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Brad Ketch, the former tech executive-turned-nonprofit director who recently lost an emergency shelter contract with Multnomah County amid accounting disputes, is charging ahead with plans to build 56 units of affordable housing in the Rockwood section of Gresham, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the metro area.
The Gresham Design Commission reviewed the proposed four-story complex, called “Pine & Ash,” at a meeting Aug. 6.
East County Housing LLC, an entity controlled by Ketch, aims to combine four lots it owns between Southeast Ash and Pine streets off 181st Avenue and erect an L-shaped, 55,000-square-foot building, according to plans submitted to the Design Commission.
East County owns another building 1½ miles north on 181st: Rockwood Tower, a family shelter that, until July 1, housed 50 homeless families, paid for by Multnomah County.
The arrangement collapsed after East County Housing threatened to sue Multnomah County for unpaid bills and the county alleged East County had billed it for empty rooms and charged inflated prices for maintenance.
Public documents show East County Housing borrowed $2.37 million from Washington Federal Bank in January, pledging Rockwood Tower and another property as collateral.
East County Housing bought Rockwood Tower, an old Best Western hotel, in 2021, with a $6.8 million grant of taxpayer money awarded by the Oregon Community Foundation, which disbursed a total of $125 million to grantees who promised to turn old hotels into shelters across Oregon.
East County Housing used the January loan for capital and operational expenses, repairs to Rockwood Tower, “and to fill gaps in the pre-development of Pine & Ash,” spokeswoman Savannah Carreno said in an email.
