230 Clearwater, LLC is a small group of developers: Vladan Jovanovic (known as VJ) and The Bindery LLC, who have constructed and developed multiple multi-family housing and mixed-use projects in the Portland area for the last 10 years. In December 2016, they purchased .54 acre of land in west Hood River at 230 Clearwater Lane with plans to build a 28,500 square foot, multi-family 36-unit apartment building. The housing development was designed to be a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments with fully sprinkled three-story wood construction, driveways and parking.
Because rent amounts for these units were planned to have a housing burden of 30% or less of 120% or less of the median family income for Hood River County, the project was able to qualify for funding from North Central Oregon’s Attainable Housing Fund.
The Attainable Housing Fund fund was created in 2013 by the Oregon state legislature and is administered through MCEDD’s Loan Administration Board. One of the Housing Fund’s requirements is that it be supplemental to commercial financing, and this application came to MCEDD in October 2021 to finance the final stages of the apartments’ construction during the pandemic.
The Leeward Apartments are now complete and in the process of leasing! With their first Gorge project successfully completed, the group plans to build a second housing project in the area in the future.