SPECIAL FOCUS
READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS
BEST MASTER-PLANNED/MIXED-USE PROJECT:
New Neighborhood
Rises in Portland
BY DONNA KIMURA
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE • NOVEMBER 2007
PORTLAND, ORE.—New Columbia isn’t just a public
housing development. It
is a brand new neighborhood.
The sprawling project
involved the total reconstruction
of the aging Columbia Villa public
housing development. Built in 1942 for
World War II shipyard workers, the area
had become socially, physically, and economically
isolated from the rest of the city.
Reinventing the 82-acre tract of land
into a mixed-use, mixed-income community
became the largest neighborhood revitalization
effort in Portland, increasing the
original number of housing units to 854
from 462. The Housing Authority of
Portland (HAP) completed construction of
its 556 rental units in 2006. Trenton
Terrace, a 66-unit affordable seniors housing
project developed by the nonprofit
Northwest Housing Alternatives that is part
of the overall development, was completed
in January. The last of the 232 for-sale
homes that are being built by private homebuilders
will be completed this year. Fortyone
of these homes are affordable.
“It’s been a spark plug for new thinking
about how to build more complete communities,”
said Portland City Commissioner
Erik Sten. “It has caught people’s sense of
imagination.”
The community includes a four-acre
city park and four smaller pocket parks, a
new public elementary school, a Boys and
Girls Club attached to the school, and
Portland Community College’s learning center.
Main Street is a multi-use neighborhood
center with apartments above the streetfront
stores and public buildings. The architecture
draws on Portland’s Craftsman and
Northwest housing styles.
To create diversity within the new
neighborhood, five different homebuilders
are developing the single-family homes.
“It feels very new and current, which
people like, and it has a more traditional,
small town feel to how it all interplays,” Sten
said, giving credit to the housing authority
and its architects.
New Columbia demonstrates that
“housing authorities can act as a developer
successfully on complicated projects,” said
Mike Andrews, director of development and
community revitalization at HAP.
The development aimed to be environmentally
sensitive. Two of its mixed-use
buildings have received Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design certification,
a first for a HOPE VI project. More
than half of the existing trees were preserved.
HAP’s housing cost about $156 million
and was seeded with a $35 million federal
HOPE VI grant. The figure also includes the
costs for relocation of former residents,
demolition, and infrastructure work. There
are 370 public housing and project-based
Sec. 8 units.
Former public housing residents were
offered the opportunity to return to the new
community. About 110 of the families came
back, according to Andrews.
To finance its rental units, HAP completed
four mixed-finance closings that were
staggered throughout 14 months to meet
construction deadlines. There were four lowincome
housing tax credit (LIHTC) transactions—
two involving 4 percent tax credits
and two involving 9 percent LIHTCs—totaling
$58.7 million. Syndicators included
Alliant Capital, MMA Financial, and
Enterprise Community Investment, Inc.
HAP also did three bond closings, including
one transaction secured by future federal
capital funds. In addition, New Columbia
received support from the city of Portland
and various foundations.
New Columbia
Developer: Housing Authority of Portland
(Northwest Housing Alternatives
developed Trenton Terrace, the affordable
seniors development that is part of the
community.)
Architects: Dull Olson Weekes Architects
Michael Willis Architects
Mithun
Robertson, Merryman, Barnes Architects
Major Funders:
Department of Housing and Urban
Development
City of Portland, Ore.
Oregon Housing and Community Services
Alliant Capital
Enterprise Community Investment, Inc.
MMA Financial
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