Otak’s South Cooper Mt. Community Project Design for Wishcamper Wins Approval
May, 2020
Together with national developer Wishcamper, Otak has been instrumental in the design and approval of the ambitious South Cooper Mountain Main Street project in Beaverton, which is set to begin construction in the summer of 2021. The mixed-use development project will encompass affordable housing, as well as commercial and civic space, across ten acres adjacent to Mountainside High School in the heart of the South Cooper Mountain community.
Wishcamper, traditionally known for its work in affordable housing, recognized a unique opportunity to not only add affordable housing units to a high-density market-rate community but to also bring a community vision to life in the form of a dynamic mixed-use neighborhood center. The City of Beaverton’s goal is to provide the main street with a vibrant mix of neighborhood commercial and residential uses in a pedestrian-friendly environment that includes wide sidewalks with pedestrian amenities. Wishcamper embraced the vision and proactively worked with the city, enlisting Otak’s expertise and help to guide the project.
Otak has established a strong presence in affordable housing, mixed-use building, and community design and had been actively working on projects in the surrounding residential community for the past five years. Working collaboratively with Wishcamper and the City of Beaverton, Otak took a placemaking and multidisciplinary approach to satisfy the city’s community and zoning requirements, and Wishcamper’s affordable housing mandates, while also remaining sensitive to the natural environment and ecology of the site and ultimately how people would live in and use the space. As Ben Bortolazzo, Otak director of planning and design, points out, “this is not just another development project. It’s a place-making effort to create a vibrant community space; it’s an opportunity to provide vibrant spaces for the community to come together.”
Otak’s design for the South Cooper Mountain project includes 164 units of affordable housing, 30,000 sq feet of commercial space—office, daycare, café, and retail—potential civic use space, a public park, and a plaza. The park site is home to a number of large sequoia trees, which Otak was intent on preserving in the overall design, further reinforcing a sense of place with character and connection to the land. An underground parking garage is planned beneath an open-air plaza, which will also be home to a farmer’s market.
As the South Cooper Mountain project moves into the next phase of development, Wishcamper has enlisted Otak’s expertise on two upcoming projects, one next to the Main Street site and another in Woodburn, OR.