Project at 8629 N. Crawford St.
Cathedral Park neighbors have been closely following a new multi-lot development near the intersection of North Burlington and Salem avenues.

Three-story multifamily condominiums with two or three bedrooms each will be going in at 8629 N. Crawford St., according to Jerry Offer, a planner for Otak Architects. Offer referred additional questions to the Otak architect on the project, Sinan Gumusoglu, but Gumusoglu did not respond to The Sentinel’s request for details.

A total of three lots and 18,000 square feet of land at the location are listed as belonging to East Coast-based M&T Bank and Chesapeake Holdings West, LLC. There is as yet no name for the project.
Barbara Quinn, chair of the Friends of Cathedral Park Neighborhood Association, heard that Otak is simply designing the condos for the out-of-town owners. She hopes that Otak will answer neighbors’ concerns at the next association meeting. With permits still pending, she feels there’s time to make sure the designs fit with the neighborhood.

“The hope is that they will be able to start work on the rectangular property nearest the existing condos as early as June,” Quinn says.

New Lucky Lab location on North Killingsworth Street
Lucky Labrador Brewing Company is coming to North Portland, but the timeframe is still uncertain.
Urban Works Real Estate is facilitating the deal and announced an opening in March, but the OLCC database shows that Lucky Lab hadn’t applied for a liquor license as of
press time.

Lucky Lab has acquired the former Roux Restaurant building at 1700 N Killingsworth St. Under the name “Stumptown Holding Company,” the southeast Portland brewpub became the deed holder this year for a sale price of $850,000. Roux had purchased the property for $325,000 in 2004, and made more than $800,000 in improvements to the building before kicking the recession bucket
last summer.

The Urban Works blog said, “Lucky Lab is a perfect fit for the neighborhood and will provide a wonderful new family-friendly option for this revitalizing community,” but commenters on the site weren’t all supportive.

“As someone that lives two doors from this building, I wouldn’t say that it is a perfect fit for the neighborhood,” wrote one blogger. “I hope we aren’t forced to listen to dogs barking all the time while we enjoy our front balcony.”

Urban Works broker Charlotte Larson and Lucky Lab management did not respond to The Sentinel’s requests for comment.

Graham Street Lofts occupancy
Who thought anyone would want to move into the Graham Street Lofts, that new blindingly orange building on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard? Neighbors nicknamed it the Traffic Cone and expected it to fare much like other properties on construction- and for-lease-sign-riddled MLK.

But a new nickname may have to emerge now that tenants are moving in at an impressive rate. The 12-unit building became fully occupied not long after it opened, according to Hasson broker Jerry Wallach.

Happy Hamster Computer Repair became one of the first businesses to take residence in one of the first-floor, nearly 1,200-square-foot commercial spaces starting at $245,000. There are four units on each of the other two stories, including second-level “urban lofts” of about the same size starting at $324,000, and third and fourth level “view penthouses” starting at $575,000 for more than 1750 square feet.

“It took a bit longer because of the recession, but people still need places to live and put their businesses,” Wallach says. “The right kind of property will fill up no matter what the economic climate.”

Low-income Shaver Green Apartments fully booked
The Shaver Green apartment building, located at 375 NE Shaver St. at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, opened in June 2009. Consisting of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, 71 of the units are reserved for households that can prove to be earning at or below 60 percent of median family income.

Property managers report they haven’t had any trouble keeping all 85 units fully occupied. “I had five or six openings at the beginning of last month, and they’re already filling up,” says Jacqueline Robinson of Cascade Management, Inc.

The Portland Development Commission contributed $2.5 million in TIF funds and $1 million in federal HOME funds to the $16 million project. Oregon Housing and Community Services and U.S. Bank provided tax-exempt bonds, and Key Bank provided Low Income Housing Tax Credit equity.
Robinson thought she would have to fill up three months after opening to meet tax credit requirements, but as it turned out the requirement didn’t apply, and the managers had no problem meeting the arbitrary deadline. She started taking applications in March and was fully leased by August.

“There was a lot of advertising, so we didn’t have any trouble finding people that could meet the requirements,” she says. “There were a lot of people that wanted to move in so I had a waiting list right away.”

Developed by husband/wife team Wayne Armstrong and Rolanne Stafford of Armstrong Development, Shaver Green is designated with Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Gold status. Energy-efficient features include radiant in-floor heating, energy efficient appliances and lighting, recycled steel studs, high-efficiency windows, and low-flow faucets and showerheads.

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