The Dougy Center is turning a former office building on Schendel Avenue into a permanent grief support center for children and families in Washington County.
Malcolm's House, at 15985 NW Schendel Ave. in Beaverton, will be the organization's second full-time location and its first on the westside of the Portland metro area.
Renovations on the 14,000-square-foot building are underway, with an opening expected in early 2027, the organization announced Oct. 28.
The center will offer no-cost, peer-based grief support groups for children, teens and families who are grieving before or after a death.
"We've never served more people or had a longer waitlist," Dougy Center Executive Director Brennan C. Wood said in a statement. "The westside of Portland is one of Oregon's most diverse and fastest-growing regions, and the families who live there and need our services have told us clearly: The need is real, the transit barriers to the eastside are increasing, and the time is now."
According to Dougy Center, 213 children and adults sit on a waiting list for its support groups, with waits of up to a year.
The facility is named in honor of a gift from the estate of Dr. Malcolm Marquis, the late Portland ophthalmologist and longtime supporter of the organization, the Beaverton Valley Times reported. The Beaverton Valley Times identified the project as a $13.5 million effort. Dougy Center's own announcement said the community has raised $13 million so far for the new westside location and improvements at its Southeast Portland headquarters. The relationship between those two figures is unclear.
The building, a former Allegro Microsystems site the Dougy Center purchased in 2023, sits near the Walker Road Fred Meyer. It will include music, art and "big energy" rooms where children can express and process grief, along with indoor and outdoor play areas, a 1,500-square-foot training room and a recording studio for the organization's Grief Out Loud podcast, according to Dougy Center.
Three firms are partnering on the renovation. Walsh Construction is leading construction. Scott Edwards Architecture handled the design. Urban Resources Inc. (URI) helped identify the property as part of a site selection committee, according to an Oct. 28 press release carried by the Hillsboro Herald.
Scott Edwards Architecture and URI both worked with Dougy Center after an arson fire destroyed its eastside location in 2009. Walsh Construction is a new partner.
"It's incredibly rewarding to be part of giving this building a new chapter …" Patti Miles, project manager at Walsh Construction, said in the press release.
Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty welcomed the project in a news release. "Beaverton has been asking for a Dougy Center presence for years, and Malcolm's House is exactly the kind of resource our families deserve," Beaty said.
Dougy Center has operated in Washington County for about two decades, first in Hillsboro beginning in 2006 and more recently inside Beaverton's B4Church on Walker Road, according to the Beaverton Valley Times. The Schendel Avenue location will be its first permanent westside home.
The 2026 Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model estimates that one in 12 children in Oregon will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18. In some parts of Washington County, that figure rises to one in eight, according to Dougy Center.
Once open, Malcolm's House is projected to double the number of children and families Dougy Center serves through in-person programming across all locations, reaching 5,000 people annually within five years, according to the organization.
