A property in Salem that formerly held city hall from 1895 to 1972 is gaining a 78,855-square-foot multifamily development.

Construction crews broke ground on the six-story building, Citizen Apartments, on Thursday at 277 High St. N.E. Deacon Development is developing the $25 million project and Dalke Construction of Salem is the general contractor.

“We chose the name Citizen Apartments to honor that history (of the former city hall) and the people who shape the city today,” Kathy Delarosa, development manager at Deacon Development, stated in an email.

Studio 3 Architecture of Salem designed the project. The team also includes civil engineer Westech Engineering of Salem, structural engineer Harper Houf Peterson Righellis, landscape architect Laurus Designs LLC of Silverton, and geotechnical engineer GeoPacific Engineering of Tigard.

Last year, Dalke Construction completed the Rivenwood Apartments in Salem for Deacon Development. Partnering with a local contractor means most of the subcontractors are local as well, Delarosa stated. All subcontractors have been selected.

“This helps strengthen the community, stimulates local economic growth and aligns with our company values,” Delarosa stated.

Citizen Apartments will have 105 units, including studios, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom units. Sixteen will be affordable units as part of the city’s Multi-Unit Housing Tax Incentive Program. Tall window bays will let ample natural light into the units.

The building is designed to feel at home in downtown Salem while still looking fresh and modern, Delarosa stated. The first floor of the exterior will be brick veneer to complement surrounding older structures, while the upper floors will have a mix of metal panels and fiber cement siding to create a contemporary look. Offsets in the siding and balconies are intended to add texture and break down the overall scale.

At street level, glazing and canopies were designed to activate the street corner and create pedestrian-oriented frontage, according to Delarosa.

Building amenities will include a coffee bar, a mail room with parcel lockers, a fitness center, secure bike storage, a pet wash station, Electric vehicle parking and charging (on level 2), a co-working lounge with a private work pod, a community room equipped with a kitchen and games and a semi-private theater room, and a roof terrace with a barbecue area and city views.

The project team received land use approval in May 2024. Construction is expected to wrap up in spring 2027.

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A sizable mixed-use development, called , is due to arrive next to a historic structure in downtown Vancouver, Washington.

Wilsonville-based developer Marathon Acquisition & Development is preparing for construction of two buildings featuring a total of 134 residential units and more than 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and office space. The 2.21-acre site is along East C Street, between East 12th Street and Evergreen Boulevard, and adjacent to the property.

Providence Academy, following its construction in 1873, was the largest brick building north of San Francisco, according to the Historic Trust of Vancouver. More than a century later, in 1978, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The 7-acre Providence Academy site was owned entirely by the Historic Trust of Vancouver. Then it sold 2.21 acres to Marathon Acquisition & Development so that it could pursue its Aegis project. Proceeds from the sale will go toward renovation of the historic building and other property improvements.

The two Aegis buildings will be constructed on land currently being used as parking. Marathon will serve as its own general contractor.

Salem-based Studio 3 Architecture is designing the project. Renderings show one structure with six stories and the other with five stories. The shorter building will have a rooftop terrace larger than 4,000 square feet and a 2,000-square-foot community lounge. A 1,500-square-foot fitness center, secure indoor bicycle storage and a self-serve bicycle repair shop also will be available to tenants. In all, the two buildings will have 162,800 square feet of floor space.

Plans call for 28 studio units averaging 549 square feet of space, 71 one-bedroom units averaging 670 square feet and 41 two-bedroom units averaging 965 square feet. There will be 151 surface parking spaces to serve the two buildings.

Plans for the development have changed significantly from earlier iterations. For instance, early drawings showed structures that would be built out to each end of the block. But a change was made to pull the south building back from the corner and insert a 5,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza. This removed at least 24 residential units, some of which were restored by adding a sixth story to the north building.

As for aesthetics, much of Aegis’ cladding will be red brick to complement the historic Providence Academy building.

Developers are now waiting on the city of Vancouver to approve so that the permitting process can proceed and construction can begin.

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The Wilmore, a five-story apartment building in Portland’s Humboldt neighborhood, has sold to an investor for $28 million two years after the project’s completion.

The 75-unit building at 4357 N. Williams Ave. sold to a limited liability company, MSL Vancouver Oregon Investments, which lists a principal place of business in Mountain View, California.

The seller was N Williams Avenue Apartments, another limited liability company connected to the original developer, Marathon Acquisition and Development of Wilsonville.

The building includes 50,720 square feet of residential space and 5,760 square feet of retail space. It was designed by Studio 3 Architecture.

Phil Oester, Joe Nydahl and Josh McDonald of CBRE‘s Portland office represented the seller.

“The Wilmore is a generational asset in Portland’s burgeoning North Williams neighborhood,” Oester, CBRE senior vice president, stated in a news release. “The community’s contemporary features, amenities and finishes are complemented by its incredible location and popular ground-floor retail.”

The retail tenants are Rovente Pizzeria, Open Tandoor and Coco Donuts.

The Wilmore – a combination of Williams and Skidmore – was built with the help of Portland’s Multiple-Unit Limited Tax Exemption (MULTE) program, providing 20 percent affordable units at 60 percent of area median income in exchange for a 10-year property tax exemption.

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