Just inside Gresham city limits, near East Burnside Street and Southeast 167^th Place, a multifamily development is in the works for a 0.52-acre parcel. The project, designed by Leeb Architects for developer West Coast Home Solutions, will add 24 apartments to the market.

“It obviously allows people to use the MAX (light rail) to commute,” said Robert Leeb, the firm’s principal in charge. “And I think that in terms of the building and the design, we were trying to coordinate the building with the context of the neighborhood. We had a group of townhomes next to us on the east, and we wanted to be compatible with those owner-occupied row homes.”

The single-building development is being designed in a contemporary townhouse style that will include an internal courtyard and a children’s play area. On-site parking will consist of 15 surface spaces and nine tuck-under parking garages – a one-to-one ratio for the 24 units.

“We created pavilions in the buildings and steeper pitched roofs,” Leeb said, “to break the mass up into different pavilions to give it a row house, townhouse look instead of a monolithic apartment building.”

Traditional exterior materials are being used, including lap siding and brick masonry at the base.

Apartments will be studios, one-bedroom units or two-bedroom units.

“It’s a smaller scale and there are nice-sized two-bedrooms,” Leeb said. “There is a nice courtyard that some of the units face. It’s a small-scale infill, and there’s a limited amount of space to do what you want to do. But we’re proud of it; it’s an elegant little building.”

West Coast Home Solutions will serve as its own general contractor. It formerly developed only single-family homes. Right now, however, the firm is nearing completion on its first multifamily project: the 266-unit Harbor Sky Apartments in North Portland.

The firm hopes to begin construction on the Burnside Apartments sometime in the first quarter of 2020, Leeb said. At that time, he noted, subcontracts for the project will still be going out to bid.

“I don’t think we take our notes from Burnside or the light rail as much from the neighborhood context,” Leeb said. “The idea was definitely to get this project into the neighborhood. This was something that was in their portfolio for a while. They had control of this property for a while, and they’ve done some smaller projects in Gresham.”

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, send an email to newsroom@djcOregon.com.

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Wilsonville-based West Coast Home Solutions, since its inception in 2005, has developed single-family houses and townhomes in the Portland-metro area. But on a site along the Columbia River in North Portland, the company is making its first foray into apartment development. The Harbor Sky Apartments also represents West Coast Home Solutions’ faith in that market’s future.

“We feel like the Portland market is going to be appreciating more and more compared with Seattle and Denver,” West Coast Home Solutions President Eugene Labunsky said. “For me the biggest difference is when you’re building a subdivision and you’ve got 100 home spaces, you have 100 customers. When you’re building an apartment building you have 100 tenants, but they’re not your customers; so you only have one buyer if you sell the building. It’s like selling a business versus selling or catering to a lot of folks.”

Labunsky’s brother, Andy, is president of Portland-based Atlas Property Management, which will manage the Harbor Sky complex when it is finished.

“It’s a long-term hold play,” Andy Labunsky said. “It’s almost a recession-proof investment.”

West Coast Home Solutions is serving as its own general contractor for the Harbor Sky Apartments. Leeb Architects designed the complex, which will consist of 385,000 total square feet – a mix of residential and ground-floor commercial space.

Ground was broken late last year. There will be 266 apartments – studios, one-bedroom units or two-bedroom units – as well as a private swimming pool, controlled-access covered parking, a 24-hour fitness studio, bicycle storage and more. The units will average around 600 square feet, but the largest (two-bedroom penthouse units on the sixth floor) will have some 1,500 square feet. Completion is expected by the end of 2019.

Harbor Sky will be a single large structure with three distinct wings that overlook a pair of large courtyards opening to the north and the Columbia River. The building itself will have five wood-framed stories atop a post-tensioned concrete podium. However, some sections, including the main entrance, will have only four stories.

The poor soil quality close to the river meant extensive shoring was required to stabilize the building, lead project architect Steve Sandstrom said. In fact, 395 separate pilings, some up to 75 feet in depth, were drilled for structural support. Deep soil mixing was used to help prevent liquefaction of below-grade soil in case of a seismic event.

“We learned a lot, and quickly,” Sandstrom said. “They pour concrete like a slurry when they’re doing the piling itself, so essentially it eliminates the liquefaction factor from happening.”

The irregular-shaped property also contributed to the building’s unique design. Far from a flat-roofed box, Harbor Sky features numerous nooks and crannies; according to the most recent calculation, 58 distinct floor plans will be used for the residential units.

In the future, the Labunsky brothers say they want to engage the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in talks to try and find a way to create legal access to the levee north of the complex. Currently, it’s off-limits to the public.

“We’re not even supposed to walk on that right now,” Andy Labunsky said. “People walk on it all the time, but it’s not authorized.”

The Labunskys also envision the levee one day becoming part of Portland’s 40-mile bicycle loop that is being built farther east along Marine Drive.

“Even though it’s technically not a sanctioned path yet, if it came through it would be a dynamite asset to have,” Eugene Labunsky said.

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A new apartment complex coming to Fairview promises to provide views of the Columbia River Gorge. Fairview Meadows, planned for a 4.8-acre site at 22199 N.E. Sandy Blvd., will feature five separate buildings, which will hold 196 residential units and four live-work units. The buildings will be three to four stories.

West Coast Home Solutions is the project’s owner, developer and contractor, and Leeb Architects is the designer. TM Rippey is providing structural consulting, with Vancouver, Washington-based Standridge Design contributing civil engineering.

“We’re trying to add to the success of Sandy Boulevard,” Leeb project architect Steve Sandstrom said. “Fairview’s become a lot more attractive as far as housing.”

With companies like Amazon building large warehouses in nearby Troutdale, Sandstrom said the area is gaining jobs and a greater need for housing. Plus, the Fairview City Council last year voted to provide incentives for development on vacant land, he said.

One of the logistical challenges presented by the Fairview Meadows site is its slope, Sandstrom said. To get river views for the property slightly north of Interstate 84, construction will be on a 10-percent grade. Workers performing site preparation have recently begun to smooth out a spot for the complex. Construction will begin at the end of the year at the very earliest, but possibly not until next year, Sandstrom said.

Another unique element Sandstrom pointed to is the podium-style construction for two of the five buildings. This design sees several levels of light framing stacked on top of a base of a harder material, usually concrete.

Fairview Meadows’ buildings will have three to four stories of residential space atop two levels of above- or below-grade parking. The project will be one of the first in Fairview to utilize podium construction, Sandstrom said.

Fairview Meadows is expected to open in 2020.

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 Alex Visser at 503-802-7224 or avisser@djcOregon.com.

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A Wilsonville developer is looking to build a new apartment building in Gresham’s Rockwood neighborhood.

Eugene Labunksy, president of West Coast Home Solutions LLC, is the applicant behind a proposal for a three-story building with 24 market-rate apartments and a courtyard at 17526 E. Burnside St. Currently, the project is in development review. The project team last week participated in a voluntary meeting with the Gresham Design Commission.

Plans call for six apartments on the first floor, nine on the second floor and nine on the third floor. The developer is planning a mix of studios, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom units. Each one is expected to have a balcony and a terrace.

The building footprint would be 8,500 square feet, with 25,500 gross square feet upon completion. There would be 15 uncovered parking stalls and nine covered ones.

The design calls for wood framing, with the lowest level facing East Burnside Street. The driveway would be clad in brick.

In the initial land-use application, designers stated they wish the building to resemble a series of townhomes rather than a traditional apartment building. To help accomplish that, the upper floors and the building’s rear and west sides would be clad in cementitious lap siding.

Meanwhile, construction is under way on West Coast Home Solutions’ 379-unit Anchor Way development in the Bridgeton neighborhood, in North Portland. Two buildings – Harbor Sky and Harbor Sky Annex – are being built along the Columbia River.

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