"This site came up as a perfect spot for redevelopment," recalls Russ Peterson, senior investment manager at Center Commons in Portland. The newly constructed 314-unit development on 3.4 acres features affordable and market-rate family rental apartments, senior rental housing, market-rate single-family townhomes, a 1,200-square-foot retail space, and a daycare center. Built on a former Oregon State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) facility in an older, settled neighborhood of the city, Center Commons is just a few minutes from downtown Portland using rapid transit or Highway 84.

The mixed uses at Center Commons make for management challenges, according to Peterson. "How do you market, how do you staff it? How do you attract seniors when across the parking lot is a family building?" Yet, the mixed uses seem to work at Center Commons. "A lot of seniors come out and spend time with the kids," says Peterson. Seniors watch the children from their balconies or from outdoor seating areas next to the play lot in the inner courtyard. A few grandparents of resident children live in the building for seniors.

The mixture of generations provides opportunity, according to Amy Clouse, director of Grandma's Place, a daycare facility at Center Village, a 60-unit affordable apartment development within the Center Commons complex. When the weather is rainy or too hot for outdoor exercise, she says, daycare staff take the toddlers for a walk in the seniors' building.

"Seniors in the recreation room just love having the kids come by, and the kids love to visit. The children can run and play there and they get a lot of attention," says Clouse. Last year some senior residents made a gingerbread and candy house, bringing it over as a surprise for the children's Christmas party.

Accommodating neighborhood wants. Antisprawl ordinances have drawn an urban growth boundary around the city of Portland, increasing the demand for affordable housing within the city. In 1997, when the Portland Development Commission (PDC) purchased the old DMV site on Glisan Street from the state and asked for bids, Lennar Affordable Communities won the competition and purchased the site from PDC. American Pacific Properties, Lennar's development arm, built Center Commons along with approximately 2,000 units of affordable housing nationwide using tax credits and other subsidies.

Lennar signed Pinnacle to manage the property. Pinnacle manages approximately 110,000 units in 42 states, about one-third of them with subsidies to make them affordable to people making less than the area median income (AMI). In Center Commons, 60 of the family apartments are affordable housing. Eighty percent of renters must be households that earn between 50 percent and 30 percent of AMI.

The large DMV land parcel—situated two blocks from a rapid transit station, on a bus line, and near a highway—seemed natural for apartment development. Yet, according to Peterson, "the neighborhood was concerned about seeing the typical highrise building with a big parking lot go up." Lennar worked with the neighborhood, local agencies, and the state of Oregon to come up with the right design, in Peterson's words, "to build this place and make it work."

One factor that helped keep parking areas small was a decision to devote 60 percent of the apartments (172 out of 288) to senior residents who are less likely to own cars. The development has about one parking place for every two units, considerably less than the average one and one-half to two parking spaces per unit in a typical suburban development.

The senior facility and the family apartments face each other around a center court that has a play lot, outdoor seating areas, and pedestrian pathways to the transit station. The court is shaded by a few mature trees. On the freeway side, the senior highrise has triple-glazed windows and extra sound insulation.

Pinnacle contracts with Meals on Wheels and other community providers for resident services. Residents use bus and transit to get to nearby shopping areas and Providence Hospital.

The project was executed in four phases. Phase I—the 60 affordable apartments for families at Center Village, with two, three, and four bedrooms—opened in June 2000. It was fully leased within 3 weeks, according to Peterson. Phase II, consisting of 56 market-rate apartments, is about 96-percent occupied. Phase III, Center Commons, the 172-unit elderly residence, opened in August 2000 and is expected to be fully occupied by July 2001. Phase IV, 26 townhouses for sale at market price, went on the market in March 2001.

Grandma's Place serves children. Rent-free, donated space enables the small daycare center, licensed for just for 36 children, to remain in operation. The break on the rent also makes possible a 15-percent discount to children of residents. Grandma's Place employs a director, eight teachers, and a part-time cook. Although it has in the past accepted infants, it will soon serve only preschoolers—children aged 18 months to 5 years.

Approximately 10 of the children who attend the daycare center are residents of the development—some live in the affordable units, others in the market-rate apartments. The independent, family-owned daycare facility is one of three Grandma's Place daycare centers in the city. Grandma's Place at Center Village continues to find ways to build on the natural warmth between children and the elderly, according to Clouse. The daycare center's weekly Kinderdance class is held in the senior center's spacious activity room. By summer, ABC bingo or color bingo games, held in the activity center, will bring seniors and preschoolers together.

For more information, contact: Russ Peterson, Senior Investment Manager, Pinnacle Realty Management Company, 621 SW. Morrison Street, Suite 750, Portland, OR 97205, (503) 242–0011; or Amy Clouse, Director, Grandma's Place at Center Village, 5845 NE. Hoyt, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97213.

Or see: "'New Urbanism' Inspires Portland Development," Affordable Housing Finance, Vol. 8, No. 10, November/December 2000, pp. 58, 93-94.