Trammell Crow entity planning massive project in Sellwood

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A national multifamily developer is moving forward with a major market-rate apartment project in Portland. It’s perhaps the largest such development to enter the city’s permitting process since the pandemic began.

High Street Residential, a subsidiary of real estate giant Trammell Crow Co., proposes to build a seven-story building with 243 apartments in the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood. The project, known as Sellwood Bluff, would comprise 199,855 square feet in six- and seven-story sections. The apartment mix would range from studios to three-bedroom units, but a majority would be one-bedroom units.

If the team were to advance to construction, it would mark a significant sign of life in private-sector multifamily development. In recent years, the multifamily sector has been dominated by government-subsidized affordable housing as Portland and surrounding cities have leveraged nearly $1 billion in affordable housing bonds to build projects around the region.

Meanwhile, private-sector development has been stymied by a difficult investment environment and high borrowing costs. Perceptions of Portland haven’t helped either.

“It is extremely challenging to get anyone to put money into Oregon right now,” said Damin Tarlow, principal for Trammell Crow Co. in Portland.

Tarlow’s comments came Thursday when Sellwood Bluff went before the Portland Design Commission for a design advice hearing.

High Street Residential previously developed Mercato Grove, a Lake Oswego mixed-use community with 206 apartments and almost 50,000 square feet of retail space. That development was completed in 2021.

Sellwood Bluff would be purely residential. Tenants would enjoy views of Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, the Willamette River and the Southwest Hills. Although city design guidelines encourage the inclusion of ground-floor retail space, the developer and some design commissioners said retail would make little sense in the area.

“This is not a retail part of Milwaukie (Avenue), so I think it’s appropriate to be doing ground-floor residential,” said Brian McCarter, chairman of the Design Commission.

The property, 5515 S.E. Milwaukie Ave., hosts a two-story office building used by LaPorte Insurance. Much of the property is vacant or covered by surface parking.

The parcel, on a ridge overlooking Oaks Bottom, is significantly constrained. The western portion plunges down 50 feet to a public trail leading to Oaks Bottom and the Springwater Corridor Trail. High Street Residential also must deal with high-voltage transmission lines and other obstacles, leaving about 45,000 square feet of the 85,000-square-foot site as buildable area, said Kyle Andersen, principal at GBD Architects, which is designing the project.

“This is probably one of the toughest sites I’ve ever worked on,” Tarlow said. “We’re getting squeezed on all sides.”

Little developable land is left in Portland, Tarlow said, and the business plan requires that every square foot be used.

“We are at the zoning envelope,” he said. “We are at every corner of every edge.”

Commissioners’ comments focused on the project’s scale in context with the surrounding area — a quiet residential streetscape filled with single-family homes. Some expressed concern that the building will be read as a solid wall facing Milwaukie Avenue, a Southeast Portland thoroughfare.

The design features step-backs and other measures meant to reduce the building’s apparent mass, but commissioners suggested the architects do more.

“It is out of scale,” Commissioner Zari Santner said. “I know you have made an effort, but it’s not enough. It needs to be bolder.”

Commissioner Chandra Robinson agreed.

“Making some bigger moves to sculpt the whole mass of the building is what’s going to make it feel more contextual for you and for the neighbors,” she said.

The project team indicated it’s open to design changes — but only ones that do not sacrifice square footage. Reducing the size “will kill the project, effectively forever,” Tarlow said.

Public comments centered on concerns about the size of the building, traffic and parking. One neighbor said the project “is going to look like a cruise ship.”

Another neighbor, Ameena Lacey, said neighborhood amenities are already overcrowded.

“Do we really need this many more apartments in our neighborhood?” she said.

But the city is under pressure from state and local officials to produce more housing, with Gov. Tina Kotek setting aggressive goals for residential construction.

Another nearby resident, Myles Gray, said he welcomes the project.

“Portland needs more housing,” he said, “and the more people who live in Portland, the better — for the environment and the city.”

Sellwood Bluff would be the largest multifamily project in the neighborhood, eclipsing Meetinghouse, a 135,289-square-foot, 232-unit building, also on Milwaukie Avenue. That one was backed by NBP Capital and completed in 2019.

Tarlow said he’ll take the neighbors’ complaints to heart.

“We’ll continue to try to find ways to address concerns of the context,” he said. “Believe me, we get it. Big is scary.”