On the Boards: Pacific Valley Apartments
This new apartment complex will bring much-needed housing to the Woodburn area. Pacific Valley Apartments will have a total of 204 residential units in 10 separate three-story buildings.
On the Boards: Burnside Apartments
Just inside Gresham city limits, near East Burnside Street and Southeast 167th Place, a multifamily
development is in the works for a 0.52-acre parcel. The project, designed by Leeb Architects for
developer West Coast Home Solutions, will add 24 apartments to the market.
“It obviously allows people to use the MAX (light rail) to commute,” said Robert Leeb, the firm’s principal
in charge. “And I think that in terms of the building and the design, we were trying to coordinate the
building with the context of the neighborhood. We had a group of townhomes next to us on the east, and
we wanted to be compatible with those owner-occupied row homes.”
Single-family developer taking on apartments
Wilsonville-based West Coast Home Solutions, since its inception in 2005, has developed single-family houses and townhomes in the Portland-metro area. But on a site along the Columbia River in North Portland, the company is making its first foray into apartment development. The Harbor Sky Apartments also represents West Coast Home Solutions’ faith in that market’s future.
On the Boards: Fairview Meadows
A new apartment complex coming to Fairview promises to provide views of the Columbia River Gorge. Fairview Meadows, planned for a 4.8-acre site at 22199 N.E. Sandy Blvd., will feature five separate buildings, which will hold 196 residential units and four live-work units. The buildings will be three to four stories.
West Coast Home Solutions is the project's owner, developer, and contractor, and Leeb Architects is the designer. TM Rippey is providing structural consulting, with Vancouver, Washington-based Standridge Design contributing civil engineering.
"We're trying to add to the success of Sandy Boulevard," Leeb project architect Steve Sandstrom said. "Fairview's become a lot more attractive as far as hosuing."
With companies like Amazon building large warehouses in nearby Troutdale, Sandstrom said the area is gaining jobs and a greater need for housing. Plus, the Fairview City Council last year voted to provide incentives for development on vacant land, he said.
Goose Hollow mixed-use project moves ahead
A proposal for a seven-story mixed-use building with 107 apartments in the Goose Hollow neighborhood has received the Portland Design Commission’s approval.
Vista St. Clair, DJC TopProjects Finalist
The Daily Journal of Commerce is considering Leeb Architects for an award under the category, Major Renovation for the work on Vista St. Clair in Portland, Oregon.
Developer continues to build its brand
A series of high-profile Portland projects for Mill Creek Residential Trust is continuing to grow.
The latest, Modera Buckman, will be a seven-story mixed-use residential building on a half-block parcel at the northeast corner of Southeast Belmont Street and 12th Avenue in the Central Eastside. The rectangular building will feature 170 apartments – a mix of studios, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom units. It also will have over 6,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
“I don’t know if it’s a template,” said Rex Ingram, an associate and lead designer for Leeb Architects. “But they’re looking for a certain mix of units and they’re careful about where they put their projects and properties for the benefit of the neighborhoods they go into. This project is kind of special; the first floor is a lot of retail, which is great, and we have some really nice amenity spaces as well.”
Are Today’s Outskirts Tomorrow’s Bustling Urban Neighborhoods?
Hillsboro’s Orenco Station invents the anti-suburb.
Three sharp new apartment buildings, with inscrutably marketable names like Vector, Hub9, and the Rowlock, border a tree-dotted plaza. Zipcars zip. Children frolic in fountains. The coffee shops, microbrew tap house, and organic grocery stand within convenient walking (or stumbling) distance. The Platform District, the newest pocket of Hillsboro’s Orenco Station neighborhood, became real last summer, fulfilling a vision of dense urbanity in the last major suburb before the metro area’s west side gives way to farmland: “city” living, 14 miles from downtown Portland.
A threesome of transit-oriented projects
The Platform District at Orenco Station is a 135-acre transit-oriented development in Hillsboro, Oregon’s fifth-largest city. The TriMet MAX Blue Line light rail connects to downtown Hillsboro, to downtown Portland—14 miles away—and to the airport. It consists of a 5.5-acre public plaza (by landscape architect Walker/Macy) and three mixed-used buildings designed by Leeb Architects: the 343,500-sf Rowlock (shown here), with 255 apartments and townhomes; Hub 9 (124 apartments, 168,000 sf); and the 339,200-sf, 230-unit Vector, which provides the park-and-ride component at the transit stop. The Orenco TOD totals 609 residences and 25,000 sf of retail space.
On the Boards: YMCA Foster project
A new project in the Lents neighborhood of Southeast Portland aims to provide a unique combination of residential living and professional childcare.
The new YMCA Foster development is a mixed-use project, combining a full-service daycare facility with 48 new apartments intended for workforce housing. The project will ultimately replace the existing aging YMCA facility the currently sits on a trapezoidal shaped piece of property near the junction of Southeast Foster Road and Southeast Holgate Boulevard.
Architect Charlie Baxter is the project lead for Portland firm Leeb Architects. He said the way in which the YMCA property is split between commercial and residential zoning propelled the design and led to the concept of bringing the project much closer to the street than the existing structure. In addition, it also led to the use of sweeping rooflines and other design features that will set this project apart from the rest of the neighborhood.
DESIGN COMMISSION APPROVES MODERA BUCKMAN
The Design Commission has approved the Modera Buckman, a 7-story mixed use development in the Central Eastside. The building, by Leeb Architects for developer Mill Creek Residential Trust, will include 170 residential units and 6,621sf of ground floor retail space. Parking for 74 vehicles is proposed in a below grade parking garage. Long term parking for 255 bicycles is proposed, with 98 spaces in a secure bike room and the remaining spaces provided in the units.
The Architect's Questionnaire: Robert Leeb
The third installment of the Architect’s Questionnaire features Portland architect Robert Leeb of Leeb Architects, a full service architectural and planning firm founded in 1977. Notable projects included the eight story, 134-unit, Streetcar Lofts building in the Pearl District and the Garage at Station Place, which encloses 413 parking spaces with custom stainless steel and is complete with a large landscaped atrium.