4 • The Southwest Portland Post
NEWS
Jaunuary 2018
New 39-unit building planned for corner of 32nd Avenue and Capitol Highway
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
The dust has just about settled at
the site of the 70-unit Multnomah
Village Apartments and according
to neighbors who attended a recent
meeting, they couldn’t be happier.
With parking nightmares, construc-
tion noise, and blocked sidewalks
and roads, many are glad the end is
near. According to property manag-
ers, move in dates are right around
the corner for retailers and residents.
But another housing development,
just a block away, is in the works. Kurt
Schultz of SERA Architects presented
the preliminary concepts at the Dec.
12 meeting of the Multnomah Neigh-
borhood Association. Developer Tim
O’Brien (Urban Assets) was also in
attendance.
The proposed four-story 39-unit
apartment building is located at
Southwest 32nd Avenue and Capitol
Highway. It features ground floor
retail space and will rise where the
iconic gas station has stood since the
1930s.
Although new zoning changes
would allow five-story buildings to be
constructed in the area in commercial
mixed zones, the developers are keep-
ing it to four stories.
“We’re calling this project the
Multnomah Station,” Schultz said at
the meeting.
“We are designing this building in
the same streamlined, Art Deco style
of the Depression era gas station with
the look of a flat iron building with a
curved façade.”
Schultz unveiled several illustra-
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Architect Kurt Schultz describes the plans for a new apartment building at the
Multnomah neighborhood meeting in December. (Post photo by Erik Vidstrand)
tions. He announced that the old gas
pump will be saved.
“As for the existing mural of the
friendly gas station attendant,” Schul-
tz said, “we hope to replicate it in the
building lobby.”
Schultz assured everyone that any
underground fuel tanks will be fully
decommissioned after testing has
been completed.
Schultz said the Multnomah Station
would have one affordable three-
bedroom unit. Several members in
the room appeared astonished while
others seemed confused.
According to Tyler Bump, a senior
economic planner for the city, all
developers must abide by the inclu-
sionary housing zone code with 20 or
more dwelling units in one building.
“A few amendments were made
once the ordinance was reviewed by
City Council,” Bump said. “For the
first year only, eight percent of af-
fordable housing must be provided to
households between 60 – 80 percent
of the area median family income
(MFI) which is currently from $40,380
- $53,800 a year for a family of three.
“These inclusion rates will start at
15 percent of units at 80 percent MFI
and 8 percent of units at 60 percent
MFI. The number Mr. Schultz is pro-
viding equals three units, or in this
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case, three bedrooms. The city prefers
larger units to accommodate families
and not just for individuals needing
affordable housing.”
Schultz explained that due to city
regulations and because there is ac-
cess to transit services, onsite parking
is not required.
“We wanted on-site parking,”
Schultz said, “but because of a re-
quired landscape buffer, the city said
we couldn’t install a garage accessed
from 32nd Avenue.”
The Post contacted the Bureau of
Transportation about this issue as
well.
“It is not true that PBOT does not
support driveway access from South-
west 32nd [Avenue],” wrote John
Brady, the communications director.
“We support access from 32 nd Avenue,
but what we can’t support, for traffic
safety and other reasons, is driveway
access less than 25 feet from the cor-
ner of Southwest 32nd and Capitol
Highway.”
According to Thomas Ngo, the pub-
lic information officer for the Bureau
of Development Services, the city is
not preventing the developer from
providing on-site parking.
“It’s actually possible to have park-
ing access at this location if the build-
ers go through a design review,” Ngo
wrote The Post.
“This proposed development is still
in the early stages. They haven’t even
filed for building permits yet.”
A design review is the only way a
developer would possibly provide
parking. But the developers instead
have chosen to build to community
design standards.
“The city doesn’t allow vehicle ac-
cess from Southwest 32nd Avenue
due to a residential buffer in the sur-
rounding area,” Ngo said.
“Our street cannot take 39 more
cars,” said Alisson Meenhen who
lives next to the proposed develop-
ment. “Sunlight will be blocked out
from the enormous size of this build-
ing. What is discouraging is the scale
of these projects.
“This project belongs in the Pearl!”
“Can’t you make it half the size and
two floors?” asked neighbor Murphy
Terrell. “We’re a quirky two-story vil-
lage. It’s disappointing. You say you
want to fit into the neighborhood but
you don’t. Who else can we contact?”
O’Brien then spoke up and said
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