REACH Community Development Opens Portland Affordable Housing Property
The $24 million project has 101 units catering to both seniors and families with children, as well as 8,900 square feet of retail space.
72Foster. Photo by Christian Columbres
72Foster, a $24 million, 101-unit affordable housing community in Portland under construction since September 2017, has been completed. It is designed as an inter-generational, mixed-use building serving seniors and families with apartments ranging from studios to three-bedroom units.
The apartment community, located on SE Foster Road in the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area, is being developed and run by REACH Community Development, an affordable housing nonprofit serving the Portland Metro. The building is designed by Holst Architecture with construction by LMC Construction Co. The property includes a 106.5 kW solar array, which will offset utility cost for the common areas.
The building has 8,900 square feet of retail space with Pizzeria Otto as its first tenant. The restaurant is slated to open in late summer or early fall.
The transit-oriented property will make rents affordable for residents earning 60 percent of the area Median Family Income (MFI), which will be less than $34,200 for a single person. Home Forward has also provided 20 Section 8 vouchers. Residents receiving the Section 8 vouchers will pay 30 percent of their income in rent.
Onsite programs and services will be offered through a partnership with the Asian Health and Service Center.
Amenities include a large community room with a kitchen and computers, fourth floor deck and lounge, secure, indoor bike storage and a community plaza. The development has a walk score of 84 percent and a bike score of 89 percent. A city bus stops in front of the building. It is near two elementary schools and a high school.
The project was financed with funding from KeyBank Community Development Corp., KeyBank Community Development Lending, Freddie Mac (KeyBank Real Estate Capital as seller/servicer), Metro, Portland Housing Bureau, Home Forward, Oregon Housing and Community Services and REACH Community Development.
Portland Affordable Apartments
In February, another affordable housing project in Portland topped out. Bridge Housing topped out a 13-story, 203-unit development in the Puget Sound University-Lovejoy submarket. The development was named Vera in honor of the late Vera Katz, a three-time Portland mayor and the first woman to serve as the Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. The development grew out of a joint effort between the Portland Housing Bureau and Prosper Portland.
Demand for rental housing in the Portland metro, particularly workforce housing, continues to outpace the supply, according to a recent market report by Yardi Matrix. The report noted robust population gains have helped Portland become one of the strongest and most stable multifamily markets in the U.S. Yardi Matrix noted. Portland has 9,500 units under construction with another 20,000 in the planning and permitting stage as of September.
