Project name: Wecoma Place

Location: Lincoln City

Completion: June 2024

Size: 35,155 square feet

Owner/Developer: Stewardship Development

Architect: Otak

Engineers: Froelich Engineers, Humber Design Group, MFIA,

General Contractor: Walsh Construction

Submitting Company: Otak

Other Key Participants: Oregon Housing and Community Services, Housing Authority of Lincoln County

Subcontractors: Absolute Construction Services, Academy Specialties, Aleman’s Flooring, Browns Architectural Sheet Metal, Buffalo Welding, Gormley Plumbing + Mechanical, Inland Electric, PONO Building Consultants, Sign Wizards, Teragan & Associates

A new affordable housing development is bringing relief to residents displaced by the 2020 Echo Mountain Fire, overcoming significant site challenges to provide much-needed homes on Oregon’s coast.

Wecoma Place, a 44-unit development in Lincoln County, provides apartments at 56 percent and 30 percent Area Median Income levels, primarily serving seniors who lost homes in the devastating wildfire that struck the region four years ago. The building’s design draws inspiration from the coastal landscape, featuring three distinct masses resembling geomorphic beach formations. Exterior siding incorporates patterns reflecting the region’s wind-swept grasses, integrating the structure with its surroundings.

The project stands out for its innovative approach to zoning compliance and site adaptation. It presents as a two-story structure from Highway 101 while actually incorporating a four-story building with an adjacent outdoor courtyard.

Developers faced formidable obstacles, including a steep 30-foot grade change, multiple city sewer easements, and an existing single-family residence surrounded on three sides by the project site. These factors had previously hindered development efforts.

The successful execution required extensive collaboration between contractor Walsh, ownership group Stewardship, and the architecture and engineering team led by Otak.

Sustainability features include solar-ready and electric vehicle-ready infrastructure, allowing for future renewable energy and EV installations. The development also utilizes materials specifically chosen for durability in the coastal environment, protecting against moisture, salt air, and high winds. A central courtyard serves dual purposes as recreational space for residents and buffer from adjacent Highway 101. The design prioritizes natural   light throughout living spaces.

The development promotes multimodal transportation with adjacent access to a bus stop and bike lane, plus on-site parking options.

During construction, the general contractor implemented a comprehensive safety program focusing on training, planning, measuring, and relating. Weekly safety check-ins with tradespersons created a proactive safety culture.

The project had a 20 percent MWESB contracting goal and achieved 22.10 percent participation.

As Lincoln County continues recovering from wildfire impacts, Wecoma Place represents a significant step toward rebuilding the community while addressing critical affordable housing needs along Oregon’s coast.

Agencies instrumental to the project were Oregon Housing and Community Services and the Housing Authority of Lincoln County.

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Project name: Mahonia Crossing

Location: Salem

Completion: September 2024

Size: 318,601

Owner: Community Development Partners

Architect: Scott Edwards Architecture

Interior Designer: Scott Edwards Architecture

Engineers: Interface Engineering, Stonewood Structural Engineers, Westech Engineering

General Contractor: Gerding Builders

Submitting Company: Scott Edwards Architecture

Other Associates/Key Consultants: PLACE

Subcontractors: 3Form, Academy Specialties, All-Seasons Landscape, Alpha Construction, Andres Landscape, B&T Striping & Curbing, Bell Hardware-Salem, Black Line Glazing, Brothers Construction, BRX, Bryker Enterprises, Building Material Specialties, Cascade Radon, Columbia Cascade, Construction Specialties, Corvallis Tree Care, Crown Ridge Construction, Dallas Glass, DE-EL Enterprises, Double Eagle, Evergreen Valley, Forms + Structures, Fred Eichler Construction, Gelco Construction, Great Northwest Gutters, GVA Northwest, H3O, Home Insulation, Interior Technology, Jet Industries, K&E Excavating, Kelly’s Appliance, Kelly’s Home Center, Key West Retaining Systems, Kraft Masonry, Lanz Cabinets, Lindstrom Construction, McDowell Concrete, Merit Contractor, Meyer Sign Co. of Oregon, Mid-Valley Commercial Construction, Mid-Valley Glass & Millwork, Norse Iron Works, North Santiam Paving, Northside Electric, Northwest Waterproofing, Nugent Masonry, Omlid & Swinney Fire Protection, Oregon Cascade, Oregon Door Consultants, Outdoor Fence, Pacific Air, Pacific Construction, Painter a Boles Bros., PDCI, Phillys Plumbing, Phoenix, Precision Countertops, RC Building Specialties, Roy Houck, Sign Wizards, Smith Glass, Spinneybeck Filzfelt, Stutzman & Kropf Contractors, Sunbreak Energy Advisors, Superior Interiors, TerraCalc Land Surveying, TGC Structural, Tims Carpet & Interiors, TK Elevator, Top Dog Turf, Topline Counters, Ultra Quiet Floors, Valley Shades, Western Partitions, Westside Drywall & Insulation, Willamette Windows & Doors, Zochert Fence

In the wake of devastating 2021 wildfires that left many Salem residents without homes, a pioneering housing development is offering a new approach to affordable living while fostering connections across generations.

Mahonia Crossing, one of the largest “Community for All Ages” developments and the first in Salem, integrates senior housing with family-centered residential walk-ups in a mixed-income community serving residents in 30 percent, 60 percent and 80 percent area median income brackets.

The development, designed by Scott Edwards Architecture, departs from traditional suburban multi-family housing by organizing walk-up buildings around a central park rather than distributing them across a parking grid. This thoughtful approach to site planning creates numerous spaces for residents to interact.

A mass timber, Path-to-Net-Zero community building anchors the development’s entrance, featuring a lobby that connects resident services and amenity spaces. The building includes a large common room with an open floor plan ideal for cooking and nutrition classes.

The senior building serves as a gateway to the central park and includes viewing decks and a first-floor fitness center to increase accessibility for older residents. This strategic positioning encourages daily multi-generational encounters.

Interior spaces prioritize natural light and views of the landscaping through large windows and open floor plans. The design incorporates site-reclaimed white oak and uses a blend of traditional and contemporary elements with vibrant colors for a lively feel. The National Green Building Standard certified development features sustainable elements throughout, including low-to-no-VOC finishes, energy-efficient lighting and appliances, and local manufacturing for cabinets and tile.

Despite complexities from overlapping construction phases to meet urgent housing needs after the wildfires, the development team maintained a collaborative environment to deliver the project on time and on budget.

Beyond providing housing, Mahonia Crossing successfully integrates into an existing middle-upper-class neighborhood by using architecture and landscape design to build community and create opportunities for residents of all ages to connect.

Salem Housing Authority was pivotal to the project’s success, providing 56 project-based vouchers for the development and providing the developer with the ability to receive a full property tax exemption.

The Mahonia Crossing project had a contracting goal of 20 percent DMWESB participation, and Gerding Builders exceeded the target, achieving 27 percent actual participation.
The predominantly minority-and-women-led design team also represented more than 20 percent DMWESB participation.

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LOS ANGELES — Around four months after wildfires reduced thousands of Los Angeles-area homes to rubble and ash, crews are starting to rebuild.

In the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, construction workers recently began placing wooden beams to frame a house on a lot where only a charred fireplace remains standing. In the seaside city of Malibu and foothills neighborhood of Altadena, many land parcels where homes once stood are being cleared of debris.

Hundreds of homeowners have sought city or county approval for new home designs and other permits to eventually rebuild or repair damaged homes, though few have gotten the green light to break ground.

Some 17,000 homes, businesses and other structures burned to the ground in the Jan. 7 fires. It’s uncertain how many will be rebuilt.

Many homeowners, even those with insurance, will not be able to afford such projects. Some are still trying to figure out whether it’s safe to return to their properties, given limited data on the degree to which toxins from the fires, including lead and asbestos, may have permeated their land. Roughly 400 land parcels are already for sale in the fire-ravaged areas.

Facing overwhelming loss and the chaos that comes with sudden displacement, people looking to rebuild must navigate an often confusing and time-consuming process. In most cases, reconstruction will take years.

LA issued its first building permit nearly two months after the fires started. In 2018, following the Woolsey Fire, the first building permit was issued more than seven months later.

“Putting this in context of other disasters, the speed is actually probably faster than expected,” said Sara McTarnaghan, an Urban Institute researcher who studied the aftermath of urban wildfires in recent years in Colorado, Hawaii and California.

Resolving to rebuild in Altadena

Kathryn Frazier, a music publicist and life coach, had lived in her four-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Altadena for 10 years and raised her two children there. After her home burned to the ground, she was in shock and questioned whether it made sense to come back.

But after conversations with neighbors, she became determined to rebuild.

“I’m not leaving,” Frazier said. “That’s what kept coming up for everybody, and the more we all talked to each other the more we were all like ‘hell yes.’”

She is making progress. Frazier hired a crew to clear the property of debris, and she is nearly through the first phase of permitting, which involves getting county review and approval for her new home’s design. The next phase will include reviews of electrical, plumbing and other aspects of design.

Frazier, 55, is rebuilding her home without major changes to its size or location in order to qualify for an expedited building permit approval process.

“We are hoping to be building by June or July, latest,” she said. “I’ve been told that maybe by February or March of 2026 we could be back in our home.”

For now, Frazier is getting quotes on windows, skylights and other home fixtures in hopes of locking in prices before they go up as more construction projects ramp up, or in response to the Trump administration’s ongoing trade war.

“I’m doing things like scouring Home Depot, finding slate tiles that look modern and beautiful, but they’re actually really cheap,” she said.

Recreating a home in the Palisades

DeAnn Heline, a TV showrunner, knows what it’s like to build her dream house from the ground up.

She waited more than two years for construction to be completed on the five-bedroom, eight-bathroom home with ocean views. Once the project was done, her husband vowed to never build another house. The family (including two daughters) lived there for six years before it was destroyed in the Palisades Fire.

“It was ash,” Heline said. “There was nothing.”

Heline and her husband have lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. They couldn’t imagine giving up.

“Not only are we building another house, (but) we’re building the exact same house again,” Heline said, noting the new home will have some upgrades including fire-resistant materials and sprinklers for the exterior.

Recently, they cleared debris from the land where the house once stood. It was a particularly onerous task because the home featured a large basement into which much of the structure collapsed as it burned.

Heline isn’t sure when construction will begin but figures it could be two or three years. She wonders, however, what the neighborhood will look like by then.

“What are you going back to?” she said. “You’re going back to a moonscape? Are you there and no one else is on your block? Or are you going back to a construction zone for many more years?”

Banding together as a community

The Eaton wildfire destroyed many of the more than 270 residences in the historic Janes Cottages area in Altadena. One was the three-bedroom home Tim Vordtriede shared with his wife and two young children.

The family had lived in the roughly 100-year-old house for three years.

“We just loved the storybook cottage and the vibe, and of course the grander vibe of Altadena,” he said. “It was perfect.”

Vordtriede, 44, has decided to rebuild, but not just yet. For now, he is using his experience as a construction project manager to help others who also lost their homes.

He co-founded Altadena Collective, a group that assists with home designs and guidance on how to navigate the complex and lengthy approval process for construction permits. Of the roughly two dozen clients that the group is serving, at reduced cost, three are in the early stages of the permitting process.

Even after projects reach shovel-ready status, homeowners will have to wait perhaps more than a year to move in, he said.

“My first statement when anyone walks in the door is: We’re not here to help you design your dream home,” Vordtriede said. “This isn’t a dream time. This is a nightmare, and our job is to get you out of the nightmare as soon as possible.”

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