Williams & Russell Project seeks to revitalize Black Portland
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The Williams & Russell Project as its expected to look in a few years. Photo: Courtesy of Williams & Russell CDC
Crews are set to break ground Friday on a 1.7-acre site that was once home to the "center of the African American commercial district" in Portland before it was condemned in the 1970s in the name of urban renewal.
Why it matters: The Williams & Russell Project, named for the intersection where it's located, aims to provide space for the Black community, especially for those whose family members were displaced.
- "People who rightfully deserve to be there will get first dibs," said Azalea Renfield, executive director of Williams & Russell Community Development Corp.
Context: Roughly 50 years ago, the area was condemned by the city when what was then called the Emanuel Hospital sought to expand its footprint.
- More than 170 families, the majority of them Black, were displaced and their homes were razed.
- Funding for the expansion failed to materialize and, in many cases, the displaced families saw the sites of their former homes turned into vacant lots.
- The block at Williams and Russell sat derelict for decades until 2017 when now-Legacy Emanuel Medical Center — along with the city and its economic and urban development agency, Prosper Portland — agreed to donate the land and develop it through a community-driven process.
By the numbers: The $120 million development will feature a 30,000-square-foot business hub, 85 apartments for rent, 20 townhomes for sale — with the dwellings available to people making 30% to 120% of the median income for the area.
- The business hub will house event, retail and office space, along with areas for workforce training, a business accelerator and a podcast studio.
- "We're basically going to revitalize Black Portland and make it an epicenter, a place to be with our community," Renfield said.
- Townhome construction is expected to be done next year, followed by the apartments in 2027 and the business hub in early 2028.
What they're saying: Dana Fuller Shephard, a board member of the development corporation and executive director of the Portland Housing Center, said seeing the block abandoned for so many years has been an enduring source of harm for the Black community.
- "Aside from it being an eyesore, it is pretty traumatizing for people that have been displaced to see it," she told Axios. "To have something so beautiful be restored and be intentional about who it actually serves is one of the greatest things."
Renfield said the project is an example of a "prototype to show how reparations should be done."
- "This is really a community — a Black-led community — effort," she said. "It didn't happen from the city putting this together. It didn't happen from a random nonprofit. It really was a community that started all this."