New North Portland Development Aims to Repair Harms of Urban Renewal

Feb 28, 2025

Oregon Public Broadcasting

A long-vacant block on Portland’s North Russell Street and North Williams Avenue, which was once one of the epicenters of a thriving Black community, will finally house people once again.

The corner was razed in the early 1970s as part of an urban renewal project to make way for a hospital expansion that never occurred. The proposed expansion of what was then Emanuel Hospital led to the demolition of more than 300 homes and businesses in the predominantly Black neighborhood.

Today, about 50 years later, construction will begin on a new development there with an 85-unit apartment building, 20 single-family homes and office and retail space for Black-owned businesses. The project will be finished by 2028.

The groundbreaking comes nearly a decade after Legacy Health agreed to hand over the property for development. In 2017, the city’s urban renewal agency, Legacy Health and then-Mayor Ted Wheeler announced a project to develop the property.

Bryson Davis, the president of the nonprofit behind the project, Williams & Russell CDC, and Anyeley Hallová, CEO and founder of the real estate development company, Adre, joined OPB’s “Think Out Loud” to discuss the project.