^Jortlanò (Ohs cru er HOUSING special edition
Page 10
Ö U U S C I I DGJ
April 6, 2011
College Station Breaks Ground
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Urban living
project to house
nearly 1,000
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About 70 people attended a
kick-off ceremony last week for
Portland State University's new
est residence hall, College Sta
tion, due to open in fall 2012.
T he project by PSU and
or em ail subscriptions@portlandobserver.com
An artist’s rendering shows College Station at Portland State
University which will house nearly 1 ,0 0 0 students upon comple
tion in Fall 2012.
American Campus Communi-
ties, a Texas real estate firm,
amazingly comes at a time when
Oregon, and the region are reel-
ing from a recession and state
services are facing budget cuts,
"This is yet another project
that shows creative thinking in
tough times to make it work,"
said PSU P re sid e n t W im
Wiewel.
The creative thinking refers
to the real estate company in-
vesting $90 million to build Col-
lege Campus and PSU signing a
65-year lease.
Portland City Com m issioner
Nick Fish said the project was
a "huge shot in the arm for our
city that we can do great things
in tough tim es."
Along with the boost to the
local economy, the project is
expected to employs more than
100 construction jobs and an-
other 20 jobs when complete.
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Fish also pointed out the "triple
dividend' benefit of an environ-
mentally-friendly project.
The mixed-use building will
have a 24,156 square foot eco-
roof and apply for LEED Gold
certification. It will also house
classrooms, a lecture hall, and
retail space.
"Never before have we seen
a level of collaboration between
a city, university, and other agen-
cies to work so positively to make
this happen," said Bill Bayless,
chief executive officer of Ameri-
can Campus Communities.
PSU currently has resident
housing available for 7.5 percent
of its 29,000 students. Wiewel
wants to increase that to 25 per-
cent in 5 years.
"The demand is there and we
know that the more people living
on campus makes for a more
viable, and interesting campus
community," said Wiewel.
Habitat for Humanity Support
Habitat for Humanity recently
announced that Wells Fargo con
tributed $11.8 million in support
of Habitat's affordable-housing
work in 2010, exceeding the
company's June 2010 pledge by
nearly 50 percent to help revital
ize communities hit hard by the
economy.
Wells Fargo also has pledged
an additional $5 million to Habi
tat in 2011.
"Wells Fargo has supported
H abitat's affordable housing
work for nearly 20 years, which
is one example of our focus on
doing what's right for our com
munities," said Cara Heiden, co
president of Wells Fargo Home
Mortgage.
In 2010, W ells Fargo team
m em bers v o lu n teered m ore
than 50,000 hours to help re
build or renovate 650 homes in
41 states, and donated 19 prop
e rtie s to c re a te a ffo rd a b le
housing opportunities in local
com m unities.