May 2026

A concept for community-owned redevelopment in Loyal Heights

The two assembled parcels at the southeast corner of 24th Ave NW and NW 80th St are listed for $8.8M as a redevelopment site. Whatever gets built there will reshape that corner of our neighborhood for the next several decades. This document explores whether we, as Loyal Heights residents, want to own and govern that redevelopment ourselves rather than watch it happen to us.

The Idea

Form a community-owned real estate entity to acquire the parcels, design and build something the neighborhood actually wants, and hold the resulting property as a long-term, neighborhood-owned asset. Equity holders share in appreciation and rental income. Equity holders also get binding say in what gets built — height, materials, ground-floor uses, tenant mix.

Two Tiers of Participation

Anchor investors (~5 commitments at ~$1M each)

Provides the equity needed for acquisition and to secure development financing. Anchors get a preferred return, board seats, and the financial upside that comes with bearing development risk. Accredited investors only, under standard private-placement rules.

Neighbor investors ($10K and up, with smaller monthly options in a later phase)

Open to Loyal Heights residents. Neighbors get pro-rata equity, a voice in governance, and a real stake in what our corner becomes. The mechanism for small-dollar neighborhood participation is modeled on Mercy Corps’ Community Investment Trust in East Portland (investcit.org), which has enabled 345+ households to invest $10–$100/month in a single commercial property they collectively own and govern.

Why This Corner

The intersection at 24th and 80th is the heart of our community. Loyal Heights Elementary is one block to the west. The Loyal Heights Playfield is three blocks to the southeast. We’re lucky to live in a neighborhood with an impressive Walk Score of 83 and Bike Score of 80. We’re in great shape, but we can do better. Downtown Loyal Heights should be the paragon of a walkable community center that is clean, safe, and appealing to people of all ages.

The current zoning supports up to 55 feet of mixed-use development. Done well, this becomes ground-floor neighborhood retail with a few apartments above — the kind of building that makes a neighborhood better. Done poorly, it becomes another generic anywhere-building. The difference is who owns it and who governs the design.

Two-Phase Structure

• Phase 1 — Acquisition and development. Funded by accredited anchor investors under private-placement rules. This phase carries the development risk: entitlements, design, financing, construction.
• Phase 2 — Neighborhood ownership. Once the building is built and leased, a meaningful portion of the equity (target 25–40%) is sold to Loyal Heights residents under crowdfunding or community-investment-trust rules. Anchors get partial liquidity. Long-term ownership shifts to the people who live here.

Governance

The operating agreement will reserve neighbor-investor board seats, require supermajority approval for major design and use decisions, and embed restrictive covenants on building character and ground-floor tenant mix. Equity without governance is a financial product. Equity with governance is community ownership. The latter is what this is.

Where This Is

Concept stage. The seller has not been approached. No entity has been formed. No securities have been offered. The point of this document is to gauge interest from prospective anchors and from neighbors who would want to participate, and to inform conversations with the seller, securities counsel, and lenders.

If the response shows there are five anchors and a critical mass of neighbors who want to do this, the next steps are: development pro forma, securities counsel, letter of intent to the seller. If the response shows otherwise, the project doesn’t happen and no one is out anything but a few hours of conversation.

To Express Interest or Learn More

I know nothing about commercial real estate ownership or development. This is a concept document, not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Any future investment will be subject to applicable securities laws and made only through formal offering documents to qualified investors.