Background
The Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) has awarded $2.65 million in Metro Affordable Housing Bond funds to an affordable housing development called Legin Commons, which will bring 124 affordable units to Montavilla, directly adjacent to the Jade District. Of these units:
20 will be affordable to households making up to 30% of Area Median Income (AMI)
42 will be affordable to households making 50% AMI
62 will be affordable to households making 60% AMI
Sixty-three of the units will have 2 or 3 bedrooms to accommodate families with children and multigenerational households. PHB estimates that 298 low-income Portlanders will be able to live at Legin Commons at any one time, and the project will be able to house thousands over the course of its 99-year affordability period.
Where will Legin Commons be located?
The development team of Our Just Future, Edlen & Co., and APANO, and their general contractor LMC Construction have just broken ground at a site leased from Portland Community College (PCC) at SE 77th Ave & Division St, adjacent to PCC’s Southeast Campus.
What used to be on this site?
The site currently consists of a parking lot and a grassy area with trees. This developable commercial parcel was formerly occupied by a Kaiser Permanente medical clinic beginning in 1964. PCC acquired the parcel a few years before the clinic was demolished in 2015 and has since intended to find a more effective use for the parcel that would benefit the community.
How was this affordable housing development project selected as the use for the site?
In 2021, PCC developed a twenty-year facilities plan process and determined that affordable housing would be an appropriate use for the parcel. PCC then partnered with Our Just Future and Edlen & Co. to begin the development process. The team submitted a proposal in response to PHB’s fall 2023 Metro Bond “Last Gap” Opportunity Solicitation and was awarded funding in late 2023. After securing other funding sources, including from Oregon Housing and Community Services and from other public and private entities, the financial deal closed in December 2024. The total estimated development cost for this project is between $55 million and $60 million.
What is happening to the trees at the site?
Our Just Future and Edlen & Co. took measures to mitigate the removal of some trees on the site, twelve of which were confirmed by a third-party arborist to be diseased or dying. The project pursued code adjustments to preserve trees that otherwise would have been removed to accommodate the City's setback requirements, and development partners are also planting dozens of trees on the site.
The environmental result of this build will be a more vibrant ecosystem, with more trees than currently on the site and a wider variety of planting, including native, flowering, edible and hardy species. Ten mature trees outside of the parcel along the development's eastern edge will remain intact, providing ample tree canopy. An arborist will continue to be involved throughout construction to ensure that these trees are unaffected by construction.
What other green space will be available to residents?
In addition to increasing the number of trees on the site, there will be ample outdoor space in the form of two courtyards, a playground and a community garden for residents to enjoy, totaling over 14,000 square feet. The large open grassy area with additional trees between Legin Commons and PCC’s Learning Garden and Administrative Hall will remain intact.
Additionally, the site is only half a mile from Mt. Tabor Park, a mile from Kelly Butte and Ed Benedict Park, and close to smaller parks such as Harrison Park, Essex Park, and Berrydale Park.
Is there an option to reconfigure the project so that the trees are unaffected, or to relocate it to a different portion of the PCC campus?
The parcel on which the project is sited is its own tax lot, not a part of the larger campus parcel. The expense and time needed to subdivide out the parcel would significantly delayed or prohibit the project in the first place. There was also significant concern from investors about siting the project along 82nd Ave, which raised substantial environmental justice concerns related to pollution, noise and safety – as well as a materially higher Heat Island Index – than is present at the western parcel.
Similarly, reconfiguring the development at this stage in order to preserve the diseased trees would be a multi-million dollar, months-long process and would likely result in the loss of bond funding from public sources. This would delay when these affordable units will be able to open and support the community, potentially reduce the funding available to support this project, and could even render the project infeasible and unable to proceed.
What environmental sustainability measures are the developers taking?
In accordance with PHB’s Green Building Policy, the project is seeking third-party sustainability certification, in this case building to Earth Advantage Platinum standards. Legin Commons will be highly energy efficient and low greenhouse-gas-emitting. There will be no natural gas used in this 100% electric development. The project will also be built to Passive House and US Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Home Program standards.
Not only that, but Legin Commons is optimally sited along TriMet's Division FX2 frequent express bus line and close to frequent bus lines on 82nd Ave and a MAX green line station less than a mile away. These nearby transit opportunities will help lower the carbon footprints of Legin residents.