborhood is scheduled to receive planned development, land division partition and environmental reviews next month.

Scotia Western States Housing LLC of Tucson, Arizona, is developing the project, which is planned for 1325 S.W. Gibbs St. – a 0.9-acre site a few blocks west of the Oregon Health & Science University campus. The project is being designed by Steelhead Architecture, with preliminary planning work being carried out by Winterbrook Planning.

Currently, the property has a senior living facility, which would be demolished to create space for the new structure.

The new building would be roughly rectangular, and be oriented north-south on the property. Plans call for 28 vehicle parking spaces split between a first-story garage and a surface lot, as well as 30 long-term bicycle parking spaces.

The public hearing is scheduled for May 4, according to the Portland Bureau of Development Services. At this point, the two options for participation are via Zoom teleconference (oral testimony can be given) or telephone (listening only). More information is available at .

Also, a land division review “is required in order to create one parcel with an environmental resource tract,” according to BDS. The land division is considered a partition within state law.

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An adaptive reuse project under way in Southeast Portland is transforming a former retail building on Southeast Foster Road into the home of Assembly Brewing – an upstart business from a pair of partners focused on the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood.

Owners Adam Dixon and George Johnson had kicked around the idea of starting their own brewery for years, and when they decided to pull the trigger on opening a brewpub, the Foster area was a natural choice.

“I felt like this area was a brewery desert for Portland,” said Johnson, Assembly’s head brewer and an area resident. “Might as well do it in my neighborhood.”

The pair enlisted Steelhead Architecture and Lorentz Bruun Construction to transform a 7,000-square-foot former Korean grocery store into the home of their new brewing operation. The building was erected in 1948 and then expanded with additions over the years. Faulty methods used for construction of parts of the building necessitated the structure being essentially demolished down to the frame and rebuilt.

“We had to start from scratch,” said Ryan Shoop, project superintendent with Lorentz Bruun Construction. “It’s basically a ground-up build, for the most part.”

The building underwent a full seismic upgrade, including installation of C-channel horizontal bracing throughout the structure’s cast-in-place unreinforced concrete walls. Old-growth timber beams, which were exposed during demolition and media-blasted with nickel slag and walnut shells, have been braced to the steel reinforcements.

The front of the building along Southeast Foster Road has been outfitted with new storefront systems and roll-up doors, and skylights were added to the dining area. The building has been outfitted with all-new plumbing, fire/life safety elements and electrical systems, including new three-phase power service. The $2.2 million project is slated for completion in early March, and the brewery is expected to open later that month.

The project team also includes WRK Engineers, Christianson Electric, Protemp Associates, V & K Construction, and Allco Drywall.

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