Who the heck are TODs supposed to be for?

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(The Rise Old Town)

Downtown Beaverton is currently in the process of changing from an old-style, utilitarian streetscape with priorities for cars and trucks into a new mixed-use town center with more focus on pedestrian and bike use (The Times, 2017). Part of this is incorporating transit oriented development (TOD) with three new apartment buildings near the Blue and Red MAX lines: La Scala, the Rise Old Town, and the Rise at Westgate. These projects were partially funded by Metro’s Transit-Oriented Development program (Metro, 2017). These three new buildings added 360 new units, with 15 of them being “income-restricted to households earning below 80 percent of the area median income.” (Metro, 2017)

I currently work in downtown Beaverton right between La Scala and The Rise Old Town. I was curious what the rent for these new apartments would be because living in them would make my commute less than a 5 minute walk. I assumed, since this is Beaverton, they would be priced ,similar to the rest of Beaverton (moderately cheaper than average Portland rents). After looking online I was shocked at how expensive they are.

Location: Average Rent Price for 1 Bedroom Apartment 
Beaverton: $1216
Central Beaverton: $1117
The Rise Old Town Apartments: $1467-$1564
Portland: $1330
Downtown Portland: $1450
Hollywood neighborhood: $1230
(Chen, 2018), (Rent Jungle), (The Rise Old Town)

In this "table" above I compare the average rent for the city of Beaverton, the average rent for the Central Beaverton neighborhood, the rent of the Rise Old Town Apartments, the average rent for the city of Portland, the average rent for the Downtown Portland Neighborhood, and the average rent for the Hollywood neighborhood of Portland which is also on the Blue Max line on the eastside of Portland.

I could only find pricing online for the Rise Old Town apartments, which are advertised between $1467 and $1564 for a one-bedroom apartment. This is similar pricing to downtown Portland. The Rise Old Town also provided 65 parking spots for 87 units (Metro, 2018).

So who exactly are these TOD projects being built for???

If I was a person who used public transportation as my main mode of travel there is no way I would pay that much to live in Beaverton. Also, the building offers almost as many parking spots as units (and there is street parking around the building) so it is still enticing to renters who own vehicles.

If I was a person who worked downtown, living near the Blue line MAX would be perfect for commuting. However, this rental is more expensive than the average for all of Portland! So anyone who would want to commute into Portland for work would likely not choose to live there.

“According to the NHTS 2008/2009, annual median household incomes for rail passengers were three times greater than for bus riders: $72,000 vs. $22,000.” (Buehler, Pucher, 2012).
After finding out how much this new apartment is charging to live near the MAX line it made me wonder why this trend is occurring. Is it that only people who make $72,000 per year are more likely to afford living by MAX lines?

I do think it is important to have access to different modes of transportation, and building along MAX lines does give people more choice. However, it seems to me these new projects exploited Metro’s TOD funds to over-charge renters for the amenities of being near MAX lines that they may never even have a reason to use. I am curious to research more of these new rental trends and if anyone has any further opinion on their use of Metro’s TOD funds.


Works Cited

“2017 Annual Report, July 2016 - June 2017.” Transit-Oriented Development Program, Oregon Metro, www.oregonmetro.gov/sites/default/files/2018/03/15/2017-TOD-Annual-Report-final-a.pdf.

Buehler, R. and Pucher, J. “ Walking and Cycling in Western Europe and the United States: Trends, Policies, and Lessons.” Transportation Research News, No. 280, May-June 2012, pp. 11

Chen, Crystal. “Mapping Portland Rent Prices: Winter 2018.” The Zumper Blog, 23 Jan. 2018, www.zumper.com/blog/2018/01/mapping-portland-rent-prices-winter-2018/.

“Floorplans.” The Rise Old Town, www.theriseoldtown.com/floorplans.aspx.

“Photo Gallery.” The Rise Old Town, https://www.theriseoldtown.com/photogallery.aspx

“Rent Trend Data in Beaverton, Oregon.” Rent Jungle: Apartment Search, www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-beaverton-rent-trends/.

“The Rise Old Town: Beaverton, Oregon.” Transit Oriented Development, Oregon Metro , 2018, www.oregonmetro.gov/sites/default/files/2018/03/16/TheRiseOldTown-FINAL-20180316.pdf.

The Times. “Our View: A Vision of the Future in Downtown Beaverton.” Beaverton Valley Times, Pamplin Media Group, 12 Oct. 2017, pamplinmedia.com/bvt/16-opinion/375146-260081-our-view-a-vision-of-the-future-in-downtown-beaverton.

Edited by Justin Sherrill

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 5, 2018 at 12:47 PM

    Thanks for you post! Great point. Luckily, with the recent push toward funding affordable housing, it seems that some of that money will be used to integrate the TOD model with affordable housing. It is true that people with higher incomes are more likely to own a car and less likely to want to live somewhere like Beaverton. However, living in Beaverton near public transit does seem like something that could really benefit someone in a lower income-range.

    As policy-makers and transportation professionals, we need to make sure that we are pushing the integration of TODs with affordable housing.
    --Lisa Wheeler

    ReplyDelete

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