Hello fellow members of St. Philip the Deacon,
I am proud to present this update about our ongoing Alcena Housing Project to you.
Through our connection with Second Stories (the project developer that has been attached to this project from the beginning) our project was introduced to Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity is widely known for making the dream of homeownership come true for low income families. You can see some of what they are doing in our community on their website https://habitatportlandregion.org/.
Members of our team will be meeting Habitat leadership on Monday October 2nd. Additionally, their organization has already sent over a Letter of Intent to partner with our parish on this project. This is a step that we were not able to accomplish with other partners.
The project scope, if we choose to continue with it involves the following elements:
1. Nine townhome units will be constructed around the current footprint of St. Philip the Deacon (building and parking lot). 130 NE Knott is not a part of this project. In order to do this, the Diocese will need to approve our selling the land for this project directly to Habitat for Humanity. We have been in talks with the Diocesan Redevelopment Team in order to share information that will lead to this decision.
2. Our current building will need to be demolished in order for this project to proceed. The money gained from the sale of property to Habitat for Humanity will allow us to retain a parcel of land (corner of Knott and Rodney) to build a church space, and a child development facility. There will need to be additional fundraising in order to build these spaces and there are sources including individual donations, grants, and state funding that will be pursued in order to fully fund this endeavor. The Vestry is meeting in a special retreat to begin the creative process of considering a new parish building. The congregation will also be invited into this process as we work with an architect to design a new space for the use of our parish and the community.
What’s next: The Diocesan Redevelopment Team will be visiting St. Philips later this week to gain a better understanding of our location, property, and the community. From there, we will make a formal request to proceed and accept the Letter of Intent from Habitat for Humanity. Once a decision is made in this regard, another update will be forthcoming.
There are some who might be concerned that a decision about taking down our building has already been made. It has not–we have not yet heard anything about the grant proposal that was submitted a few weeks ago. If those funds are awarded, we will need to have a “family chat” about what steps to take. As soon as I know something, I will share it with all of you.
As always, please send your questions about this process directly to me. Thanks for your steadfast support as we navigate towards fulfilling our mission in new and exciting ways.
Gary Carroll carroll2gary@gmail.com