Rosewood Plaza
DEVELOPMENT SCOPE
Redevelopment of a neglected market-rate apartment complex to create 45 affordable housing units and a community dental clinic.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
East Portland’s Rockwood neighborhood has one of the highest poverty rates in Multnomah County and one of the lowest levels of access to medical services. The Rosewood Plaza redevelopment project, sponsored by Human Solutions, addresses some of Rockwood’s hardest-to-meet housing and health care needs. It contains 45 affordable rental housing units (26 renovated and 19 new), a community dental clinic operated by nonprofit healthcare provider the Wallace Medical Concern, and administrative offices for Wallace. Seven apartment units are sized for larger families, with three to four bedrooms, and four units offer rents affordable to households earning 30 percent or less of area median income.
Rosewood Plaza has transformed a formerly market-rate rental property with a history of neglect and mismanagement into a positive community asset. The property forms a single campus with Human Solutions’ adjacent Rockwood Building, where Rosewood residents have access to essential services, from Head Start classes to employment training. Rosewood’s onsite dental clinic provides services to project residents as well as to residents of the surrounding community.
Creative Solutions
Finance: It took a creative funding strategy to address the significant costs of serving large families and very-low-income households at Rosewood. A capital campaign, seeded by M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and Meyer Memorial Trust, raised nearly $1 million of the total $13.1 million project budget. HDC assisted Human Solutions with assembling an additional $12 million in financing, including a $350,000 property acquisition loan from HDC Community Fund, low-income-housing tax credit equity, HOME funds, private loans, and Oregon Housing and Community Services grants.
Design and Construction: HDC worked with Human Solutions, Carleton Hart Architecture, and Walsh Construction to integrate a multi-use program into an existing 1970s apartment complex and to connect the new redevelopment with the adjoining Rockwood Building to create a unified campus. A new four-story structure, built on a former parking area, is home to 19 new housing units and Wallace Medical Concern’s facility. Twenty-six existing apartment units were updated to improve comfort, energy efficiency, and air quality. An exercise room, kids’ play area, property manager’s unit, and resident services office serve the entire Rosewood-Rockwood campus.
SPONSOR
Human Solutions
LOCATION
Gresham, Oregon
HDC ROLE
Predevelopment assistance and construction management
DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS
→ Carleton Hart Architecture
→ Walsh Construction
→ Oregon Housing and Community Services
→ City of Gresham
→ Bank of America
→ NOAH (Network for Oregon Affordable Housing)
→ HDC Community Fund
FUNDING SOURCES
→ Low-income-housing tax credit equity (9%)
→ HOME funds
→ Oregon General Housing Account Program (GHAP) funds
→ Oregon Multifamily Energy Program funds
→ Acquisition, construction, and permanent loans
→ Sponsor capital campaign
SQUARE FEET
New residential: 23,745
Rehabbed residential: 19,860
Wallace clinic and offices: 4,835
Parking: 6,270
Total: 54,710
COST
Acquisition: $1.37 million
Construction: $7.5 million
Total Development: $13.1 million
TIMELINE
Summer 2013 to Spring 2016