The first half of 2026 saw the completion of some major construction projects in Salem, as well as the start of several more.

Workers are continuing to build the six-story Citizen Apartments in downtown and the Kuebler Village commercial development near Costco.

Meanwhile, efforts to revive the ex-Rite Aid building, the former JCPenney department store and the empty lot dubbed “The Pit” are showing signs of progress.

Here’s an update on some key projects.

Citizen Apartments joins downtown skyline

Originally the site of Salem City Hall and then a parking lot, the property at 277 High St. N.E. is gaining a six-story, 105-unit apartment building.

Deacon Development, which delivered the Rivenwood Apartments nearby in 2024, has dubbed this $25 million project Citizen Apartments as a nod to its storied history as the heart of Salem government.

Crews broke ground this past October and are scheduled to finish in early spring 2027.

The 78,855-square-foot building will include 16 affordable housing units as part of the city’s Multiple-Unit Housing Tax Incentive Program.

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, a co-working lounge with a private work pod, a community room equipped with a kitchen, games, a semi-private theater room, and a roof terrace with a grill and city views.

Company submits proposal for ‘The Pit’

A fenced hole in the ground remains after a bank building was razed in 2017, leaving what is commonly known as “The Pit” at the southeast corner of Liberty and Chemeketa streets.

Deacon Development initially also purchased this land next to the Citizen Apartments site but sold it after determining the conditions placed on it by the city would make development financially infeasible.

The property was reacquired by the previous owner, West Linn-based FT LLC, which also owns the adjoining building used by Pacific Office Automation. Company officials said they want to build a surface parking lot to serve the adjacent building, but that is not permitted under the city zoning code.

FT LLC has submitted a land use application, and it remains under city review. It’s the first official redevelopment proposal since the bank building was demolished.

Mexican grocery store to open in downtown

A long-awaited downtown grocery store is due to arrive in September, ending a yearslong vacancy in a former Rite Aid building.

El Torito Supermarket will open at 435 Liberty St. N.E.

Husband and wife Alfredo Mendez and Lily Perez opened the original El Torito Meat Market on Lancaster Drive about 20 years ago. Their stores have a meat counter, a produce section, a bakery, a hot deli, and grocery items.

The Rite Aid on Liberty Street closed in December 2023 following the company’s bankruptcy.

Salem’s Urban Renewal Agency Board voted in May to allocate $470,000 from the Riverfront Downtown Urban Renewal Agency capital improvement grant program for the supermarket.

According to city documents, the store is expected to provide 30 new jobs.

New tenants on the horizon to fill space

When the planned purchase of the former JCPenney building fell through in October 2025, it remained under the ownership of Penny Building, a company tied to developer Stuart Lindquist.

The 100,000-square-foot building has been vacant since JCPenney exited in 2020.

Lindquist confirmed in April that a furniture retailer would lease an 11,070-square-foot spot on the first floor. He said his company wants to fill the empty space with street-facing businesses that complement the area and cater to the increase in foot traffic brought by new apartment complexes in downtown.

“A single-tenant department store is being converted into a multi-tenant building in response to Salem’s demand for smaller office and retail spaces,” developers stated in their land use application submitted to the city.

A site plan approved by the city in May calls for a 5,000-square-foot jiujitsu gym on the first floor, along with separate retail spaces in the basement and the first and second floors.

Cannery transformation gains traction

A new developer is stepping up to helm the $150 million transformation of the former home of Truitt Bros. Cannery north of downtown Salem after the project stalled under previous leadership.

Nearly 800 apartments, a grocery store, an automatic parking garage, a wine bar and restaurants are planned at the site.

The deal is currently under contract and expected to close this summer. Demolition would begin shortly thereafter.

Aaron Stickney, co-founder and managing member of SilverSphere Capital, said in March that funding for the sale and construction has already been secured.

436 housing units on the rise near school

A big multifamily development is under construction at Doaks Ferry Road and Orchard Heights Road near West Salem High School.

The project is set to bring 426 apartment units and 10 townhomes to the previously undeveloped site.

There will be a mix of 31 three-story buildings and three townhome buildings along with a clubhouse, a recreation area and parking.

Shopping center under construction

Kuebler Village is now being built at the southeast corner of 27th Avenue and Kuebler Boulevard near Costco.

According to city documents, the project is connected to Mosaic Management, which also owns several senior living facilities in Oregon.

A listing for the 24.64-acre parcel says Kuebler Village will be a “vibrant and dynamic, mixed-use community with I-5 visibility.”

The listing details several components, including drive-thrus, a hotel, a “destination shopping center,” multifamily housing and the Mosaic corporate headquarters.

The city approved a site plan review for a planned U.S. Market convenience store and eight gas pumps along 27th Avenue near the roundabout in 2025. Plans for a Black Rock Coffee Bar drive-thru were approved this past December.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Statesman Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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The team preparing to redevelop a vacant Northeast Portland building into a food hall, bar and event space is seeking a construction manager/general contractor for the project.

The Prosper Portland Board of Commissioners on Wednesday voted unanimously to exempt the 910 MLK Building food hall project from the usual low-bid selection process and instead seek a CM-GC. Prosper Portland will issue a competitive request for proposals early next month.

The property, owned by Prosper Portland, is at 910 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., near the northeast corner of the Oregon Convention Center.

In January, the board authorized the inclusion of the food hall in the Lloyd-Holladay Urban Renewal Plan and approved the revised plan for the property. Portland-based Parti Architecture LLC will submit to the city design plans for review next month.

The project scope will include a major renovation of the building’s west side; demolition of structural elements on the east side while retaining portions of the roof and structural framework; and construction of infrastructure to support food carts on the lot’s southeast side.

The CM/GC method allows for a contractor to join the process about halfway through the design phase, said Wendy Wilcox, construction and compliance manager for Prosper Portland.

“Through our work in the community, contractors have told us this is a preferred method as through the RFP, they feel they can be more fairly evaluated, the project pricing is more accurate and they have time to gather the best team by being involved from design,” she said.

The estimated total project cost is $7.5 million, including $6 million for construction. A CM/GC delivery method will likely result in cost savings over a low-bid one, according to a Prosper Portland staff report, because of time savings, value engineering, funding source security, and less risk of change orders. Use of the CM/GC method will increase confidence of the project’s partners that the work will be completed within the scheduled time frame and budget, Wilcox said.

Contractors’ proposals will be evaluated by a panel considering a set of best value criteria, Wilcox said. A CM/GC is expected to be part of the preconstruction contract in April or May, she said. The CM/GC contract is expected to be presented to the board for approval this summer.

Construction is scheduled to start in the fall and finish in summer 2027.

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As officials with the 1803 Fund and Black community leaders gathered Tuesday to lay out plans to redevelop Lower Albina, one message rang out: We own it.

Formed in 2023 and backed by a $400 million gift from Nike co-founder Phil Knight, the fund has spent $70 million to purchase two groups of properties in North Portland‘s Albina neighborhood.

Fund leaders laid out plans to transform portions of the neighborhood into a modern “Third Place” — apart from home and work or school — for the Black community to gather.

The properties include grain silos along the Willamette River near the Rose Quarter that will become part of Albina Riverside, a 3-acre site linking Albina to the waterfront. The other major area, known as The Low End, comprises approximately 20 tax lots and more than 7 acres along North Russell Street.

The Low End will have a mix of uses, including housing and spaces for art, culture, business and community initiatives. Plans for Albina Riverside are still being developed.

On Tuesday, the group held a press conference at a former craft brewery, 670 N. Russell St., that it now owns.

“Yes, we are rebuilding Albina,” said Rukaiyah Adams, CEO of the 1803 Fund. “But, really, what we are up to is transforming the region.”

The event functioned as a celebration for Portland’s Black community, and a promise to reinvigorate Albina — a historically Black neighborhood that was subjected to relocations, residential demolitions and racist urban renewal practices in the mid-20th century that made way for major infrastructure including Interstate 5, Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.

“We cannot talk about Albina without talking about the pain that we have faced as a community,” said Ed Washington, a longtime resident and former president of the NAACP’s Portland chapter.

While details of the redevelopment were scarce, 1803 Fund officials said it’s critical that Black Portlanders now own much of the neighborhood, and will redevelop it as they wish, without heeding outside expectations about what Albina should or shouldn’t be.

“This is not charity,” Adams said. “This is investment.”

Mayor Keith Wilson sparked an exchange when he thanked the building‘s proprietor for allowing the event to be held, apparently not realizing the building was purchased by the 1803 Fund.

“To Mayor Wilson,” Adams said, “we own this building. So, yeah, that’s the thing now.”

Yet a long road lies ahead for Albina boosters. Much of the neighborhood requires environmental remediation. The 1803 Fund released renderings showing landscaped public spaces, but a spokeswoman said it remains to be decided what buildings will be constructed on the properties.

Speakers noted that the announcement came at a precarious moment for Portland. President Trump’s threat to deploy the National Guard in the city’s streets appears to have receded for now, but many stakeholders feel the city still has a target on its back. The Trump administration rescinded funds dedicated to building highway covers over I-5 in Albina.

At the same time, the city’s growth spurt of the “Portlandia” era has stalled, attended by rampant homelessness, widespread commercial real estate vacancies and a general economic malaise.

Adams noted, without naming the president, that the Albina redevelopment comes as Trump builds a “gold ballroom” at the White House.

“This is a very let-them-eat-cake moment,” she said. “We’re about to own the damn cake.”

Wilson and City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney pledged to support to the plan, saying it could galvanize broader economic development.

“Albina’s renaissance will help fuel Portland’s renaissance,” Wilson said.

The group’s plan “reframes development,” Pirtle-Guiney added.

“It frames it as an act of restoration, an act of renewal,” she said. “This is going to have a transformative impact on our entire community.”

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The Portland City Council on Wednesday passed three ordinances approving $17.45 million in spending to help pay for around 200 new affordable housing units in the city. The funding, mostly via tax increment financing (TIF) from two different urban renewal areas, will go toward land acquisition for future development and provide construction financing for two new projects.

The council approved a $6.8 million purchase of six parcels totaling 0.97 acres at the southwest corner of North Williams Avenue and Alberta Street for the creation of affordable housing. The Portland Housing Bureau will acquire the properties using TIF dollars from the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area.

Development concepts have not been created for the property, but the Housing Bureau estimates it could accommodate between 100 and 150 new permanently affordable housing units. The land is being held for future development, which will be shaped by a community input process and could include either affordable rental housing or for-sale condominiums.

The acquisition aligns with the land banking goal set forth as part of the North/Northeast Neighborhood Housing Strategy, which the council adopted in 2015 to address the impacts of the city’s role in the gentrification of traditionally African-American neighborhoods and displacement of longtime residents.

The land is owned by members of the Strong family, longtime neighborhood residents who have been in active discussions with the Housing Bureau for nearly four years to ensure the property remains a community asset.

“We didn’t want to put the property in the hands of developers who have no heart or no kind of concern … for some of the longtime inhabitants of our community,” family member Mark Strong told the council. “Over the last several years the change in North and Northeast Portland has been kind of disheartening to watch. The fingerprints of the African-American community being etched away has just been very, very painful.”

In accordance with the housing strategy, preference for tenancy or ownership at the future development will be given to current and former longtime residents of North and Northeast Portland, and those who have been displaced by prior urban renewal practices in the Interstate Corridor area.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty praised the Strong family for working with the city to ensure the site remains an asset to the community.

“In this time where land is being grabbed up all over the city of Portland, you could have chosen a different route,” she said. “I’m not a real estate person, but I suspect you could have also gotten more money if the goal was just about money.”

Echoing Hardesty’s statement, Commissioner Chloe Eudaly added, “I want to note how vital it is that we move as much property out of the private market as we can and turn it into permanently affordable housing. I think it’s the only way forward to preserving any kind of racial or economic diversity in the city.”

The council also approved an ordinance to provide up to $3.3 million of construction funding, using Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area TIF money, for a new 30-unit affordable condominium development in the Kenton neighborhood. The city funding leverages more than $7 million of additional financing from other sources, including donations and a loan from First Republic Bank.

The Kilpatrick townhouses are being constructed by Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East at the southeast corner of North Interstate Avenue and Kilpatrick Street. Foundation work is under way on the project’s first phase, which consists of a three-story, 12-unit building with single-level condominiums on the ground floor and two-level townhomes on the upper floors. A second phase will add another 18-unit building.

The project will ultimately contain 15 two-bedroom units and 15 three-bedroom units housing an estimated 113 residents. Homebuyers will be identified through the North/Northeast Neighborhood Housing Strategy’s preference policy. According to Dr. Steven Holt, a member of the housing strategy’s oversight committee, the policy is vital to providing ownership equity to the black community.

“Homeownership for African Americans in the city of Portland is now equaling 1965 numbers; we’ve gone backwards,” he told the council. “So opportunities like this cannot be overemphasized.”

A third ordinance will provide up to $7.35 million in construction financing for Halsey 106, a mixed-use building in the Gateway area being developed by Gerding Edlen and Human Solutions. The building will include 75 apartment units, including 52 affordable ones, as well as affordable retail space and office space for Human Solutions.

LMC Construction is expected to begin work in September on the Holst Architecture-designed project. Construction funding includes $6,602,738 in Gateway Urban Renewal Area TIF money and $747,262 in Community Housing Development Organization money.

All three ordinances passed via 4-0 votes, with Commissioner Amanda Fritz absent.

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In this short video Gresham Redevelopment Commission Executive Director Josh Fuhrer gives a brief overview of Rockwood Rising, a long-awaited plan to redevelop a key property in the impoverished Gresham neighborhood of Rockwood. Once an unincorporated area of the county between Portland and Gresham, Rockwood has remained behind the development curve in spite of the region’s red-hot housing market. This has left plenty of room for enterprising developers to seek out public-private partnerships like Rockwood Rising, which has seen RKM Development team with the city of Gresham to make the project work. Check it out here:

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On a sunny day in May 2016, city leaders gathered at the future site of Gateway Discovery Park to celebrate breaking ground on a new community asset in the long-neglected East Portland neighborhood. The 3.2-acre park, now under construction, will offer amenities including a plaza, a skate park, lawn space and performance space. It is slated to open in the spring.

An adjacent mixed-use building from Gerding Edlen and Human Solutions will bring retail, office and apartment space.

The projects are among the most visible improvements in Gateway, where an urban renewal area was established in 2001. The URA expires in 2022. As time runs short to fund improvements in the area, city officials are working to invest the urban-renewal dollars in ways that lay the groundwork for later private development.

Public infrastructure is expected to come online in 2018. The park’s opening will be followed by a Portland Bureau of Transportation streetscape improvement project on Northeast Halsey and Weidler streets from 102nd Avenue to 114th Avenue. Construction on the streetscape project is anticipated to begin in spring or summer 2018.

Susan Kuhn, Prosper Portland‘s project manager for the Gateway area, said she’s noticed a recent uptick in calls from developers who are interested in opportunities in the Gateway area.

Real estate activity has also accelerated, said Fred Sanchez, a commercial broker in the area for more than three decades.

“The last two, three years, it has been absolutely the best years that we have ever seen, and we’ve been doing this since 1979,” he said.

Sanchez’s Realty Property has a waiting list for space at 111th Square, a shopping center at Northeast 111th Avenue and Halsey Street. All 16 of the center’s retail spaces are occupied.

“It is the hottest demand for rental spaces that we’ve ever seen,” Sanchez said. “If I had another space for 16 businesses, I’d be able to fill it.”

Gateway is home to a diverse community of people of color and recent immigrants and refugees. As with other Portland neighborhoods, residents fear being displaced by gentrification.

Prosper Portland’s Gateway Action Plan, adopted in 2016, calls for $20 million in investments in the urban renewal area, which encompasses 658 acres. City officials are eager to support small businesses along the Halsey and Weidler corridors.

Officials at the economic development agency point to Lents as a model, where three towering construction cranes are at work on various projects.

“I think there’s more coming to the Gateway area,” Kuhn said. “Obviously, in Lents there’s been a tremendous amount, and we’ll see more of that in Gateway too.”

The Gerding Edlen-Human Solutions project at Northeast 106th Avenue and Halsey Street will feature 75 apartments, with 35 at market rate and 40 affordable to families at or below 60 percent of area median income. Construction is expected to start in 2019.

In the design by Holst Architecture, ground-floor retail space will front the park’s plaza and Halsey Street. The second floor will host commercial space.

Another multifamily project has been proposed at 9747 N.E. Glisan Street. MWA Architects recently requested a pre-application conference for a four-story, 161-unit workforce housing development with 3,500 square feet of residential and community space.

The owner, Gateway Affordable LLC, is an entity connected to Walsh Construction executives John Wied, Robert Walsh and Matt Leeding. A spokeswoman for Walsh Construction said the executives were out for the holidays and not available to comment.

Officials with Gateway Baptist Church, at 13300 N.E. San Rafael Street, have sought city approval of a 2,717-square-foot addition. Myhre Group Architects is designing the project.

An urban winery, with a tasting room and production facilities, has been proposed for 10414 N.E. Halsey St. Currently, the small two-story building is a hardware store. Minor upgrades to the upstairs apartment are planned.

David Douglas School District also owns several undeveloped parcels in the URA, including land that formerly belonged to an Elks lodge. The Elks organization sold the property to the school district in 2015 for $3.8 million.

Recent projects in the neighborhood include Russellville Commons, Glisan Commons and the Oregon Clinic.

Gateway has plentiful retail, with Fred Meyer and WinCo Foods serving as anchors. It’s also well served by transit, with easy access from interstates 205 and 84 and three MAX light-rail lines.

However, the area has infrastructure challenges too, including limited infrastructure for bicyclists and areas with no sidewalks. The Portland Bureau of Transportation is planning a batch of projects known collectively as “Gateway to Opportunity” to address those issues. The Halsey-Weidler streetscape project is expected to wrap up in winter 2018-19. Other projects include overcrossing improvements at I-205 and Halsey Street, reconfiguration of Northeast 102nd Avenue from Weidler Street to Fremont Street and reconfiguration of Glisan Street from 102nd Avenue to the city limits. PBOT is also focusing on connections for walking and bicycling across I-205 and I-84.

Prosper Portland also is looking to implement the Gateway Action Plan to spur private investment. Major aspects of the action plan include:

• backing additional mixed-income housing projects in the Gateway area,
• improving circulation near Gateway Transit Center,
• lowering floor-area ratio requirements to encourage private development, and
• creating a bike connection project (led by PBOT) to provide consistent bike transportation along Tillamook, Halsey, Oregon and Pacific streets.

Prosper Portland has made other small investments, including a façade improvement program that has freshened appearances at businesses along Halsey and Weidler streets. The agency also controls a $5 million opportunity fund to be used on Gateway area projects.

Sanchez said he’ll be watching to make sure local agencies maintain the improvements they make. If so, he said, “I’m very optimistic about the future for the area.”

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Kurt Creager just started his new job a new director of the Portland Housing Bureau this week, but he already has at least one item on his “to-do” list: address the city’s affordable housing situation.

“We have to increase our level of effort on all fronts,” Creager said. “Portland’s toolbox for affordable housing is a little sparse.”

With more than 30 years of experience in community development, Creager was selected for the bureau position after a nationwide search. He has been involved in planning, financing and developing more than 10,000 dwelling units, and most recently was agency director of the Fairfax County (Virginia) Redevelopment and Housing Authority. He has also been director of housing and community development for Otak, Inc., an international design firm based in Portland, and is a former CEO of the Vancouver Housing Authority.

That depth of background gives Creager plenty of experience to tackle Portland’s problem of affordable housing, a main concern of Dan Saltzman, the city commissioner recently tapped by Mayor Charlie Hales to oversee the housing bureau.

“I work for Dan, so his goals are my goals, and my priorities reflect his priorities,” Creager said.

During his career, Creager has focused on urban mixed-use housing and redevelopment policy as well as program and project implementation. In recent years, he has focused on “place making and community-building” through mixed-income and mixed-use development projects in Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., he said. He plans to build on what’s he’s learned to find ways to help alleviate Portland’s current housing problems.

“We live in a world that includes policy, but at the end of the day, I’m a producer,” Creager said. “I’ve worked in both the public and private sectors and produced thousands of levels of housing. And now I hope to get to the next level.”

That means looking at the big housing picture and including everyone, he said.

“I also realize the quality of life here is a big draw and people of moderate incomes have a hard time as well,” he said. “Portland needs to be looking at a wider solution for housing. It has an affordable-built problem, but you can’t just focus on one narrow area. It takes a wider view.”

When it comes to encouraging developers to build affordable housing, increasing tax increment

funding set-asides is one tool the city can use to encourage the construction of affordable housing, Creager said. He’s also glad to see the city consider incentive zoning because the majority of affordable housing will be built by the private sector.

“I think Portland needs a full array of tools, including financial resources as well as development incentives to help make housing more affordable,” he said.

The city’s bonus density incentives, which Creager said are currently under review, look at giving greater incentives to open space and preservation, and urban renewal areas are somewhat becoming a thing of the past, he said.

“The city focuses most efforts in urban renewal areas but housing is needed city-wide,” he said. “It’s not sufficient to focus on URAs any longer.”

But URAs can still fill an important need, according to Creager. So as some expire, others may need to be created.

“We are a bureau of city government,” he said. “But we should not limit (our focus) to just target areas – the whole north and northeast corridor, the Lents area … I don’t want to diminish or detract from investing in those areas, but we need more housing for people with disabilities, which should be a city-wide priority.”

Creager’s last project in Virginia, for example, was 100 percent adaptable.

“I’ve done quite a lot of work for people with disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder,” he said.

As for the Portland rental market, while apartments are all the rage right now, Creager expects that condominiums will return to the city at some point.

“There’s a cycle and right now credit is widely available for multifamily rental construction,” he said. “That’s the most favored asset class. Even in northern Virginia, we were starting to see condos coming back. They will come back; it’s a cyclical process.

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The Portland Development Commission introduced its new budget for fiscal year 2015-16 to the Portland City Council earlier this month. For the first time, the budget is tied to the agency’s new strategic plan, said PDC executive director Patrick Quinton.

“This budget is the first budget you’ll see that begins to implement our new strategic plan, and it’s broken down by funds as required by law,” Quinton told city commissioners.

Action plans for Old Town Chinatown and Lents urban renewal areas are at the top of the list, Quinton said.

The Old Town/Chinatown Five-Year Action Plan, approved by City Council in August, calls for waiving the city system development charges for construction of up to 500 units for renters who earn up to 100 percent of the region’s median family income. The aim for the development subsidy – estimated at $7 million over the next five years – is to trigger diversification of the neighborhood’s housing stock, according to city officials. Currently, 72 percent of apartments in Old Town are restricted to low-income renters, compared to 6 percent citywide.

Old Town’s five year plan includes several “measures of success” that include:

• a net gain of five new retail stores;
• the creation of 500 new living wage jobs in the district;
• the creation of 500 new middle-income housing units;
• the rehabilitation of five buildings completed or under way ;
• the identification of a district parking strategy;
• the implementation of four annual neighborhood events using public space;
• the development of marketing collateral to promote district; and
• the implementation of Community Livability Grant projects.

The five-year plan for the Lents Urban Renewal Area calls for five town center redevelopment projects built or under construction, two West Foster redevelopment projects, and complete construction for the upper Garden at Leach Botanical Gardens and the Urban Grange at Zenger Farms. Other goals include serving 100 business and property owners through PDC grant and loan programs, and providing 75 families with financial assistance to buy or remain in their homes.

The PDC has just under $300 million in total resources for the coming fiscal year, Quinton said, with the bulk of resources on hand.

“Debt proceeds from bonds already issued – about $180 million – has been growing over the last few years because some projects have not moved forward as quickly as hoped,” he said.

But with “pay-as-you-go” short-term debt, the PDC doesn’t have to issue long-term new debt, Quinton said.

Commissioner Amanda Fritz said she would like to see housing in neighborhoods included in next year’s budget, an approach Quinton agreed with.

Commissioner Nick Fish questioned whether any money allocated for the Old Town Chinatown would be subject to settlement of lawsuits against the city.

Fish was referring to long-standing lawsuits filed against the city related to expenditures in the utility department, said to his chief of staff, Sonia Schmanski. But Quinton said there is no connection.

“Our money is outside that,” Quinton said. “Our priorities are clear with those properties and we expect to get full value and development.”

The proposed PDC budget has $213 million in expenditures, Quinton said, which leaves money that will roll over into future years.

“If we need additional expenditures beyond the $213 (million), we have money to do so,” he said.

Half of the money on hand is in the broad category of property redevelopment.

“The bulk sits on a handful of projects like the county health building with line items for specific projects,” Quinton said.

The PDC held two open houses earlier this year to get feedback on its updated strategic plan. The plan’s first three objectives are to increase citizens’ access to healthy, complete neighborhoods; create opportunities for high-quality employment; and increase opportunities for minorities and low-income residents to foster wealth creation.

The proposed budget includes several changes related to six urban renewal areas, including a reduction in tax increments in the River District URA budget; no longer collecting tax increments in the Willamette Industrial URA budget; ending and no longer collecting tax increment resources to the Education URA budget; increasing the area and extension in the final date to issue debt for the Central Eastside URA; and increasing the area for the North Macadam URA.

The Portland City Council will vote to accept the budget on May 27.

The entire proposed Portland Development Commission budget can be viewed .

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Portland Mayor Charlie Hales announced last week that the City Council’s first reading of a proposal to amend six Portland urban renewal areas won’t take place until Jan. 29, at 2 p.m., to allow time for public input.

The meeting was originally scheduled for Dec. 17.

“This additional time will allow city and (Portland Development Commission) staff to provide additional clarity around how we reach our affordable housing goals in the North Macadam renewal area,” Hales said. “We remain committed to reducing the impact of urban renewal on other taxing jurisdictions and solidifying public-private partnerships that will benefit our city.”

In May 2014, the Portland City Council, through Resolution No. 37072, directed the PDC and city staff to begin processing amendments to six URAs. If approved, the amendments would reduce the impact of urban renewal on taxing jurisdictions, provide resources to meet economic development, redevelopment, and affordable housing goals, and provide support to Portland State University.

The council is considering several amendments to six URAs, including reduction or elimination of the Airport Way, River District, Willamette Industrial and Education URAs, and extension or expansion of the Central Eastside and North Macadam URAs.

For more information on the proposed changes, visit .

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Two new commercial businesses are poised to open in the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area.

The Portland Development Commission‘s board (minus John Mohlis, who was absent) on Wednesday unanimously approved a lease for a new brewery that will occupy the Bakery Blocks Building at 5716 S.E. 92nd Ave., and a lease for a Latino ‘mercado’ about 20 blocks northwest at 7238 S.E. Foster Road.

The PDC hopes the two businesses – recipients of substantial public money for renovations – will spur economic activity in an area it is actively trying to revitalize, via a five-year investment strategy.

Z. Haus LLC is spearheading development of the brewery, which will focus on German-style beer and include a full-service, family friendly restaurant. The PDC purchased the vacant, 25,000-square-foot building in 2009 with the intention of positioning it for future development. The renovation is slated to begin in May.

Albina Community Bank is providing the company a $350,000 loan for the approximately $1.8 million project, but the PDC is providing a $250,000 Business Incentive Finance loan, a $200,000 Economic Development Administration loan for working capital, and a $10,000 storefront grant. The PDC also is spending $639,808 on tenant improvements and life/safety upgrades. Z. Haus has a 10-year lease with two five-year options to renew.

Meanwhile, Portland Mercado LLC will turn an old car dealership building into a culturally specific retail market. The approximately $2.4 million project will create space for four retailers, four permanent food stalls, three offices, a commercial kitchen, a market hall and a dining area, as well as eight food carts in an adjacent, re-landscaped parking lot.

Hacienda Community Development Corp. has been working on the project since 2011. Along with the five-year lease (and an option to renew for an additional five years) at an annual rent of $1, the PDC is providing Portland Mercado a $900,000 Commercial Property Redevelopment Loan, and a $201,959 Community Livability Grant. Hacienda has also secured approximately $1.3 million in non-PDC grants to pay for construction.

Additionally, Hacienda has the option to purchase the property once it has repaid its loans.

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