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The next stop for Portland's apartment boom? Neighborhoods east of 82nd Avenue.
As first reported in Wednesday's Murmurs, a new report from the city's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability predicts commercial districts in East Portland will see 11,600 new apartment units built in the next 20 years.
The projected apartment growth would hit neighborhoods such as Parkrose, Lents and Gateway, where residents have long complained about a lack of basic city services and amenities.
Since 2005, only 1,005 permits have been issued for multifamily residences in East Portland. The projected growth would double its share of the city's apartment construction.
"For the last decade, East Portland has been unusually quiet in terms of development," says Eric Engstrom, a principal planner for the city. "It's probably not a safe planning assumption to assume that will continue."
Many areas also lack the easily defined business districts of inner-Portland neighborhoods that have witnessed an apartment-building frenzy. The report introduces new commercial zones, such as the "Jade District" along Southeast 82nd Avenue, and "Midway" along outer Southeast Division Street.
The city's report confirms what anybody driving in East Portland notices: Many of those commercial zones are dominated by strip malls and fast-food drive-thrus.
Engstrom, who oversees the city's Comprehensive Plan for BPS, says planners want to "downzone" residential neighborhoods in East Portland—that means making them less densely packed, and pushing tighter, walking-oriented development into the new commercial zones. He says the bureau's plans include new sidewalks and bike lanes.
"The geography is just fundamentally different," says Engstrom. "But we are trying to cultivate distinct centers—which may not be obvious to people driving around there today."
WWeek 2015