Helping Hands Bybee Lake Hope Center opened its first phase as a shelter serving up to 150 men, women, and families affected by homelessness and COVID-19 in fall of 2020. The center offers a safe environment to support reentry to the community.
Repurposing an Abandoned Campus for a Vibrant Community Asset
Planning for the facility include programs designed to address issues related to mental health, addiction, and abuse-related trauma. Included in that effort is providing volunteer opportunities, life skills training like credit maintenance, construction and cooking classes, a program to give back by building tiny houses, self-sustaining fruit and vegetable gardens, and even employment opportunities with neighboring businesses like Columbia Sportswear. A second phase of the project offers nearly 200 more people a place to live, including three meals per day via a fully staffed commercial kitchen, where they can receive the comprehensive support to work through the issues of homelessness using programs to provide life skills for successful re-entry back into our communities. Otak owner’s representative and architecture teams serves partnered with Helping Hands Re-Entry Outreach program for over two years to repurpose this abandoned campus in North Portland as a vibrant community asset.
During a design conversation centered on uplifting communities within the PLA group this summer, Alex Padgett and I chose to discuss the existing homeless crisis, calling to action the need for focus on affordable housing projects. During our conversation, many designers brought up nuances and complications with affordable housing policies and design, and it became apparent that while many of us within the field of planning and design may understand the need for affordable housing, our clients and communities may not. Stigma surrounding affordable housing often leads to opposition within communities, leading to questioning surrounding “the type of people” who will be living in affordable units. Furthermore, so many people in our conversation were shocked to hear how heavily impacted particular communities were by homelessness that I felt compelled to help provide some resources so that we can all be on the same page in identifying the problem at hand. During my research, I was curious to help formulate a current snapshot of where housing affordability stands right now by seeing how much the pandemic may have worsened housing disparities or exacerbated numbers of homeless individuals, particularly in Portland. I believe that in order to properly address the housing crisis, we need to extensively educate ourselves on best practices for navigating policies, advocating for change and designing for our clients. I hope the information provided here will give you a similar interest in learning more about how we can solve this problem at hand.
What is Affordable Housing?
Affordable housing is a term that causes a lot of misconception within our communities. Many assume that affordable housing is only for those in the lowest income bracket, and while that group is most impacted by increased housing costs, we all have a threshold for what is considered “affordable”. The department of housing and urban development defines affordable housing as the cost for housing and utilities that does not exceed a percentage threshold of the occupants’ gross income. In the 1940s, federal subsidized housing set the affordable rent rate at 20% of gross income. This number rose to 25% in 1961, and 30% in 1981, where it has become the standard indicator of affordability for housing, whether it be rented or owned. Households that spend more than this are considered cost-burdened, and those who spend more than 50% of their income on housing are considered severely cost-burdened.
Who Can’t Afford Housing?
As housing costs have risen more rapidly than wages since the 1960s, the issue of cost burdening has become ever more prevalent. In 2019, 30.2% of all households nationwide were cost-burdened and 14% were severely cost-burdened. Renters face higher cost burdening, at rates of 46% moderately cost-burdened and 24% severely cost-burdened, compared to homeowners at 21% and 9% respectively. By contrast, in 1960, only 12% of renters were considered cost-burdened. The primary reason for this is that housing costs have risen faster than the median wage, especially among renters. For the past eight years in a row, the median sales price of single-family homes rose faster than median household income.
Due to high housing costs, homeownership has been in a steady decline for over a decade. High expenditures of income towards rent make saving to purchase a home much more difficult. To combat severe cost burdens, those seeking housing often have to look further away from where they work, overcrowd their families into houses that are too small, and reduce spending in other areas such as transportation, health care, food, and education. Households that are cost-burdened are also much less likely to have sufficient savings for unexpected events such as illness, unemployment, or disaster.
How Did COVID-19 Impact the Housing Crisis?
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the housing market and housing crisis in multiple ways. For those already living in a cost-burdened situation, COVID presented as an unforeseen and uncontrollable disaster. Many people lost their jobs, and in the summer of 2020, 25% of renters failed to make a rent payment in full or on time. Many cities saw an increase in homeless individuals during the start of the pandemic due to evictions and loss of income, and systems in place to provide aid faced the additional stress of maintaining safe measures to protect these groups.
In order to protect renters who were unable to pay rent due to COVID’s impacts, the federal government put a moratorium on evictions. This, however, has only been a temporary solution to what will likely be a long-term issue. As we see the moratorium expiring, many tenants will be expected not only to resume paying regular rent, but also promptly pay backlogged rent from previously missed months. Some states, such as Oregon, have enacted extensions on paying backlogged rent and are requiring renters who take advantage of this system to apply for rent assistance. These systems have been confusing and difficult to navigate for tenants, and it is not known if these programs will be enough to combat the disparity in rent payments, or if we will still be seeing evictions increase once government protections expire.
Not only has COVID created additional strain between renters and landlords, but it has heavily impacted the market value of homes. Between quarter 1 of 2020 and quarter 1 of 2021, housing prices increased by 16% on average nationwide, with some metropolitan areas, such as Boise, ID, seeing 28% increase in housing values. Portland saw a slightly less, but still precipitous, increase of 14%, with the highest increases seen among homes below median market value. This was due to a restricted housing market with fewer homes selling during the pandemic and increased buyer demand driving up the market value. This growth is unsustainable and further exacerbates the affordable housing gap, decreasing the likelihood of those looking to get out of the renting cycle being able to purchase their first home anytime soon. Homes being built during the pandemic with increased costs of materials will likely further increase market value for new homes for purchase.
Conclusion
There have long been barriers to acquiring affordable housing for those who need it most. The pandemic has only further exacerbated existing disparities, lower wage earners experiencing higher rates of layoffs, more difficulty paying rent on time, and higher exposure to COVID-19 itself. The challenge of providing affordable housing for all is greater than ever, and it requires careful and considerate planning and design to be successful.
“2020 State of the Nation’s Housing Report: 4 Key Takeaways for 2021.” Cost of Home. Habitat for Humanity. Accessed 2021. https://www.habitat.org/costofhome/2020-state-nations-housing-report-lack-affordable-housing.
Balasubramanian, Sai. “The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Fueled a Crisis in the Housing Market.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, April 27, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/saibala/2021/04/27/the-covid-19-pandemic-has-fueled-a-crisis-in-the-housing-market/?sh=4d8cb60a5928.
Bloom, Ester. “A Shocking Number of Americans Live in Housing They Can’t Afford, According to Harvard Study.” CNBC. CNBC, July 13, 2017. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/13/harvard-study-heres-how-many-americans-cant-afford-housing.html.
“COVID-19 Homelessness Response.” A Home for Everyone. A Home for Everyone, February 2, 2021. http://ahomeforeveryone.net/covid-homelessness.
“Defining Housing Affordability: Hud User.” Defining Housing Affordability | PD&R Edge. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Accessed August 18, 2021. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-featd-article-081417.html.
Gartland, Erik. “2019 Income-Rent Gap Underscores Need for Rental Assistance, Census Data Show.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. CBPP, September 18, 2020. https://www.cbpp.org/blog/2019-income-rent-gap-underscores-need-for-rental-assistance-census-data-show.
“Homelessness Statistics.” Homelessness Toolkit | City of Portland. The City of Portland, February 12, 2016. https://www.portlandoregon.gov/toolkit/article/562207.
“House Price Index Datasets.” Federal Housing Finance Agency. FHFA, 2021. https://www.fhfa.gov/DataTools/Downloads/Pages/House-Price-Index-Datasets.aspx#qat.
Olick, Diana. “A Troubling Tale of a Black Man Trying to Refinance His Mortgage.” CNBC. CNBC, August 19, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/19/lenders-deny-mortgages-for-blacks-at-a-rate-80percent-higher-than-whites.html.
“Oregon Eviction Moratorium FAQ.” Portland.gov. City of Portland, Oregon, 2021. https://www.portland.gov/phb/rental-services/helpdesk/oregon-eviction-moratorium-faq.
Parker, Njeri. “The Link Between Racism and Homelessness.” JOIN. JOIN PDX, July 23, 2020. https://joinpdx.org/the-link-between-racism-and-homelessness/.
Rep. America’s Rental Housing – Meeting Challenges, Building on Opportunities. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2009.
Rep. The State of the Nation’s Housing 2020. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2020.
Roos, Roy. “Albina Area (Portland).” The Oregon Encyclopedia. The Oregon Historical Society, May 15, 2021. https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/albina_area_portland_/#.YRrGSYhKiUk.
The City of Wood Village is one of three cities east of Portland, OR (Fairview and Troutdale are the others), that have been working together since 2017 to create a shared vision for Halsey Street, specifically where it runs from Fairview Parkway to downtown Troutdale. Entitled “Main Streets on Halsey,” the Halsey Corridor Plan seeks to create a neighborhood feel with boutiques, apartments, restaurants, community buildings, and plazas lining the street, along with improved pedestrian pathways, colorful awnings and signs, artwork, and murals. The Byway, a new mixed-use development in Wood Village, is one of the first Main Streets on Halsey sites to be completed.
The iconic tower at The Byway is a new landmark for the City of Wood Village.
Otak, working with developer Williams & Dame, collaborated with the City to create a vibrant community center at The Byway. This accomplished both the goal envisioned for the Halsey Street Corridor and the goal of the City to create a sense of place. As Casey McKenna, AIA, project manager and Otak Mixed-Use Studio Leader, states, “The project was really a placemaking effort and the completed Byway, with its iconic tower and amenities for both residents and visitors, has done just that.”
Situated on approximately three acres at the corner of 238th and Halsey Street, the former site of the Wood Village City Hall, The Byway encompasses eight buildings in total with ten thousand square feet of retail space, 170 apartment units, shared community space, a fitness center, and a pool. The Byway also features a blend of modern amenities and Pacific Northwest style, designed to enhance and embrace the outdoor spirit of the City, which is a gateway to Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. A large tower in the heart of the development is reminiscent of forest service lookout towers and has become a landmark for the City.
Casey remarks on some of the finer details in the overall project, including how the design enabled maximum density and site efficiency: “We were able to squeeze enormous yield per square foot in each of the buildings, netting more than ninety percent efficiency.” Some of the apartment units were designed to provide flexibility to tenants through multi-purpose spaces and separate living quarters which, as Casey explains, “can serve families, roommates, or someone working from home who needs that extra space for a home office.” The different areas of the development also provide for different experiences with various gathering spots, outdoor grilling stations, and other amenities all designed to serve the residents. A dog wash and nearby walking trails will add to the overall enjoyment of the place.
Retail space is slated to include a coffee shop, pub, boutiques, and professional services to serve both residents and visitors.
Otak provided complete project management for The Byway, as well as architecture, land use planning, civil engineering, survey, urban planning, landscape, and water and natural resources services. Structural engineering was provided by Froelich Engineers and the contractor was Deacon Construction.
A ribbon-cutting was held on August 10th, with City officials, including the city manager, the mayor, and residents all in attendance. Casey says, “the strong sense of community pride was evident. It was great to see, and for all of us at Otak, it is rewarding to know our work is making a difference in the communities we serve.”
With their associated regulations and additional costs, affordable housing mandates are one set of hurdles developers face when seeking approval for new housing projects. The perceptions of affordable housing and gaining public support is another. Over several projects1, and through direct community involvement, Otak has been addressing these obstacles with success, helping guide new housing projects to completion—often with innovative solutions. While each situation has been unique, the common denominator has been a collaborative and integrated community approach.
Changing City Codes, Expanding Development Options
Cristina Haworth, a Senior Planner in Otak’s Redmond, WA office, has been working with cities to solve the housing shortage many communities are facing, which is paving the way for a broader application of affordable housing solutions. For example, the City of Bothell, WA, a small, but quickly growing city outside of Seattle, was awarded a grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce to implement HB1923. The grant funds the development of housing action plans, municipal code changes, subarea planning, and environmental reviews—actions intended to encourage the production of more housing and a greater variety of housing types.
Cristina has been helping the City of Bothell in amending its housing codes in response to this grant and leveraging the opportunity to create more diversity in the types of housing allowed in new developments. She explains: “While the work is not directly related to affordable housing, the results are having a positive impact in this area. The new codes are providing greater housing choice, which is increasing both capacity and affordable housing opportunities more broadly.” Specifically, the City has raised its short plat thresholds, making it quicker and easier to divide larger lots into single-family city lots within new subdivisions, and has authorized a duplex on existing corner lots in the city. These duplex units are still market-rate, but their size and configurations make them effectively more affordable. The added caveat is that these units are not regulated as affordable housing, which keeps the developer’s costs down. Cristina is working with the City to consider options for allowing one or more multiplex units in new subdivision projects that could potentially be regulated as affordable housing to ensure these needs are met.
Overcoming Rising Costs
Affordable housing projects often cost more than market-rate housing, which can deter developers who need to maximize profit margins for a project to be viable. As Matt Neish, Otak Senior Project Manager, elaborates, “Affordable housing is a tightly regulated sector and is typically significantly more expensive to build. The higher cost presents a problem because a developer could build maybe twice as many market-rate units.” While there are funding sources available, the process can be complex to navigate and may require multiple sources to achieve adequate project funding. This is an area where Matt and Otak have been able to step in and help, “Affordable housing is an evolving sector, and we are seeing more of a nuanced approach to development that takes into consideration a variety of factors and opportunities to help offset costs.” Otak is taking strides to work with developers to determine project scope and viability at the outset. “This is especially helpful for developers who may not have done an affordable housing project before,” Matt explains. He adds that “trying to go back and rework a project after the fact can be an extremely costly and difficult process, so doing our due diligence ahead of time is critical.”
The public work Cristina and others like her are doing concerning code amendments is also helping to ease the higher costs of affordable housing. She states that “when we’re approaching code amendments, we’re trying to look at ways to include affordability requirements or even just make the process a little bit easier. So instead of having to go through a longer land use process to get approval, we are trying to find ways to make sure that a developer can use an administrative process instead. This has the potential to save a lot of time and cost, and it makes things quite a bit more efficient in terms of the permitting process to get to project delivery.”
Adding Density Through Disbursement
What is happening in Bothell is part of a larger movement to create more affordable housing through density and disbursement of higher capacity lots and multiplex units throughout a proposed subdivision. Tim Leavitt, PE, Otak Regional Director for Oregon and Southwest Washington, notes that the thinking on affordable housing has evolved, “The traditional approach is placement of all affordable housing units into one area of a project site. We work with our clients to effectively integrate the project to accommodate a mixing of housing choices throughout the project site.” Through a co-mingling of market-rate and affordable housing products, the result will be a more cohesive and balanced neighborhood.
Another example of an integrated approach to new housing projects is Hyatt Place in downtown Portland, OR. This mixed-use high-rise includes a hotel, and housing, with some units designated as affordable housing. Rather than contribute to a general fund, the Otak team worked with the developer to include affordable housing units within the new building—the benefits of which were two-fold. First, the move to include affordable housing in the project allowed the developer to take advantage of new height allowances within the newly revised city code. Further, tenants of the affordable housing units will have access to the same amenities within the building and the surrounding community as the rest of the tenants. To gain approval of the new building, Otak worked with the neighborhood and the city to ensure all concerns were addressed and the building’s design embraced the history and culture of the neighborhood.
Creating Community and Place
The approach to affordable housing, in general, is being done differently today than in the past. “Affordable housing is no longer about designing and building ‘big barracks’ style housing as cheaply as possible just to fill state or city mandates. A lot more attention is being focused on how a place will function, and how it fits into the larger community,” Matt asserts. He further explains Otak’s approach stating that “what we do is integrate these projects the best we can into the existing communities and not make them be a piece that stands out on its own. The extent we can incorporate open space, trails, plazas, parks, transit connections, even commercial activities into and around housing developments, will go a long way towards integrating affordable housing into a community.”
This place-making and community mindset is a driving force in how Otak approaches each project. It is also integral to the firm’s employee involvement with various organizations, including the Portland Planning Commission. “We’re helping guide missions and policies and the evolution of community development and planning to incorporate affordable housing into our communities,” Tim states. “We’re not just putting up buildings. We are also creating public spaces for all community members to come together.”
Advocacy and Collaboration
Taking a broader community approach to the design and construction of affordable housing units in new subdivisions and existing neighborhoods has been key to Otak’s success in this arena. The recently completed Fields Apartments in Tigard, OR, and the South Cooper Mt. Community Project in Beaverton, OR, are two examples where the Otak team has proactively and collaboratively worked with the cities, residents, and developers to create designs that addressed neighborhood concerns, satisfied mandates, and ultimately won approval. “By engaging with the residents and taking their concerns into consideration, we were able to overcome objections,” Matt states. Additionally, with The Fields project, “by framing the project around housing for working-class families, we were able to present the proposed housing project in a positive light,” Matt explains. In this manner, Otak was also advocating on behalf of the developer who was seeking project approval.
Looking at the Big Picture
Otak has the capacity to remove some of the complexities and barriers around affordable housing, including public perception, and to better integrate affordable housing into communities. “We are addressing an important aspect of the stigma of affordable housing,” Matt states. “Projects of this nature often face considerable public opposition, yet separating them from the rest of the community only serves to compound the problem.” As a multidisciplinary firm, Otak has the internal knowledge and resources to help cities and developers navigate complex zoning regulations, design, review and permitting processes, and funding options. This is coupled with Otak’s community mindset, which demands a big picture perspective and is the driving force behind the firm’s integrative approach to community planning and affordable housing. “Having an understanding of the big picture, and being able to plan through the construction and engineering, natural resources, and transportation, and how to integrate it all allows us to bring so much more to the table for a developer,” Matt stresses. “We’re not just solving one piece of the puzzle, we are offering solutions on multiple fronts and building resilient communities people want to live in.”
At the junction of Wall Street and Hunziker Street in Tigard, OR sits a parcel of land offering access to nature, sweeping views, and close proximity to public transit. While originally zoned for commercial development, the City of Tigard, local residents, and the Washington County Housing Authority had other ideas. The developer, DBG Properties, also saw the greater opportunity—one that answered both housing and commercial needs—and together with Otak’s vision, addressed the concerns of the existing 40-year-old neighborhood.
The opportunity lay within how the property was to be divided. The majority of the 17 acres had been zoned commercial with a mandate of being able to provide 280+ jobs, however, a portion of the property had been set aside for residential development. When Otak was brought into the project, the plan was to build office space along Hunziker Street and push the residential development to the back of the property, however, the housing project was to be developed first.
“Knowing that the office piece was not going to be developed right away, we decided to bring the residential to the front of the property and pushed all the office to one big piece in the back,” states Matt Neish, Otak Senior Project Manager. The rearrangement had two key benefits. First, it allowed for a bigger piece of the property to be commercially developed with either a couple of office buildings or one larger building. And because of the necessary road extension, the address would be on Wall Street. “Now, who doesn’t want to be on Wall Street?” Matt asked.
Second, with the housing situated in the front of the property, there was a greater opportunity for creating something special for residents that would be integrated into the steep hillside, taking advantage of the abundant nature, and sweeping views.
There were challenges, of course, the steep hillside, being one of them. The bigger challenge, though, was gaining approval from the residents of the long-standing neighborhood community immediately adjacent to the property. “The residents werevery entrenched and organized in what was happening around them and they were initially opposed to the development,” Matt said. Increased traffic and overflow parking on the neighborhood streets were top concerns. There was also a negative connotation around the concept of affordable housing.
Collaborative Approach Leads to Positive Outcome
With this understanding, Otak took a collaborative approach working with the residents, the city, and the developer to come up with solutions that met all the stated concerns as well as the primary objectives for the property. As Matt explained, gaining the trust and approval of the residents began with the first neighborhood meeting. “When we first presented the project, we were careful in our use of the term workforce housing versus affordable housing. We knew affordable housing is not always well received into existing neighborhoods. Workforce housing, on the other hand, represents an annual median income around forty thousand dollars, and tends to be more positively received.”
Otak’s approach to the Field’s project was nothing new for the firm and is standard practice for the integrated teams who are accustomed to creating solutions to complex situations. Ultimately, Otak was able to bring all of the project’s ambitions into one cohesive design that met the needs of all parties involved. “By the time we got to go before the planning commission, we received unanimous approval of the design and we were able to get the buildings permitted,” Matt said.
Blending into the Scenery
Adding to the complexity of the project was the geography of the site itself, which is situated on a steep hillside. In the end, though, it was the hillside that led the team to creative design solutions that ultimately appeased the neighborhood residents. A key decision was to cut into the slope so that all the units could have daylight. As Matt explained, “We went through a couple of different iterations and ended up with four-story buildings, three of which have bridges to an upper parking area,” He added that “the views this site offers are just amazing, and because the site keeps sloping down, even the first floor buildings are going to be higher than anything that will be developed next door.” According to Matt, any commercial development will most likely be single-story, concrete, industrial-style buildings.
An added benefit to cutting into the hillside was that it allowed the housing development to have a lower profile, which was appealing to the adjacent property owners. The completed project also includes a green roof on the clubhouse, further blending the development into the hillside, and surrounding trees and nature. “We actually had to put a fence up because otherwise the deer that are still on site would jump from the hillside onto the roof and eat the vegetation!” Matt exclaimed.
The final design also maintained a one-hundred-foot buffer along the eastern property line that backed up to the neighboring homes, many of which were completely open without fencing of any kind. “The homes simply backed up onto this treed hillside that had been there for forty years, and the homeowners felt like they were losing that,” Matt said. The buffer helped to preserve a good number of the trees and the natural setting for the property owners.
Providing Connectivity
One of the city mandates was to make a connection from the adjacent neighborhood, onto and across the property, and ultimately connect to future development to the west. The developer was also directed to ensure that connection would then continue on down to Wall Street. The city also wanted to put in a sky bridge connection from the site over neighboring rail lines, which are used by both freight and the West Side Transit system, to a trail system on the other side that eventually connects to the Tigard City Hall and Library. As Matt stated, “in addition to preserving the views and surrounding nature to satisfy the neighborhood, the design also had to be centered around walkability and connectivity.”
In the end, the Otak and DBG Properties were able to deliver an affordable housing development that met the multiple mandates by the City of Tigard and the Washington County Housing Authority but also overcame the objections of the neighborhood. With 264 units of mixed one, two, and three-bedroom units geared towards families, sweeping views, a clubhouse integrated with nature, and a walkable trail system connected to neighborhoods and urban transit, The Fields is an example of what modern affordable housing can look like. It is also an example of how a collaborative approach working with the community can lead to innovative solutions and positive outcomes that benefit all parties.
Otak has been instrumental in another project now under construction at Columbia Palisades in Vancouver, WA.
Romano Development, Vancouver, WA, is developing the Boulder Ridge at Columbia Palisades site. The site is an exclusive river view property with 24 luxury townhomes. These townhomes sit atop a prominent bluff with exquisite views overlooking the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. Otak completed the land use permitting, infrastructure design, and site engineering to support the construction of this project, which is presently under construction.
Otak has also been leading the planning, design, and permitting of The Ledges, a project that includes two distinct towers of luxury apartments and condominiums, also with stunning 180-degree views of Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. This project sits atop a subsurface parking structure built into the solid rock and includes common space amenities that take advantage of the views such as an outdoor pool.
Columbia Palisades is a master-planned redevelopment of an 84-acre former rock quarry site, located at the interchange of State Route 14 and SE 192nd Ave between Vancouver and Camas, WA. Working closely with the City of Vancouver, Otak designed and permitted a planned development that features a mix of luxury and affordable housing options, office buildings, commercial and retail spaces, a medical clinic, and a hotel. These buildings are surrounded by more than 30 acres of open and park space.
“The Columbia Palisades site offers a thoughtful blend of homes, services and retail, employment, and recreational spaces, all within walking distance. And, the views are stunning. It’s another example of our collaborative team of professionals working successfully to repurpose a mined quarry into an enjoyable place for folks to live, work, and play,” says Tim Leavitt, PE, Otak’s Director of Operations in Southwest Washington.
This multi-level luxury residential development is perched prominently on a former rock quarry in the new Columbia Palisades planned community just west of Camas, Washington. The site has commanding views of the Columbia River, Mount Hood, and the downtown Portland skyline.
Residential Fixture of a Pedestrian-Oriented Community
The project is a key element within the pedestrian-oriented community consisting of a town square, a mixture of single-family, attached, multifamily housing, parkways, and a variety of retail and office spaces. Design features include a common podium-level pedestrian festival plaza connecting the two buildings, roof top amenity terraces, lush urban landscaped forecourts, mechanical parking, top-floor loft units with roof terraces, and expansive glazing.
Vancouver, Washington has been undertaking a full-scale renovation of its downtown over the past several years. The goal is to restore the area to a desirable riverfront community for visitors, residents, and businesses. The cornerstone of the City of Vancouver’s efforts is to make Vancouver a destination on the west coast; the area known as The Waterfront Vancouver. This is where Otak’s Portland, OR office has been working over the past few years.
Otak was contracted by Kirkland Development to provide comprehensive planning and design services for the Hotel Indigo and Kirkland Tower mixed-use project. Construction includes 10,000 square feet of retail, 7,700 square feet of restaurant space including the signature steakhouse El Gaucho, the boutique-style Hotel Indigo, and a luxury condominium building called Kirkland Tower. The hotel and tower are the sixth and seventh buildings to rise in the overall master plan.
Brian Fleener is the principal in charge for Otak, working alongside senior designer Gary Larson, director of design Gary Reddick, and project architects Michael Payne and Wayne Yoshimura. After three years of design and planning, Kirkland Development broke ground on the property in June 2018 and the project should be completed this winter.
The “Kirkland Tower,” a twelve-story luxury condominium building, will feature sweeping views of the Columbia River from its one, two, or three-bedroom units that have access to the amenities of the Hotel Indigo. Amenities include maid and turn down service, valet parking, and room service. The Kirkland Tower will also feature a rooftop health club and a rooftop lounge with a chef’s kitchen for entertaining guests. There will be 40 units overall. On the eighth floor, there will be a modern bar and the ninth floor includes a roof terrace.
The eight-story, 138-room Hotel Indigo will adhere to the hotel chain’s signature brand that promises no two of its properties are alike as they reflect the neighborhoods in which they sit. This property will take advantage of river views with a glass curtain wall and an expansive terrace. A large conference space will spill out into an 8-story atrium. Amenities will include concierge services, valet, food delivery, dry cleaning, and a dog-washing station.
“This is a terrific example of quality placemaking that is a focus of Otak and further illustrated by other projects we have on the drawing board,” Reddick said.
The project was not without challenges that mostly stemmed from its location, on the river, and on a flight path. “So many agencies get involved.” Reddick continued. “To get through that and realize something is actually coming out of the ground is amazing.”
Fleener explained that special permission was needed to keep the cranes up over the winter when planes were flying from a nearby airport. Building a 2-level, below-grade stacker parking deck next to the Columbia River mandated the use of an intricate sheet pile and concrete cofferdam-like structure to keep the water out. To add to that, the construction was shut down in Washington during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The team overcame the challenges and are excited to see the project completed and another step of the rebirth of Vancouver realized. The south-facing site featuring a restaurant with a wall of windows, and the outside decks on the buildings, will be the perfect place to sit in the sun and be out by the water,” Fleener said.
Together with national developer Wishcamper, Otak has been instrumental in the design and approval of the ambitious South Cooper Mountain Main Street project in Beaverton, which is set to begin construction in the summer of 2021. The mixed-use development project will encompass affordable housing, as well as commercial and civic space, across ten acres adjacent to Mountainside High School in the heart of the South Cooper Mountain community.
Wishcamper, traditionally known for its work in affordable housing, recognized a unique opportunity to not only add affordable housing units to a high-density market-rate community but to also bring a community vision to life in the form of a dynamic mixed-use neighborhood center. The City of Beaverton’s goal is to provide the main street with a vibrant mix of neighborhood commercial and residential uses in a pedestrian-friendly environment that includes wide sidewalks with pedestrian amenities. Wishcamper embraced the vision and proactively worked with the city, enlisting Otak’s expertise and help to guide the project.
Otak has established a strong presence in affordable housing, mixed-use building, and community design and had been actively working on projects in the surrounding residential community for the past five years. Working collaboratively with Wishcamper and the City of Beaverton, Otak took a placemaking and multidisciplinary approach to satisfy the city’s community and zoning requirements, and Wishcamper’s affordable housing mandates, while also remaining sensitive to the natural environment and ecology of the site and ultimately how people would live in and use the space. As Ben Bortolazzo, Otak director of planning and design, points out, “this is not just another development project. It’s a place-making effort to create a vibrant community space; it’s an opportunity to provide vibrant spaces for the community to come together.”
Otak’s design for the South Cooper Mountain project includes 164 units of affordable housing, 30,000 sq feet of commercial space—office, daycare, café, and retail—potential civic use space, a public park, and a plaza. The park site is home to a number of large sequoia trees, which Otak was intent on preserving in the overall design, further reinforcing a sense of place with character and connection to the land. An underground parking garage is planned beneath an open-air plaza, which will also be home to a farmer’s market.
As the South Cooper Mountain project moves into the next phase of development, Wishcamper has enlisted Otak’s expertise on two upcoming projects, one next to the Main Street site and another in Woodburn, OR.
UPDATE: The Ledges condominium project broke ground on December 8 with immediate work concentrating on erosion control and grading the site that is situated on a bluff above the Columbia River.
Otak, Inc. was recently retained by Kirkland Development to lead the architectural and engineering design for The Ledges at Palisades, a new market-rate housing project in East Vancouver. The Ledges project, located within the Columbia Palisades development, is part of a larger mixed-use development underway at the site of a former gravel pit. The new Ledges project is also integral to the City of Vancouver’s master plan for providing additional housing to Vancouver and Camas residents.
Under the direction of project leads Dan Salvey and Casey McKenna, and in collaboration with developer and property owner Dean Kirkland, Otak’s Architecture Group will head the design and engineering of two buildings – a 51-unit condominium building on the east side, and a 91-unit apartment building on the west side. The top floors of both structures will include loft-style units; two lofts in the condominium building and the entire top floor of the apartment building.
Permitting for The Ledges project is slated to begin this June in three phases, with a construction start date following in July. Move-in date for new residents at The Ledges is targeted for Spring 2022.
The Ledges represents the latest project in Otak’s expanding portfolio of market-rate housing and mixed-use development projects in the region. With more than thirty years of architectural design and engineering experience, Brian Fleener, Director of Architecture, has been instrumental in leading Otak’s Architecture Group and providing an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to projects.
For further information about Otak’s expertise in mixed-use and market-rate housing architecture, planning, and design, please contact Brian Fleener, Otak Director of Architecture, at 503-415-2400 or Brian.Fleener@otak.com
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