Reclaim Franklin Street
A Vision for Affordable Housing Along Franklin Street
We’re in a housing crisis, and part of the solution could be right under our feet: Franklin Street. Since the historic neighborhood was gutted in the 1960s to make way for an overly wide and spatially inefficient divided thoroughfare, Franklin has been thought of as a traffic planning problem that needs a traffic planning solution.
Instead, narrowing Franklin Street is a land-use opportunity to unlock new parcels for affordable housing development, create new usable green space, and make Franklin street more friendly for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. Rebuilding Franklin Street is an investment in the sustainability of our city.
Rebuilding Franklin Street is an investment in the sustainability of our city.
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Our Affordable Housing and Economic Development study shows that redevelopment of reclaimed land reclaimed by Portland's 2015 Franklin Street master plan can produce the following benefits for Portland:
| 994 new homes on the peninsula (under current zoning) |
$15.7M estimated land sale value | |
| 5.9 acres of city-owned land reclaimed |
$3.4M estimated annual property tax revenue | |
| 17,000 SF restored to Lincoln Park |
Improved traffic flow on Franklin Street. | |
| 994 new homes on the peninsula (under current zoning) | |
| $15.7M estimated land sale value | |
| 5.9 acres of city-owned land reclaimed | |
| $3.4M estimated annual property tax revenue | |
| 17,000 SF restored to Lincoln Park | |
| Improved traffic flow on Franklin Street. | |
- Franklin Street is already slated for a future sewer/stormwater separation project, which will tear up the street and rebuild it.
- Federal grants are available under DOT’s Reconnecting Communities initiative for urban street redesigns just like Franklin Street.
- Unlocking city-owned land for housing development creates immediate land sale value and long-term tax value for the city.
- Portland's 2015 Franklin Street Master Plan can accomplish much of this. With what we know today, this plan can be further improved to create opportunities for more housing and a safer street.
The Franklin Reclamation Authority’s volunteer working group has assembled a vision plan to show the potential of the Franklin Street right-of-way to be redeveloped into affordable housing in the heart of the Portland peninsula. This working group includes local architects and affordable housing experts invested in the future of Franklin Street and Portland as a whole. This is not a specific plan or proposal, but a conceptual analysis of affordable housing development opportunities in the Franklin Street corridor.
Learn More
To learn more about the history of Franklin Street and past attempts to redesign it, check out this series of deep-dive articles in The Portland Townsman.
A Biography of Franklin Street
Stops and Starts: The History of Franklin Street Redesign
Sign Up for the Franklin Street Mailing List
The Franklin Reclamation Authority operates their own mailing list independent of UCP. If you would like to receive updates specific to Franklin Street, please sign up below.