Security Properties opens 219 Portland units at Pop Blocks

Work began in the fall of 2022 on Phase I of the Pop Blocks in East Portland. Security Properties is the developer of that 5-acre project in the Kerns neighborhood, which is replacing most of an old Pepsi plant.

Mithun prepared the master plan and designed the seven-story Phase I apartment building, dubbed Splash, with R&H Construction as the builder.

Those 219 units have opened at 875 N.E. 27th Ave., Security Properties announced this week. The first move-ins began in late October, apparently on a phased basis.

Security Properties is based in Seattle, and is an active developer up and down the West Coast. Its Sarah Zahn said in a statement, “We’re thrilled to be bringing this exciting community to the Kerns neighborhood after years of planning and construction.”

That planning began well before the over $27 million land sale in 2017. For the next few years, Pepsi then leased back the plant and midcentury modernist office building, with its distinctive wooden bowstring-truss supports. That 8,300-square-foot pavilion, built in the ’60s, is to be completely restored. It sits in the plaza between the two wings of Splash, with its L-shaped footprint.

Zahn continued, “With the completion of the public plaza on Northeast Sandy [Boulevard], we hope Portlanders stop by and join us in welcoming residents to Splash.” That large plaza also has a water feature, seating and a 20-foot-high sculpture, also dubbed Splash, by artist Michael Benisty.

Units at Splash run from studios to three-beds. Featured monthly rents include $2,380 for a one-bed on the ground floor, with 725 square feet; and $3,895 for a three-bed on the top floor, which has 1,294 square feet. As an incentive to new residents, up to six weeks of free rent is being offered. Eleven units are to be affordable, per an agreement with the city.

All the apartments are cooled and heated by package terminal heat pumps (PTHPs). Other green features include LED lighting, low-flow plumbing and a reverse-cycle chiller plant to heat the water building-wide. Security Properties previously estimated that Splash would use about half the energy of a comparable building.

Amenities include a roof deck and lounge, outdoor terraces with barbecue stations, coworking spaces, bike storage and pet spa with grooming stations. Underground parking has 194 stalls; 40 of those feature Type II EV charging.

The Pop Blocks team has thus far included Swenson Say Faget, structural engineer; GeoEngineers, geotechnical; MetLife Investment Management, capital partner; Bank of the West, the construction lender; and Jade Investment Group, which aided in the land purchase.

The central pavilion, with its 48 glue-lam arches now nearly restored by SSF and R&H, is to house retail and restaurant tenants. Urban Works Real Estate is the broker, as it is for the two separate retail bays within Splash itself.

SSF says the pavilion’s mass-timber beams had dry rot near grade. Then, “Each primary arch was fitted with steel collars precisely fabricated to match the existing arch and pin connection to the foundation buttress. The collars allowed the decayed ends of the arches to be removed and spliced to the foundation. Select secondary arches were removed and replaced, and connections were strengthened throughout.”

What’s next for the Pop Blocks? Ankrom Moisan Architects is designing Building B, to the east of Splash. That eight-story project is to add 165 units (14 of them affordable), with 127 underground parking stalls. There’s no declared schedule for that, aka Phase II, though SSF says it’s begun.

Nor is there any timeline for the two north blocks. Mithun’s approved master plan is for about 1.2 million square feet. That could include over 1,100 residential units, 450,000 square feet of offices and 30,000 square feet of retail.

When Splash was announced, Security Properties then valued that project at around $112 million.

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