Rezoning and Capital: Portland’s Twin Push to Restart Apartments 09/30/25
Portland’s apartment push: Two major developments last week highlight how Portland leaders and housing advocates are working to restart apartment construction.
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Eastside Rezone Could Triple Capacity: on Thursday, September 25th, the Portland City Council previewed a proposal that could reshape close-in eastside neighborhoods, currently dominated by single-family homes. The rezoning—championed by Portland: Neighbors Welcome—would allow mid-scale apartments across a 12th to 60th Avenue swath. This change would potentially expand housing capacity from 26,000 to 144,000 units. Advocates rallied outside City Hall with coffee and doughnuts, pushing for “nice homes for people at much lower prices.” Council staff acknowledged that infrastructure—from TriMet to sewers—will be tested, especially as the city has already waived SDCs for three years. For developers, this opens corridors like Hawthorne, Division, and Belmont to the kind of 15–20 unit apartment buildings that were off-limits for decades.
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Financing Task Force Convenes: on Friday, Sept. 26, Gov. Tina Kotek and Mayor Keith Wilson convened a roundtable to address the other bottleneck: money. Portland is on track to deliver the fewest new housing units since the Great Recession. Leaders pulled in developers, brokers, investors, and lenders to hammer out solutions. Participants included:
Developers: Bob Ball (Robert Ball Cos.), Matt Segrest (Alamo Manhattan), Mark Madden (WDC Properties), Preston Greene (Urban Development Partners), Travis Drilling (Lincoln Property Co.), Tom Kilbane (Urban Renaissance Group), Cassidy Bolger (Killian Pacific).
Community, Equity & Sales: Ernesto Fonseca (Hacienda CDC) and select real estate brokers.
Capital Providers: Dave Butler (Argosy Real Estate Partners), Charlie Kokernak (Gantry), Matt Friedman (Rockwood Capital), Eliza Bailey (Belay Investment Group), Emily Mandic (American Assets Trust).
Lenders: Pamela Leavitt (GoWest Credit Union Association), Wendy Beth Oliver (OnPoint CU), Seth Schaefer (Rivermark CU), Larry Ellifritz (Consolidated Community CU), Thomas Shirlaw (Heritage Bank), Amaya Urzaa (First Interstate Bank).
This follows earlier recommendations to pause SDCs and encourage office-to-residential conversions as part of Portland’s apartment push. Mayor Wilson emphasized that “by working hand-in-hand with private and public partners, we’re laying the groundwork. The goal is a Portland where every individual has a safe, affordable place to call home.”
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