The heart of Hillsboro: New housing, but not without growing pains

As new businesses are setting up shop in downtown Hillsboro, the city has been making space for more residents to call Hillsboro home.

Adorned with brick facades and vintage architecture, the city’s downtown has offered a tight-knit space for community members to grab something to eat, shop or embrace the vibrancy of local events.

But with Hillsboro’s expanding population and efforts to make downtown a revitalized space, more apartments are heading to the area, according to Dan Dias, city economic development director.

“There’s a decent amount of activity with new units — not a ton — but definitely building some momentum in our downtown,” Dias said. “It’s pretty exciting because it continues to lend to some of the vibrancy around some of the retail spaces and other activities that contribute to the downtown.”

Construction has long been underway for new residential lots, which will be spread throughout the downtown area:

Completed at the beginning of 2024, the Isabell Terrace Apartments sports a total of 56 units near downtown on the northeast corner of Southeast Ninth Avenue and Southeast Gumleaf Lane.On the corner of Northeast Third Avenue and Lincoln Street, construction for Hillsboro 35 is underway, which will add another 35 “market-rate” apartments to downtown. The city estimates that the building will be completed and occupied sometime during mid- to late summer.Thirteen dwelling units are opening up at Fourth Avenue Apartments, which will add residential space off Baseline near the Hillsboro Downtown Station food cart pod.While oriented toward niche housing, progress is underway for the new Merrill Gardens building off the corner of Northeast Fourth Avenue and East Main Street. At seven stories high, the building will be the tallest in Historic Downtown Hillsboro. A total of 140 plus units will be made available for independent and assisted senior living, and the building will also provide 3,000 square feet of commercial space for lease.

Community concerns

With the influx of housing, residents in the area have expressed worries over infrastructure limitations. For many, the primary concern lies in one major issue: parking capacity.

Bruce Roberts lives near the new Hillsboro 35 Apartments off Lincoln Street, and he said a major issue with the new complex is that it will only offer so many parking spots for residents — exacerbating the limited space where people can stow their cars.

“If this is going to be for working families, working families need cars,” Roberts said.

Roberts recalled how the lot where the new apartment complex is being built was formerly used to park large landscape rigs owned by neighboring residents, but with the space going to be occupied, those vehicles — and additional cars owned by the new tenants — will have to go somewhere.

“Now they're going to be on the street and there's already a parking problem on the street,” Roberts said. “Unless they're going to knock one of these buildings down and put in a parking structure, the parking problems are not going to go away.”

According to city officials, some parking spaces will be available at the new buildings near Main Street, with Hillsboro 35 offering a garage for cars. The apartment complex is required to provide 26 spaces total, which will be in both the garage and on the street.

While the city acknowledges concerns about limitations in parking space, officials say that climate regulations enacted in 2022 prevent requirements for parking for commercial developments.

“The Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities (CFEC) eliminated parking requirements within the Downtown Area entirely, regardless of the use,” Lauren Scott, city public information officer, said. “While we do occasionally hear concerns about parking availability downtown, the city can no longer require development to provide parking due to CFEC rules.”

Tony Gallegos, who lives adjacent from the Merrill Gardens building, echoed how parking has seen a major strain, with cars constantly parking outside his residence.

“I think it's going to increase the traffic flow, and it's going to decrease parking availability,” Gallegos said. “We've been here for just over 12 years now. When there’s the Saturday market, there are always cars parked out front. It seems like the traffic overflows right directly on Lincoln Street here.”

The city noted how downtown is “conveniently located close to transit,” and residents can also check out the city’s downtown parking map for available options.