![Willamette Week — “City of Portland Stumps Up $15 Million for Apartment Building Bargain Hunters” [9/18/24]](https://www.hfore.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Depositphotos_10425436_S.jpg)
Willamette Week — “City of Portland Stumps Up $15 Million for Apartment Building Bargain Hunters” [9/18/24]
City of Portland Stumps Up $15 Million for Apartment Building Bargain Hunters Willamette Week | Anthony Effinger | Sept. 18, 2024
Willamette Week turned to HFO Real Estate co-founder Greg Frick for expert perspective on a new City of Portland plan to convert market-rate apartments into affordable housing. The Portland Housing Bureau is making $15 million available to developers to buy existing buildings rather than build new ones. It is drawing on the city’s share of Metro’s 2018 housing bond. The bureau’s case echoes one Frick has made to public buyers for years. Specifically, existing buildings are often a bargain next to new construction. For example, he pointed to the 141-unit Perch building on North Interstate Avenue, which sold for about $219,858 a unit. That is much lower than the roughly $411,134 per unit it cost to build the new Las Adelitas complex.
Frick has shown these kinds of deals to public agencies for years with little success. He told the paper, “We’ve shown them so many properties.” Agencies have favored new projects, he said, because buying existing buildings “is not as sexy as doing a new building.” He also offered a read on timing. Frick noted the apartment market likely hit its low point in late 2023, when the 10-year Treasury yield climbed toward 5% before easing to 3.7%. This move relieved pressure on owners who might otherwise need to sell.
Read the full story: City of Portland Stumps Up $15 Million for Apartment Building Bargain Hunters
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