Inclusive Prosperity
Housing in Lloyd
In the face of a housing crisis, Lloyd stands to absorb thousands of units in housing over the next decade. How is this best achieved? Alongside our partners, we intend to find out.
Lloyd EcoDistrict contracted with Revive Planning, a group of Master of Urban and Regional Planning students at Portland State University, to study potential policy interventions to spur office-to-residential conversions, specifically in Portland’s Central City neighborhood of Lloyd.
Though the project initially was focused on commercial building conversions, the team made alternative final recommendations based on their research.
1) Work with property owners of surface parking lots.
The abundance of underutilized surface parking lots in Lloyd is a greater opportunity to redevelop land into housing through public partnerships.
2) Advocate for a statewide land value tax.
To disincentive speculative holdings and increase density.
3) Retire the Lloyd Design Overlay.
Retiring the overlay would streamline the development process and decrease permitting approval timelines.
4) Study costs and benefits of seismic standards for office.
Designing offices within the same risk category as residential use should be studied further.
Final Report
The final report produced by the PSU team was based on discussions with property owners, planners, developers, architects, and community organizations from March 2023 to May 2024 to gain context on conversions and policy solutions. The team also developed an evaluation matrix and a robust financial model to test assumptions and costs related to each recommendation.
View the final presentation:
View or download the final report.
Existing Conditions Report
The first report produced by the PSU team analyzes existing conditions in the Lloyd as a foundation for further research into the possibility of office-to-residential conversions in the district. The report is divided into four sections.
Key Takeaways:
● Lloyd is still primarily commercial over residential, but the zoning code allows a lot of flexibility and thus potential to make meaningful changes.
● Lloyd has a legacy of displacement in favor of economic development, especially due to the large infrastructure projects in the second half of the 20th century, which displaced a large portion of Portland’s Black community.
● Several policies have been implemented recently to make conversion easier, but they are either too new or insufficient to move the needle meaningfully.
● There are significant financial hurdles to conversion, especially with seismic retrofit requirements in Portland. Office vacancy rates are still lower than in the Commercial Business District (CBD), and current
market conditions have not deteriorated enough for conversion to be attractive for most buildings.
View or download the Existing Conditions Report.
Next Steps
Using the report’s findings, we are planning the next steps to advocate for increased housing in Lloyd through policy change, public/private partnerships, TIF funding, targeted outreach, and conversations with subject matter experts.
Would you like to chat? Reach out at kristin@ecolloyd.org.