housing

South Albany fields: See them while you can

Written July 15th, 2022 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 10 responses.

With the summer sun low in the west, I took a bike ride Thursday night to take another look at the fast-disappearing farmland on Albany’s south side.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: annexation, Ellingson Road, farm fields, grass-seed fields, housing, Lochner Road, South Albany, South Albany Area Plan

Would lower fees make houses affordable?

Written May 9th, 2022 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 12 responses.

In the interest of making houses more “affordable,” the Albany City Council seems inclined to lower systems development charges on small new single-family dwellings and raise them on big ones. But “affordable” is not a firm number, so whether the idea works is impossible to predict.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: affordable housing, Albany council, Albany housing, housing, impact fees, systems development charges

On Marion Street, plans for more housing

Written April 29th, 2022 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 9 responses.

Owners of about 6 acres of vacant land on the west side of Southeast Marion Street in Albany are asking for a zone change as they prepare to build attached housing there.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: apartments, housing, Marion Street, multiple-family housing, Spies Real Estate Group, te, zone change

Riverside apartments post what they’ll cost

Written April 25th, 2022 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 35 responses.

Once again last week, the bike took me on the trail between the Willamette River and The Banks, the 120-unit apartment complex under construction near Bowman Park in Albany. Then, over the weekend, I noticed that the Salem-based developers have opened a website that shows the floor plans of different units and what they will […]

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: Albany apartments, apartment rent, Bowman Park, cost of rent, housing, Simpson Park, The Banks, Willamette River

And now, a site plan at 4th and Calapooia

Written January 29th, 2022 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 7 responses.

The northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and Calapooia Street in Albany has been in the news for years, but not lately. So how about an update?

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: 4th and Calapooia, Bill Ryals, Calapooia Commons, Calapooia Court, housing, land use, Monteith Historic District, Siegner

Time to revisit airport’s future, again?

Written January 23rd, 2022 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 21 responses.

Every 25 years or so, someone in the Albany city government thinks it would be a good idea to get rid of the municipal airport and use the land for something else. And now that time may have come again.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany Airport, council goal-setting, federal airport funds, housing, long range planning, Mayor Alex Johnson II

A project on vacant corner: 16 townhouses

Written November 23rd, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 10 responses.

Albany’s city planning division has just approved a site plan for a set of 16 “townhome-style multifamily units” on the south side of town. The plans are a departure from the single-family development pattern that dominates land use farther west along Southwest 53rd Avenue.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: 53rd Avenue, Albany housing, Albany land use, housing, South Albany, townhomes, Varitone Architecture