Recently, we asked you which vacant office spaces around town you’d recommend be converted to affordable housing. You know — the empty buildings you pass every day on your morning commute and think “that would make a great blank.” As usual, you did not disappoint. Here are four spots you thought could make hot homes.
The hot spots
3300 NE Broadway
, submitted anonymously
This 29,000-sqft building was originally built in 1918 as a factory for airplane wings during WWI. It was home to Gordon’s Fireplace Shop for 61 years before it closed in 2016.
426 SW Harvey Milk St.
, submitted anonymously
The 107,600-sqft J.K. Gill Building formerly served as Multnomah County’s Health Department headquarters
. It was renovated in 2020 but maintains some of its original exterior detailing from 1923.
550 NW Sixth Ave.
, submitted by Larry W.
Greyhound shut down this bus station in Old Town Chinatown in 2019, and the city of Portland has periodically used it
as a seasonal shelter for houseless residents.
400 SW Sixth Ave.
, submitted by Daniel W.
The 11-story office building and one-time home of Camera World underwent extensive renovations in 2019, including an updated exercise facility, but the COVID-19 pandemic upended developers’ aspirations and it was sold
a couple of years later.
The big picture
In case you missed it, the White House recently released a new plan
to convert vacant commercial buildings into residential housing through resources like:
- Grants: Funding from the government can help cover the costs of land acquisition and construction. For example, the Community Development Block Grant Program provides annual grants to fund housing projects.
- Land dispositions: Transferring property to local governments, non-profits, and for-profit developers can reduce the cost of affordable housing.
- Taxes: When transforming office space into housing, systems like plumbing, heating, and cooling typically need replacing. This can be an opportunity to make improvements to energy efficiency — which can be rewarded with tax incentives and credits.
There are more resources than we could possibly list — 20+ programs across multiple agencies. Good thing all the current federal resources are consolidated into this guidebook .