Located in the heart of downtown Lake Oswego, the 4th Street Condos are designed to add a luxury cornerstone to the community.
With 15 units across four stories and 40,963 square feet of space, the project includes a below grade parking garage and rooftop amenity deck. All units have outdoor terraces while the penthouse units feature wrap around decks. All unit are double, master suite designs with one penthouse being a 3-bedroom layout.
The project is located at the east end of Vancouver, Washington, within the Columbia Palisades Mixed Use master plan, which is a site of a former basalt rock quarry along the northwestern boundary of the Columbia Gorge. Benched into a steep-sloped triangular site, the building steps up and embraces the grade as it rises to its height at the northeast corner.
The exterior design consists of modern and clean lines, gently sloping roof elements at building corners, and is clad in ceramic-coated fiber cement siding. The ground level is articulated with generous storefront windows, brick veneer, and steel canopies and trellises. It has an open lobby lounge that includes formal seating areas centered on fireplaces, casual seating areas, and a bar bistro. A lushly landscaped garden court podium is at the second level with views to the south of the Columbia River. A horseshoe pit, yoga patio and BBQ’s round out the outdoor amenities. Large windows at the second level amenity spaces provide an opportunity to blend indoor and outdoor spaces. The south and west facing units have sweeping views of the Columbia River and the City of Portland to the south.
Located in Ridgefield, WA, this project is sited within a large mixed-use master plan that consists of commercial and residential uses that is adjacent to a large, protected wetland and green space to the east. The building is purposefully located up against this adjacent wetland to maximize views for the east facing units above and create a green edge to the ground level garden court.
The exterior design consists of modern and clean lines, gently sloping roof elements at building corners, and is clad in ceramic-coated fiber cement siding. The ground level is articulated with generous storefront windows, stone veneer, and steel canopies and trellises. Large windows on the east elevation at the ground level amenity spaces provide an opportunity to blend indoor and outdoor spaces. There is also a pool patio that opens out to views into the wetland and has great exposure to the southern sun. Finally, the “rock ballasted” low roofs of the Porte Cochere and pool are designed with artistic rock patterns to enhance the view from to the units above.
Located on the former site of City Hall in Wood Village, Oregon, The Byway adds 184 multifamily units and retail development across 135,000 square feet. The mixed-use project at the corner of NE Halsey Street and NE 238th Drive includes 8,400 square-feet of leasable retail space.
The overall design highlights a Cascadian architecture style, prevalent on the path to the base of Mount Hood, and is highlighted by a signature tower element and pedestrian plaza that anchors the street corner flanked by retail buildings. The remainder of the site consists of seven multifamily buildings, a clubhouse, pool amenity spaces, and playgrounds. The Otak-led design and planning takes advantage of the topography by incorporating stepped three and four-story buildings into the slope. Buildings at the low end of the site include top floor “townhouse” units with views of Mount St. Helens and the Columbia River.
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.”
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.
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.
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
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.
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.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!
15 West Apartments is a five-story, 120-unit residential building with a ground floor parking structure and live/work units on an irregularly shaped site. In an effort to expand housing in the area, the building is surrounded by a heavily trafficked vehicular couplet and limited pedestrian activity.
With limited pedestrian activity, special attention was paid to building massing along the couplet streets, while pedestrian-oriented details were incorporate along the single pedestrian friendly street forming the triangle. At the main intersection, the ground floor contains live/work units, which provide desirable interaction with the urban environment.
