Il!'' ^îortlanb © bseruer___________________________
Aprii 27.2005
PascAS
Investment
Builds31 New
Columbia
HOST Development, a local
non-profit housing developer is
the largest single-builder at New
Columbia, the new neighborhood
in north Portland being built from
scratch in what once stood as
Columbia Villa.
Founded in 1989, HOST builds
quality, affordable homes for indi- |
viduals and families earning be
Hope Minor (from left) and sister Amanda Fredricks were two o f
tween 70 percent and 100 percent
nine female students in Benson's home construction project.
o f median family income, which is
currently $67,900 for a family of
four. Since 1989, the group has
built almost 250 homes in north
and Northeast Portland.
on the framing of the house and the
C onstruction on the H OST j
second year is where most of the
homes began at the end of Febru
construction happens. The stu
ary and are available for pre-sales
dents spend half o f their school
now. For information call 503-331 -
day outside of the classroom and
1752, exten sio n 100 o r visit
learn about the whole facet of build
www.hostdevelopment.com.
ing ahouse. Unfortunately, theelec-
trical department at Benson still is
not included in the process.
by N icole H ooper
“This is a great way of teaching
T he P ortland O bserver
Calling it the end of a school students about not only the con
project is an understatement. Stu struction industry but also other
dents at Benson High School in career choices that involve this in
northeast Portland have just fin dustry,” said Franciscone.
He estimates that 30 to 50 per
ished building a 2,200 square foot
cent
of the students now have ca
home in two years.
reers
in construction and many at
The Benson Construction De
tend
Oregon
State University to
partment is famous for building
major
in
engineering.
beautiful homes for the local com
“The big picture is that over half
munity for the past several years.
are
doing something related to their
The newest house is on the corner
major
here at Benson,” Franciscone
o f N ortheast 77th Avenue and
continued.
Klickitat Street. The school’s archi
Richard W eber graduated from
tecture and drafting students also
Benson
in 1974 and believes his
gained experience on the project.
experience
while attending Benson
Tony F ranciscone has been
The non-profit group HOST De
was
invaluable
as both a construc
teaching at Benson for over 10 years
velopment is building 8 0 qual
and personally supervised the con tion worker and teacher.
ity affordable homes for pur
Most of the houses are in north
struction of five houses. During
chase in the New Columbia
east
and southeast Portland and
the students’junior year, they work
neighborhood o f north Portland.
Benson Builders
Construction
majors gain
experience
Potential buyers (above) visit the newt "Benson House" on Northeast 7 T h and Klickitat Street.
sell quickly.
“We get over 20 people some
times, making an offer on the house
before it’s done. We just can’t do
that because the house hasn’t ran
through all the final inspections,
also, people tend to want to make
changes,” W eber added.
The Benson houses are never
on the market long and the pro
ceeds o f each house goes towards
the building of the next house in
two years.
This year, Carranza Marble and
G ra n ite
d o n a te d
g ra n ite
countertops, GC1 Commercial Paint
ers provided interior and exterior
paint and plumbing materials and
expertise was donated from Bruner
Plumbing.
“This is the m ost donations
w e ’ve had on a h o u s e ,”
Franciscone said.
The three bedrooms two and a
half baths home was constructed
by 30 students, nine of which were
female.
S is te r s H o p e M in o r an d
A m anda Fredricks, both juniors,
used the opportunity to learn
about construction so they could
w ork with their father after gradu
ation. W ith m ost o f the students
in a departm ent being m ale, M i
nor and Fredricks felt they were
treated like equals. The students,
te a c h e r s
and
th e
new
hom eow ners will all benefit from
the positive and educational ex
perience over the past tw o years.
M any stu dents d o n ’t get this
level o f hands on experience.
“W e’ve already built a house
and we are only 17 years old,” said
Minor, smiling.
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N otices
óolwwbÍA
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To Place Your
Classified
Advertisement
Contact: K<ithv I inder
Phone: 303 288 0033
Fax: 503 288 0015
New Columbia is an innovative new
mixed-income community, featuring
232 For-Sale Homes, including
market rate and affordable, built by
Legend Homes, HOST Development
and Tom Walsh & Company.
For more information please call:
(503) 282-7744, ext 101
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W a ls h &
Bwtktora UnM IMO
Horre Qwn/T »hi
New Colombia offers affordable rentals too. For more
informalion on apartments for rent, please call (503) 286-1500.
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