The Tigard City Council can check off one item on its to-do list: With the November opening of The Steward, a fully electric building with 55 apartments on top of a commercial ground floor, the city has made major inroads on one of the council’s 2023-2025 goals of addressing the community’s impact on the climate.
At the Oct. 28 ribbon-cutting ceremony, Mayor Heidi Lueb and Josh Daniels, who with his brother Brenner Daniels are the Principals at DIG Real Estate, cut the ribbon across the front of the five-story building.
Josh Daniels thanked their partners “and the City of Tigard, which was essential to the project.” He added, “We are really excited to be here.” Brenner Daniels added, “This is a big addition to the Tigard Triangle and the city’s first (certified path to) net-zero building. You should clap for that.”
Lueb noted, “This project embodies our vision of the Tigard Triangle as a walkable, vibrant community where people of all incomes can live, work, and play. Through Tigard’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Agency’s $650,000 redevelopment-assistance grant and Systems Development Charges support, along with the city’s Vertical Housing Development tax abatement, we’ve been able to bring this vision to life and support mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods.”
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was about the only part of the event that was traditional. The Daniels led a group of people that included development partners, staff, city employees, media, Lueb and City Councilors Maureen Wolf and Yi-Kang Hu on a tour of the futuristic building. Through the lobby and up the elevator, the group was led into a large community room featuring a TV-viewing area with a huge L-shaped couch, a dining table and chairs, and a food-prep area with a pass-through window to an outside patio with an electric barbecue.
Starting at $1,795 per month for a 584-square-foot studio to $3,999 for a 1,335-square-foot three-bedroom/two-bathroom apartment, all the units include fast Wi-Fi and fiber internet plus Energy Star washers and dryers. The apartments also feature designer kitchens with Energy Star appliances and Kohler faucets in all units with induction cook-tops in most of them. There is also a secured parking garage with reserved, dedicated spaces, 75 percent of which are enabled for EV charging.
There are seven balcony apartments, and all the apartments share two enormous hot-water heaters plus a smaller one, which means more room in the apartments without individual heaters.
“The average size is 800 square feet,” Josh Daniels said. “We wanted to provide a large footprint. The design is New York loft style with floor-to-ceiling windows.” In the model apartment, he demonstrated a tilt-turn window that allows in fresh air.
“This building is so tight and so energy-efficient,” he added. “This summer it was 74 degrees in here on hot days with no air conditioning.”
Also, two of the apartments are ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)-accessible; two are set aside for lower-income residents; some have niche work-spaces, and cats and dogs are allowed.
Josh Daniels added, “The sound-proofing is crazy,” and Yi-Kang Hu offered for the councilors to jump up and down if someone wanted to check the noise level from the floor below.
One asset invisible to the tenants is The Steward’s 103-kilowatt rooftop photovoltaic solar system that generates nearly all the energy needed to operate the building, which allows the building’s electricity credit program to reduce or eliminate residents’ electricity bills.
The Steward, which is now open and move-in ready, is located in Commerce Plaza at 7007 S.W. Hampton St.
For more information, call 503-459-4330 or visit bethesteward.com.
