Each project begins with openness and curiosity. Four Spokes partners with clients to tailor a typical project flow to the job at hand acting as an embedded project team member.
NW Streetcar
Photo courtesy of Portland Streetcar, Inc
The Montgomery Park to Hollywood Project posed the question: should the city convert historic industrial lands to a mixed-use housing and commercial district and if so, what should the city require of the benefited landowners?The project was led by the planners at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) in partnership with the Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and Portland Streetcar, Inc (PSI). As the fourth city partner in the project, Prosper Portland hired Four Spokes for its expertise in deal structuring, public-private partnerships and its ability to navigate bureaucratic and policy dynamics.
Four Spokes negotiated a draft agreement with the major property owners which would obligate them to build housing, commercial structures and open space and provide living-wage jobs. The city would assist through its financial and infrastructure investments including an extension of the Portland Streetcar and development process facilitation.
Housing Development Center
A small but vital resource, the Housing Development Center’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Community Fund (CF), lends early money to affordable housing projects to get them from idea to ready-to-build. HDC’s Executive Director, Traci Manning, invited Four Spokes to rethink the CF’s effectiveness and its future. Four Spokes started by interviewing HDC leadership and staff, moving on to the CF’s customers and competitors. Findings were synthesized.
Four Spokes then created a four-pronged set of recommendations for capitalization, market niche, loan products and fund administration which included growing the fund from $2M to $5M. HDC CF leadership extended the project to revise and rewrite their loan policies and procedures in order to implement the guidance.
Photo by Memento Media on Unsplash
Guerrilla Development
Photo courtesy of DAO Architecture
The creative genius behind Guerrilla Development, Kevin Cavenaugh, knew he wanted to give back to the Portland community in a more profound way than he’d already done. Kevin hired Four Spokes to provide consulting and strategy on the subject of affordable housing development and finance. GD sought out Four Spokes to help navigate the highly specialized world of affordable housing deal structuring and fundraising for three projects in the company's pipeline.
Four Spokes mentored Kevin and his staff, steadily building financing models that would attract funders like Oregon Housing and Community Services and the Portland Housing Bureau. In 2023 GD was successful in getting fully funded for its Unicorn Bed and Jolene’s Second Cousin projects. Each will provide housing in innovative ways to people who might otherwise find themselves with nowhere else to call home.