Ed McNamara

Ed McNamara is a real estate developer and owner in Portland, Oregon with over 40 years of experience in construction and in private sector and nonprofit development.  He is the owner of Turtle Island Development LLC.

• Served as construction manager for community-based nonprofit, REACH Community Development Inc., in 1983 before becoming the Executive Director in 1985
• Recruited by the Oregon Community Foundation to run a new initiative – funded by the Ford Foundation – to help start, train, and support community-based development corporations in other Portland neighborhoods in 1990
• Worked for Prendergast and Associates, the developer who had purchased 40 acres of rail yards that became the heart of Portland’s Pearl District in 1995; worked for the Housing Authority of Portland to help set up the large HOPE VI redevelopment of the 80-acre Columbia Villa property in 2001
• Founded his own company, Turtle Island Development LLC, to focus on mid-rise, affordable rental housing in the central city in 2002
• Has developed more 1,000,000 square-feet of residential and commercial space including more than 1,000 units of affordable housing
• 1994 Loeb Fellow at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design

Last updated 8/25/16