You missed the best part:

"The Alexan is also expected to be the first central city apartment building to apply for tax abatements since September, when the City Council made such incentives tougher to reach. Under the new requirements, 48 units, about 15 percent of the total, would be affordable to a household living at 80 percent of the median family income for the metro area, DiChiara said. A two-person family, with an income of $43,450 would qualify."

So DINKs making more than $43K qualify. I think that is about 20% higher than median family income. Of course, those will be the units formerly planned for janitorial supplies.

Nice to see the simps at City Hall are beginning to get a reputation for being pushovers for these sort of things. Alexan must be short for Alexansdrovich Unit 19 of People's Collective?

The urban planner-types have to be orgiastic over these units, unless (conspiracy theory time) this is one of those mass stress experiment things like when they stick too many monkeys in a cage to see when they start killing each other.

So when do we reach tipping point for expensive apartments in this town?

I'm bad at math, and I'd love to live that close to work, but $2/sq-ft? Somehow I don't think I'm their target market...

The timing of the announcement is key - after 80%+ of the condos have been sold. All those people thinking they were buying into real exclusivity now have to live next to relatively modest apartments. Also, notice how they sold the condos from west to east - so each wave of buyers thinks they are getting the view. Hahaha.

320 units, only 48 targeted for a couple with income of $43,450.00

The entire building tax exempt for ten years.

Approx. $70 million value X 21.5/k tax rate = $1.5 million in lost property taxes per year.

This building will not be paying for city services it uses, will not be paying off Urban Renewal subsidies it used for infrastructure and will not be paying it's share of schools, parks, libraries, police, fire and transit costs FOR 10 YEARS.
Someone will have to pay their share. Any guesses on who that might be?

Unfortunately, Comrade Alexan's expansive "low-income" requirement fails to surprise me. The City and its tentacles want to expand their real estate purview beyond mere poor people.

Near me in SW, developer Jim Winkler put together a deal with the city at about 30th and Barbur that, among other things, creates roughly 100 apartments for the Housing Authority of Portland. The rent? Many units will have a cool $1000/mth tag, the other units not far behind.

I asked the City's rep why they were so upmarket and he said their target market included young professionals and the City wanted to "prove they could do more than just low-income". Great.

Here's an idea: prove you can do simple things like, say, manage a water billing software changeover for something less than tens of millions. Oh, yeah, and make it operable.

steve schopp: 320 units, only 48 targeted for a couple with income of $43,450.00

Anahit: Near me in SW, developer Jim Winkler put together a deal with the city at about 30th and Barbur that, among other things, creates roughly 100 apartments for the Housing Authority of Portland. The rent? Many units will have a cool $1000/mth tag, the other units not far behind.

JK:As I recall, the Jim Winkler project is about 90% public money and will include subsidized “work force housing” for people earning a average income! The costs of these units are paid by everyone including low income homeowners. I wonder ho someone who can barely pay his property tax each year, feels about subsidizing someone who makes $43,450.00 per year or more. Actually, low income can go up well above $50,000 if they have children, because the tables are adjusted for number of children.

Anahit: Here's an idea: prove you can do simple things like, say, manage a water billing software changeover for something less than tens of millions. Oh, yeah, and make it operable.

JK: Hey Randy Leonard, pay attention to the above. He is right on.