Broadleaf Arbor

ST. HELENS, OREGON

Goal: Serve as a Community for All Ages, an intentional community where people of all ages live, work, and play together with access to essential services, commercial, retail, and office amenities.

Broadleaf Arbor is a collaboration between Community Development Partners (CDP) and Northwest Oregon Housing Authority (NOHA) and comprised of 239 apartments of intergenerational living. The 11-building property is located on 16 acres in St. Helens at the intersection of Gable Road and Columbia River Hwy, only steps away from essential services, commercial, retail, and office amenities. The development has been programmed and designed as a Community for All Ages, fostering intergenerational community, with on-site wellness and creativity programs hosted by the lead service partner, EngAGE NW.

The project includes onsite parking, bicycle storage, a central community building adjacent to an expansive lawn and playground, common space in the senior building that includes a library, teaching kitchen, and courtyard, laundry facilities throughout the project, and specific attention paid to the site. The site has been designed to take advantage of the wetlands on the property by including a trail system that runs along its edge and ample outdoor spaces for recreational opportunities, including the lawn, picnic and BBQ areas, gardening opportunities, and native and edible plants and trees, giving residents the opportunity to experience culturally relevant landscaping.

DEVELOPMENT

Through CDP’s work with the Center for Public Interest Design (CPID), the team was able to identify organizations, amenities, and service providers for the project through extensive community outreach and engagement. This work informed the design process, and as a result, Broadleaf Arbor will incorporate important features including large multi-purpose spaces, such as a teaching kitchen, walking paths along the existing wetlands, and community gardens.

Broadleaf Arbor was awarded a 4% LIHTC allocation in addition to LIFT funds through OHCS. The project also received funding through an Energy Provider Contribution from Columbia River Public Utility District.

DATA
  • Number of units: 239
  • Lot size: 16 acres
  • Density: 14.6units/acre
  • Unit size: 605-1,290 sf
  • Unit mix: 82 1BD, 101 2BD, 73 3BD
  • Parking Spaces: 444
  • Affordability: 30%, 50%, 60% AMI
  • Sustainability: Earth Advantage Certification
  • Total Cost: $85.5M
TEAM
  • Architect: MWA Architects
  • Contractor: LMC Construction
  • Property Management: Guardian Management LLC
  • Partner: Northwest Oregon Housing Authority

PARTNERS

CDP has partnered with the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority (NOHA) to develop and own the project and EngAGE NW to provide resident services at Broadleaf Arbor. In addition to EngAGE NW, a community-wide collaboration of service providers including Latino Network, Community Action Team, St. Helens Senior Center, Columbia Pacific Food Bank, and Columbia County Mental Health will work to connect residents to services that support family stability through educational and employment programs that include; financial stability, school enrollment and food assistance.

Northwest Oregon Housing Authority (NOHA)

The Northwest Oregon Housing Authority (NOHA) is a public housing agency providing subsidized housing for eligible low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Their mission is to break the cycle of poverty by ensuring safe, affordable, decent housing for residents in Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook Counties.

EngAGE NW

EngAGE is a nonprofit that takes a holistic approach to community and creativity by providing on-site arts, wellness, lifelong learning, community building and intergenerational programs to thousands of seniors and families living in affordable senior and multi-generational apartment communities in California, Oregon, and Minnesota. Providing on-site programs reduces primary barriers to engagement – cost and transportation– maximizing impact.

Founded in 1999 as More Than Shelter for Seniors, EngAGE has worked continuously as leading experts in aging arts programming. In the last few years, they have adapted to include intergenerational communities. The goal of EngAGE is to change lives across generations by transforming affordable housing into centers of community, learning, and well-being.

Founded in 1999 as More Than Shelter for Seniors, EngAGE has worked continuously as leading experts in aging arts programming. In the last few years, they have adapted to include intergenerational communities. The goal of EngAGE is to change lives across generations by transforming affordable housing into centers of community, learning, and well-being.

Center For Public Interest Design (CPID)

The Center for Public Interest Design is a research [+action] center at Portland State University that aims to investigate, promote, and engage in inclusive design practices that address the growing needs of underserved communities worldwide. Through research and design, fieldwork, and public outreach, CPID promotes a mode of practice that is socially conscious, environmentally sustainable, and economically accessible to all.

From a practical standpoint, CDP and NOHA engaged CPID to lead the asset-based development outreach and research in St. Helens. This research identified existing resident-serving assets that are in the surrounding community as well as identifying needs that are not being met by those existing assets. The process involved utilizing PSU Master of Architecture studio students and CPID fellows and staff for on-the-ground outreach and interpretation of findings into a conclusive report. The entire process produces an in depth understanding of the community’s assets and needs that can then be utilized to inform the concept and design of the project. The end result is a project that has been thoughtfully concepted and that provides the greatest benefit to the community.