What’s being sold?
Neighborhood House holds three properties in Multnomah Village: the administration building on Capitol Highway, the garden alongside, and the Free Food Market and parking lot directly behind on SW Moss. All three properties are being offered for sale as a package.
Why are you selling?
Both the Admin building and the Free Food Market do not suit our current need to expand and combine our program services under one roof. The Food Market is drastically undersized to serve the growing number of neighbors who need food assistance.
Can you redevelop the site instead?
We’ve investigated many options with different partners to turn the existing property into something that supports the community: housing, a childcare center, a revamped food bank. Nothing has worked out financially. Also, the slope of the property doesn’t lend itself to redevelopment for those uses, such as housing or Head Start. Tearing down and rebuilding is cost prohibitive, would negatively affect programs, and was ruled out by our Board of Directors.
Where will you go?
We identified a former office building on SW Barbur Boulevard, just .4 miles away from our current location. With 16,000 square feet, there’s room to bring multiple programs together: the Free Food Market, Senior Center, Housing staff and other administrative staff will all be under one roof. The new location has ample parking and better transit options. We can develop a beautiful and invigorating space with input from the community we serve.
Will there be a change in services or accessibility?
Neighborhood House programs will continue serving the community while our future home on Barbur Blvd. is being developed. Once we move into our future home, service offerings will actually expand and access to the new location will improve, especially with the Free Food Market and Senior Center. The Market space will expand by 400%, which will allow us to serve 50-100% more people! We’ll keep the community abreast well in advance of any changes that might occur with the move.
Will the new location change your community presence or engagement?
Neighborhood House has been a mainstay in the community since 1905 – 120 years of supporting neighbors in SW and beyond. That commitment will not change. Our future home on Barbur Blvd. is just .4 miles from our current location, so we’ll continue to be your neighbor. And we’ll still be active in the local community we love.
What is the timeline?
We just received the permit to start work at the end of January. Work has already begun at the Barbur building and will likely be completed near the end of the year. Our goal is to move in soon after the New Year in 2026.
What will happen to the garden?
There are at least two options to relocate the garden. We are in talks with Portland Parks and Recreation and an individual property owner about moving the garden into a bigger and better space, not too far away. Our garden volunteers are involved in these discussions and are excited about the possibilities.
How can I support the transition?
Join an information session (and bring a friend!) to help spread the word about our plans for the next century of service. Donations are always welcome as well.
Why did you choose Apex Real Estate Partners as your realtor?
We asked for bids from several real estate groups. We chose Apex Real Estate Partners because they have extensive experience working with nonprofits like ours. As we learned in our efforts to develop the property ourselves, there are some challenges involved with the slope of the land. Apex has worked with similar challenges, and we trust them with this project.
