Lloyd Eco-District and Hassalo’s Commitment to a Sustainable Neighborhood

Hassalo on Eighth sits in a unique neighborhood in NE Portland’s Lloyd District. For decades, the community was considered a business district and home to the Lloyd Center Mall. Covid and technological progress have re-shaped what Lloyd looks like, and Hassalo is proud to be a part of the now re-imagined Eco-District, a coveted title only given to a handful of regions worldwide. We partner with Eco-Lloyd, a non-profit dedicated to building and maintaining the Eco-District Certification. It’s easy to blend their efforts into Hassalo’s community; encouraging residents to attend their frequent community events, utilize the Lending Library, and help envision the future of Lloyd as an Eco-District. The goal is simple: make Lloyd the most sustainable neighborhood in the country. Today, there are only seven Eco-District title holders globally. Lloyd isn’t just innovative, it’s a part of change on a world-wide scale.

What is an Eco-District?

Lloyd Eco-District stands on equity, inclusion, resilience, and climate protection. The Eco-District Certification is not an easy title to claim. Many moving parts go into creating a community that is eligible to be considered Eco-Certified like urban planning, grant funding, and community-awareness. The target for certification is to take a bite size portion of a major city and transform the neighborhood from the Parks to the transit system into a sustainable eco-system aimed at combating the climate crisis. Ec0-Lloyd hosts community events to engage residents and workers on future planning, for instance: changes to Holladay Park. Only one block from Hassalo, Holladay Park is as old as the Lloyd District itself, but being next to public transit can cause higher crime rates and resident concerns. Eco-Lloyd is re-imagining this green space to become a critical third space for Portlanders, proposing a music venue, a shipping container coffee stand, or new flora and fauna options. See the map to understand how small but mighty Eco-Lloyd’s presence is.

‘An EcoDistrict is a community development framework for equity and regeneration. It is a rigorous international certification standard. It is also a continuing education and learning platform to support community leaders and city officials in their development work’  -Lloyd Eco District

What Changes has Eco-Lloyd Made?

Being a certified Eco-District doesn’t happen overnight. There is a laundry list of planning and networking that needs to come together for a successful journey to becoming sustainable. Small steps got the neighborhood going, like planting pollinators in city planters, decreasing traffic lanes for more bike and pedestrian paths, keeping the sidewalks clean with local pick-up crews, and so much more. Not only is Eco-Lloyd making huge changes to the infrastructure of the community, it’s also dedicated to get locals together. Eco-Lloyd began a Lending Library in our nearby mall, where residents can check out event items like tents, chairs, and speakers for free. This encourages local gatherings and makes the cost null so people can focus on each other’s company. There’s also the annual Duckworth Summer Swim events hosted by Eco-Lloyd on the Eastbank Esplanade, a spot only accessible by bike or foot, on the once deserted Duckworth Dock. Hundreds of folks have shown up to swim and hang in the summer evenings, so much so that Eco-Lloyd had to extend the days for the swim from one per week to three. To make it even more of a party, each swim is hosted by local DJ, Popcart PDX, so not only can you work on your tan, there’s also live, local  music.

DJ spinning tunes at the Duckworth Summer Swim Event

What is the Future of Our Eco-District?

Lloyd’s Eco-District Roadmap shows the horizon year for efforts to be 2030, but acknowledges that with the future of the city as a whole, there will likely be an increase in residents and businesses through the decade, and must factor in those changes on top of the foundations they’ve laid already. The main objectives set for Eco-Lloyd’s success are:

• Set numbers of business’ with an Emergency Preparedness Plan in place
• Conduct a comprehensive Lloyd climate change resilience assessment
• Support and uplift BIPOC in the community
• Measure air quality and offer data to residents daily
• Reduce local carbon emissions 40% by 2030 & 80% by 2050
• Resources for extreme weather and the houseless population

This is but a small list of objectives from Lloyd Eco-District’s Roadmap. Other initiatives include more accessible green spaces, increased public art and murals, and ensuring a minimum square footage of green space in all future building developments. Still, this barely scratches the surface of Lloyd Eco-District’s impact, and it’s only getting tougher to track as the neighborhood is transforming into a model of sustainability day by day. Hassalo on Eighth is dedicated to walking in tandem with Lloyd Eco-District with efforts to stand out as Portland’s leader in sustainability. We love to see our residents gather at their events, give input on community changes, and enjoy the many green spaces popping up in the neighborhood. Living at Hassalo is a unique experience if not just for the fact that you’re in one of the world’s first Eco-Districts, and you get to be a part of the steady changes to create the most sustainable neighborhood in the United States.