Shortstack Mississippi

A Middle Housing Project in Portland, OR

Shortstack Mississippi is a flagship “missing middle” multi-family housing project in Portland, Oregon, demonstrating an efficient mass timber approach to the pressing need for affordable housing production in the region and beyond. Founded by women-led developers Anna Mackay and Jessy Ledesma, Shortstack is intentional about building with wood and valuing wood sourcing transparency.

Follow the wood's journey from forest to manufacturer to building below.

Where it started:

West Kootenais, B.C.

The wood for this project was sourced from Kalesnikoff, a mill and mass timber fabricator in interior British Columbia. Kalesnikoff both manages their own forestlands, purchases wood from other landowners, and implements timber sales for the BC government through BC Timber Sales. The wood for the Shortstack project came from a range of sources throughout the West Kootenay’s of British Columbia. In this region, the primary goals of forest management are wildfire risk reduction, pest management (especially for douglas-fir beetle) and economic benefit. One of the primary harvests that contributed wood to the Shortstack project was the Akokli Creek Project, which focused on removing douglas-fir trees that had been heavily infested by the doug-fir beetle. Trees from these harvests would likely have been in Shortstack’s finished products.

What was created:

Kalesnikoff Mass Timber

Kalesnikoff is vertically integrated, meaning they both manage their own forestlands and own their own mill. In Kalesnikoff’s case, they are integrated one tier deeper, because they also utilize their own lumber in their Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and Glulam Beams. While they are located in Canada, it’s important to remember to use a bio-regional lens for issues such as wildfires and the smoke they produce, disease outbreaks, and pests which do not stop at any border. The last important item to point out is that Kalesnikoff (because of both their openness and generosity, and because they are vertically integrated) provides a unique opportunity for timber traceability and transparency. They willingly provided the wood sourcing transparency for the Shortstack project with no direct financial benefit or project requirements. This sort of transparency changes the way placemakers engage with wood markets, and is critical for helping to foster a meaningful relationship between our forests and the communities they supply.

The final product:

Shortstack Mississippi

Shortstack Mississippi is a unique housing model to meet a specific need: affordable housing for “the missing middle” — folks who cannot afford a house and who do not qualify for traditional low-income housing. From their beginning, Anna Mackay and Jessy Ledesma aimed to create beautiful housing that was repeatable in a multitude of settings. They prioritized building with wood, and wood is a specific asset in their buildings because of its structural value but also its biophilic feel. The Mississippi project is one of many projects that will be implemented in the years to come.