More apartments are on the way in Portland

Yesterday I had a piece published about how difficult it is to find an open apartment in Portland. One thing that’s worth mentioning is that, even though the market’s really tight, there’s a bunch of new apartments are on the way.

The first phase of the high-profile proposed Midtown development complex in Portland’s growing Bayside neighborhood includes 180 apartments, and Portland Economic Development Director Gregory Mitchell said another 39-unit complex at the corner of Pine and Brackett streets is in the works.

Greg Payne of Avesta Housing scans a fourth floor efficiency apartment in the organization’s new Oak Street Lofts building, which opened last year. The 37 units in the building, nestled in the city’s arts district, were marketed as affordable for local artists. (BDN file photo by me)

Ninety four units are proposed for a development on Newbury Street and Avesta will hold a grand opening for a new 54-apartment facility on Pearl Street next month (although some folks have already moved in there).

In any case, that’s more than 270 new apartments in just a couple of projects.

If Portland grows by another 9,000 or 10,000 people over the next decade, as the organization Creative Portland has set for a population growth goal, those apartments and more will be necessary.

Then again, if the population of the city remains between 65,000 and 68,000, which Portland has pretty persistently remained for years and the average household size creeps back up from today’s 1.6 people to up around what might be a rightsized 2 or so, the incoming influx of units could create a surplus.

Seth Koenig

About Seth Koenig

Seth has nearly a decade of professional journalism experience and writes about the greater Portland region.