Architecture Archives - Page 6 of 9

Pushing the Boundaries of Affordable Housing

Posted on June 16, 2021December 9, 2024 by OTAK Team

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.

See Our Affordable Housing Work

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.”

The Fields Apartments: Affordable Housing Melds with Nature, Urban Transit, and a 40-Year Old Neighborhood

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 were very 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 Provides Services for Another Project at Columbia Palisades

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.

Ledges at Columbia Palisades

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.

Design And Planning Teams Bring Luxury Living To The Waterfront Vancouver

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.

Otak’s South Cooper Mt. Community Project Design for Wishcamper Wins Approval

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.

Renderings Courtesy Otak Architects

Otak Hired as Architect and Engineer for a New Market-Rate Condominium and Apartment Project: The Ledges at Palisades

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

Otak Partners with Earth Day Oregon to Support Nonprofit Depave

Times are challenging as we all face the impacts of COVID-19. But as our day to day lives have been disrupted, mother nature continues on unabated. Flowers have come up, migrating birds have returned, and temperatures are rising.

In recognition of all that nature provides, Earth Day is celebrated throughout April. While this year there won’t be group events as we practice social distancing, Otak is still taking this time to celebrate the great outdoors.

Otak has again signed on as a business partner for Earth Day Oregon to recognize, support and celebrate our planet and those organizations that work hard every day for our natural world. Through Earth Day Oregon, Otak donated to Depave, a nonprofit that works to turn paved spaces into greenspaces to create more livable cities. We understand the environmental and social benefits greenspace can have and gladly stand behind and have volunteered for the many projects Depave has undertaken to green the landscape of Portland. We look forward to working together with Depave on its next project.

On the homefront, Otak’s GO Committee and Operations Team remind us that Earth Day is really every day and there are things we can do in our daily lives to get back to nature.

1. Start a small garden. You can build raised beds in your yard, or simply pot some herbs and veggies to grow on your porch.
2. Bike and walk more. Do you live near your local grocery store? Consider if it is possible to walk or bike for your next trip to the store (while following proper PPE and social distancing guidelines). A win-win for getting outside and getting your essential errands done.
3. Start a home compost. Many of us are already doing this. Check-in with your local trash service to see if they offer compost pick up. If not and if space allows, you can start composting in your backyard by purchasing something like a “Bio Monster” or “Worm Factory” bin and use the compost for your garden.
4. Shop locally, eat seasonally. With stay-at-home orders in place during the opening weeks for farmers’ markets, your local market or farm might be offering pick-up or delivery!
5. Play Earth Day Bingo! Get the family involved in this great activity from the City of Kirkland.

Getting outside is one of the recommendations for keeping COVID-19 at bay, as well as a way to maintain your mental health. We want our employees to stay healthy so we encourage you to get out and show your love for the planet, on earth day and every day!

Eagle Landing Mixed Use

Eagle Landing is poised to be the premier ground-up mixed-use community in the Northwest. From its earliest visioning and planning, conceived two decades ago, the intention has been to deliver to Happy Valley a new downtown, replete with all the uses and charms of the best Village Centers. This includes a central town square, a vibrant main street, a mix of luxury and market-rate apartments and condominiums, hotels, a civic center, and mid-rise commercial offices.

Phase One will begin construction in May 2020 and will include 200 apartments, 20,000 sf of retail and structured parking, to be closely followed by the other Phase One buildings comprising 800,000 sf.

Jasmine Tower

Jasmine Tower is located in the heart of Seattle’s historic International District at the intersection of Maynard Avenue South and South Lane Street. The tower sits above the adjacent low and mid-rise buildings of the neighborhood and has commanding views of Puget Sound to the west, Seattle’s skyline to the north, and the Cascades to the east.

The project is currently in concept design and features a fourteen-story tower of residential units, over a three-story podium consisting of pedestrian orientated micro retail, residential units and amenity space, and three levels of below grade parking. Unique to this project is the incorporation and preservation of portions of the existing Bush Gardens, a three-story turn of the century brick building, which has important, cultural significance to the community.