REACH Community Development (REACH) and community members celebrate the completion of 72Foster, providing 101 new permanently affordable apartment homes to SE Portland. Grand opening festivities will take place on Saturday, April 27th at 10:00 am at 5005 SE 72nd Ave, Portland with refreshments, brief program, and self-guided tours of the building.
72Foster is an intergenerational, mixed-use building, serving both seniors and families, with apartment sizes ranging from studios to 3-bedrooms. 72Foster also provides 8,900 sf of ground floor retail to serve the growing neighborhood. Current tenants include Pizzeria Otto, an old-world Neapolitan “pizza joint” devoted to the craft of Italian pizza making, opening late summer/early fall 2019.
72Foster emphasizes REACH’s goals of providing transit-oriented affordable living while building a vibrant community. As SE Portland’s population grows and outpaces the current housing supply, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people earning low wages or living on fixed incomes to find quality, affordable apartments. REACH’s 72Foster is addressing this need through rents affordable to residents earning approximately 60% of area Median Family Income (MFI), less than $34,200 for a single-person household. In addition, Home Forward has provided twenty apartments with Project-Based Section 8 vouchers; where residents will only pay 30% of their income in rent, serving those with extremely low-incomes. Onsite programs and services to residents will be provided through a partnership with the Asian Health and Service Center (AHSC).
“I’m so excited to see 72Foster open and serve the diverse cultural communities in SE Portland,” says CEO Dan Valliere. “We are especially grateful to our partner Asian Health and Service Center who, in addition to providing on-site services to residents, has shared our vision for transforming an old, overgrown parking lot into a vibrant community.”
REACH and AHSC has a shared vision on Housing with Services. Moreover, the partnership also identified a low percentage of Asians living in affordable housing. Since the early stage of this project, AHSC has provided support by engaging with the Asian community and soliciting input on the design to make the housing development more welcoming to Asian residents. AHSC also held community forums to educate the Asian community and provided leasing assistance.
“Home is where your heart belongs to. Asian immigrants work hard to have their home. Through affordable rents at 72Foster, many new immigrants can build up assets to acquire their permanent home,” says Dr. Szeto, Board Chair of AHSC. “Moreover, isolated seniors can move into this project and enjoy culturally appropriate services provided by AHSC and develop new friendships with new neighbors, in their new Home.”
The $24 million project is financed with funding from the KeyBank Community Development Corporation, KeyBank Community Development Lending, Freddie Mac (KeyBank Real Estate Capital as seller/servicer), Metro, Portland Housing Bureau, Home Forward, Oregon Housing and Community Services, and REACH Community Development, and is part of the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area. The building is designed by Holst Architecture with construction by LMC Construction Co. The property also includes an expansive solar array, made possible by Portland General Electric’s Green FutureSM customers through the company’s Renewable Development Fund. Thanks to this grant award, REACH was able to include a 106.5 kW array on the roof, offsetting utility costs for common space areas of the building. Visit www.portlandgeneral.com/rdf for more information about the program.
