The selection means KemperCo LLC and the PDC can now begin negotiating a disposition and development agreement for the site, which is slated to include affordable apartments, for-sale condos, townhomes and street-level retail fronting both Killingsworth and North Interstate.
"We picked the proposal that we thought represented the shape and future of where we would like to see the Interstate Corridor go," says Walter Valenta, co-chair of the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Advisory Committee and a member of the selection committee that recommended Kemper's vision.
The Killingsworth Station project, estimated at $15 million, will be the first major PDC-sponsored development at an Interstate MAX light rail station and is intended to serve as a model for other transit-supportive developments along Interstate. Interstate MAX is scheduled to open in May 1, 2004.
The site is currently occupied by three single-family homes, one duplex, a former filling station and an undeveloped lot. The preliminary program for the redevelopment, pending further discussions with neighborhood representatives and City zoning officials, calls for: 56 affordable one- and two-bedroom rental units with rents below 60% of median family income, and 6,400 sf of ground floor commercial; 45 loft-style condominiums with average sale price of $125,000, and an additional 6,400 sf of ground floor commercial; seven three-bedroom townhomes targeted to families at or below 100% of median family income, and; two levels of structured parking for 80 vehicles.
Kemper will develop the affordable component of the project in partnership with Innovative Housing Inc. and Peninsula Community Development Corp., two non-profit organizations. Kemper says he hopes to start construction on the project in spring 2005 and complete it 12 months later.
PDC began acquiring properties within the Killingsworth block in September 2000 and part of its Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Plan and the Interstate MAX Station Area Revitalization Strategy. PDC successfully acquired six of seven parcels in the block by April 2003. The seventh parcel is a TriMet substation for the light rail line, and the PDC and Kemper are working to acquire the air rights above the substation so it can be incorporated into the project. In May 2003, the PDC issued a request for proposals for the property's redevelopment. KemperCo was one of five contenders.
In the RFP, the PDC mentioned that Advantage Northwest Credit Union, which currently owns and occupies space immediately south of the property across Killingsworth Street, was interested in occupying a portion of the ground floor space in the new development. Kemper says it's not going to happen. "They needed a drive-thru and parking," he says. "You can't fit that into a program like the one we are trying to pull off."
With more than 100 housing units slated for the parcel, Kemper says the biggest concerns among neighborhood representatives and city zoning officials are density, parking and transportation. "My view is that the density is not a problem; it can be overcome with a good, attractive design," says Kemper. "What we will need is a program that addresses parking and transportation concerns."
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