Portland Master Campus Plan FAQs
The following FAQs are offered to help explain the nature of the Portland Master Campus Plan project and how the various Dominican apostolates are collaborating to help one another.
How did the Master Campus Plan project get started and why?
Friars and staff from Holy Rosary Parish, the Western Dominican Province, Holy Rosary Priory, and the Rosary Center have long been concerned about the liabilities of underutilized Dominican-owned properties in Portland, as well as the cumulative millions in deferred maintenance costs of each ministry.
In 2022, teams from each of the noted Dominican entities met to brainstorm ways to collaborate on leveraging the underutilized properties in a way that would help everyone.
Their work launched the idea of creating a Property Steering Committee (PSC), which was ultimately formed in the Fall of 2022 to facilitate ongoing conversations and build a collaborative plan that addressed both short and long-term goals of the entities.
Who are the members of the Property Steering Committee (PSC)?
The PSC is almost entirely made up of parishioners. While some members now split their time with other parishes, all members have a long history with Holy Rosary and strong ties to the Dominicans. The remaining members are friars and staff from the noted entities. The Province also retains various legal, real estate, and financial consultants to support the work of the PSC.
All members care deeply about the success of the parish and all the Dominican apostolates in Portland. Members also have expertise in areas relevant to the project, including construction management, development, apostolic development, law, evangelization, project management, financing, church/Dominican history, church operations, education, governance, housing, and more.
What are some of the principles and values guiding the work of the PSC?
The mission of the PSC is to develop a basic “master campus plan” that ensures the collective facilities and real estate holdings of the Dominicans in Portland align with all four entities’ mission, operational needs, and financial objectives – while providing an appropriate degree of future flexibility.
Some of the principles used by the group in its discernment are:
A zeal for the salvation of souls
A commitment to trust in the Holy Spirit working through the members of the group
A commitment to shared responsibility and shared success for all entities
A commitment to transparency, integrity, and prudence throughout our work
A spirit of abundance over scarcity
A spirit of patience with persistence
A commitment to truth, goodness, beauty
A commitment to developing long-term financial sustainability
What are the goals of the Master Campus Plan?
Simply, the goal is to strengthen the Dominican apostolates in Portland for generations to come. To say it another way, the goal is to create a beautiful and integrated parish campus that inspires and enriches the faith-lives of the Catholic community, while strengthening the safety, security, and financial stability of the Dominican apostolates in Portland. Concomitantly, the Master Campus Plan must also ensure the availability of convenient, safe parking recognizing the unique quality of Holy Rosary and the Rosary Center as regional destinations.
Towards this end, the Master Campus Plan will reimagine how the collection of Dominican properties in Portland are utilized to support the apostolates.
Which Dominican entities are involved and why?
Each ecclesial entity that owns land, or has responsibility for ministry in Portland, is involved. This is Holy Rosary Parish, Holy Rosary Priory, the Rosary Center, and the Western Dominican Province.
Dominican governance requires that the rights of local entities always be respected, and that all entities operate by the principles of subsidiarity and Dominican governance. What’s more, when large projects are undertaken with major financial ramifications, Dominican governance requires the entities involved to properly collaborate with Provincial leadership.
Further, given that the Dominicans are a mendicant order and live a common life, the friars collaborate remembering that they all share in their needs and blessings. Taken together, collaboration, communication, and consultation are critical parts of this process, not just with the parish, but also with the Rosary Center, the Priory itself, and the Western Dominican Province.
Why isn’t the archdiocese more involved?
The Archdiocese of Portland has been kept apprised of our plans. Given that the Dominicans own the land directly, the archdiocese is not actively involved in the decision-making process but remains supportive and prays for our efforts.
Are we selling our property or giving our property to the City of Portland?
We are NOT selling or giving our property to the City of Portland. For both affordable and market rate housing, we are working with private developers who will continue to manage the buildings after construction is finished. The land is planned to be leased, not sold, to the developers.
It is true that affordable rate housing comes with rules the developer must comply with, but so does market rate housing. Importantly, the city will not be running the buildings. We can also include rules in our lease to ensure high quality property maintenance and prevent things which are objectionable.
Will affordable housing ruin the neighborhood and increase crime?
The affordable housing we are discussing is intended for working families and individuals who need a helping hand with reduced rent. In fact, by increasing the number of working families in the neighborhood we would very likely see the neighborhood improve as the proportion of anti-social individuals would be smaller. What’s more, the new buildings constructed would help eliminate blight.
Why must we have affordable housing as part of the project?
There are three primary reasons. First, City Code requires that all housing projects over 20 units in size provide a minimum of 10% affordable units for households under 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) per the chart lower down. Collectively, our project imagines hundreds of units. Second, good housing is a great way to enhance our neighborhood and attract healthy community members. And third, providing affordable housing helps us live the beatitudes and bear witness to the works of mercy.
Is there really a need for affordable housing? Recent news indicates there are vacant affordable housing units in Portland.
Indeed, the vacancies are highest among studio apartments, which indicates weak demand in Portland for that unit type. Some vacant units owned by Home Forward, include properties like the Yards at Union Station, which were damaged by broken pipes and are undergoing rehabilitation, creating vacancies. As a neighborhood, Old Town Chinatown has proven especially difficult to keep rental properties filled, because of legitimate concerns over safety on the streets.
The Gorman affordable housing project, tentatively named Veritas Place, located where the Rosary Center and Confraternity is located, is not proposed to contain any studio units in anticipation of this issue. Family sized units are proposed to accommodate families. Singles and couples would be accommodated in 1-bedroom units.
Would Holy Rosary parishioners receive preference to live in the housing we're building?
An outright religious preference would be found to discriminate on the basis of religion, a Federal Fair Housing violation. However, it is possible to employ the practice of ‘affirmative fair marketing’ to certain groups so long as the policy is color blind, race neutral and does not discriminate against any state or federal protected classes. It would also be appropriate to inform Parishioners well before pre-leasing of the building is scheduled to begin, enabling people to plan to apply for a vacant unit when the opportunity presents itself. That would likely not occur before 2028 at the soonest, or 2030, at the latest.
What are the income restrictions for affordable housing and how are they enforced?
In this instance, the incomes of the residents will be limited to 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI), indexed by family size and adjusted annually. The AMI is set by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and published by the Portland Housing Bureau (PHB). The current income limits are as follows:
60% of Area Median Income (AMI) for 2025 (April 1, 2025)
1 Person Household: $52,140
2 Person Household: $59,580
3 Person Household: $67,020
4 Person Household: $74,460
5 Person Household: $80,460
6 Person Household: $86,400
Since it’s practically infeasible to locate people with the precise income at 60% of AMI, rent policies which make units available between 50% and 60% of AMI are practical, usual and customary. Regardless of the specific income, all renters are subject to an annual review wherein their income is verified by on-site property management. If the resident’s incomes are in excess of the maximum allowable rent, then they will be allowed to stay. The next available unit, however must be rented to an income-qualified household.
Why are we creating an LLC for the Portland development project?
An LLC effects the consolidation of assets across multiple parties for a joint project. In other words, it’s a clean, fair, and legal way for the Rosary Center, the Province, the Priory, and the Parish to combine their real estate assets and present as one, unified entity for business purposes. This is incredibly helpful to all parties.
The LLC holds all the assets pertaining to the project and facilitates management of the project. The structure better reflects the economic reality and agreement among the parties, enabling allocation of revenues across mutually agreed-upon projects, while retaining appropriate ownership and protecting the patrimony of each member entity (Church, Priory, Rosary Center, Province). Additionally, the LLC provides enhanced liability protection, protecting the nonprofit members from liability with respect to the project.
What is a limited liability company (LLC) and how is it different from a corporation?
All of the province’s existing entities are nonprofit corporations (and a trust). With nonprofit corporations, no person “owns” the entity; it is controlled by the Board of Directors and, in some cases, the province as sole Member, and the assets are held by the corporation essentially “in trust” to be used for the applicable charitable/religious purposes of the corporation.
With an LLC, the members of the LLC own the underlying assets of the LLC and have certain rights and obligations with respect to those assets and the income generated and activities conducted by the LLC. The LLC can have a manager who acts on behalf of the parties and makes day-to-day management decisions, files reports with federal and state governments, and serves as a single point of contact.
What does each member of the LLC own?
Each member owns a percentage of all of the assets held by the LLC. Rather than owning a particular parcel, all of the real property and any liquid assets held by the LLC are proportionately owned by all the members. In general, this means that any increase in value of the underlying property proportionately benefits all the members.
How do members of the LLC maintain appropriate oversight and control?
The Operating Agreements in place for the LLC describes certain situations in which the members need to approve or vote on a pending course of action. For example, approving the LLC’s annual budget or the Project Plan or certain deviations from the approved Budget or Project Plan. Certain fundamental changes to the LLC will require unanimous consent of the members, unless otherwise provided in the Operating Agreement or Articles of Organization. These fundamental changes include election or replacing the Manager of the LLC; approving the addition of a new member or the dissolution of the LLC. Certain decisions require the approval of the Province, to comply with the province’s canonical laws, such as dissolution of the LLC, non-Permitted Transfer of LLC interest, budget approval and substantial deviations from budget.