At 241 Waverly Drive S.E., work to build Hub City Village was well under way Tuesday, when the bike took me past the address.
Now that construction on Hub City Village has started, when will this planned unit development of 27 small houses in Albany be ready for otherwise homeless people to move in?
If everything goes according to plan, the opening date may be less than a year away.
As sometimes happens, I was out of town last weekend, when Creating Housing Coalition held a groundbreaking ceremony on the 1.4-acre building site on southeast Waverly Drive.
To catch up, I asked for some details such as the schedule for this venture and the cost. And here’s what I got from Stacey Bartholomew, president of the nonprofit Housing Coalition.
The budget for this project, it turns out, is about $4.7 million.
To help pay for it, the volunteer organization raised about $520,000 in donations over the past five years.
In addition, there have been several big contributions in the form of private, city, state and federal grants totaling roughly $4 million.
“This leaves us with approximately $250,000 to $300,000 short depending on contingencies,” Bartholomew said. “We are applying to Oregon Community Foundation in their fall funding round. We also will continue to fund-raise, and I am not counting any donations that I am expecting from recent pledges.”
To build the place, Creating Housing Coalition has contracted with Damon Olsen of JBLC Construction in Philomath. “He was our best selection as he will work with us to give credit for volunteer hours worked,” Bartholomew said. “We have several groups and individuals ready to give time to construction.”
So when will the place by ready? Bartholomew: “The target date for completion is March 31, 2024.”
If you want to learn more about the background of this project, the first of its kind in Albany, search for previous stories on this site or go to the website of Creating Housing Coalition Albany.
And if you want to keep track of the builder’s progress, drive, walk or ride your bike to the block between Salem Avenue and Pacific Boulevard of Waverly Drive. (hh)
Great article on Oregonlive.com about the village in Portland. I’ll let Hartman brief you on it. Don’t want to give you a biased account.
Yeah, the article says pretty much what I expected. For the life of me, I can’t understand why people would want to try and make Albany more like Portland.
Touché
I cannot begin to describe the pride I feel when I learn just how much Al Nyman deeply values my humble opinion. His support tells me that he respects my opinion. I can only assume that Al Nyman is my Biggest Fan. Thanks. Keep the kind words coming. Your strong backing is what inspires me to continue. Thank you, Al Nyman. You are my inspiration in all things.
Happy for the kind remarks but thought you would go to Vox News, which I have never read, and give us the facts about the PDX small village. I wouldn’t want you to quote from a liberal publication like the Oregonian.
Awesome…