PORTLAND, Ore. – A 105-year-old house in the Piedmont neighborhood of North Portland has been demolished prior to receiving an issued permit from the city and while its demolition delay period is still active.
Photo credit: Google Maps
Photo taken June 14. Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Located at 6716 N Borthwick Ave., the house was built in 1910 and sat on a 7,500-square-foot lot. The house itself totaled 1,128 square feet in size.
Last summer the property was advertised for sale. A record of the real estate listing offers some insight into the condition of the house when it hit the market.
“This wonderful old-style PDX home with a larger lot has been owned by one family since the 50s,” the listing on Zillow stated. “Home offers all the original woodwork on the interior and exterior, 9-foot ceilings with original picture molding…”
Photo credit: Zillow listing
On July 3, 2014 the property sold for $290,000 to Dozer Construction LLC. This sale price was about $95,000 less than Zillow’s estimate of the property’s market value.
In September the developer applied for a lot confirmation to reopen a 2,500-square-foot underlying lot on the north third of the current parcel. That confirmation is still under review.
Later in the fall the city received an application for an addition to the existing house, with the scope of work including an entire new second story and a “whole house remodel” including three new bathrooms, a “master suite” and an enlarged kitchen.
But on May 22 the city received an application for new construction on the lot. The construction permit details a two-story single-family residence with three walls remaining from the former house. The permit clarifies that this construction plan is replacing the former proposal for a major addition.
The date the developer applied for demolition is unclear. PortlandMaps indicates the permit was received on May 26, but the weekly intake report from the Bureau of Development Services listed a May 28 intake date.
The weekly intake report also listed a demolition delay period ending June 29, but as the Portland Chronicle reported in the weekly demolition intake list published June 2, that date would not provide the 35 days of delay now required in all residential zone home demolitions.
Since that time the PortlandMaps record has been updated to list a demolition delay period ending July 2.
But although that day has not yet arrived and the permit is still listed as “under review,” the demolition had occurred by June 14, when the site was photographed by the Portland Chronicle, a full 18 days prior to the demolition delay ending.
Photo credit: Google Maps
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
A sign in front of the site at 6716 N Borthwick shows CRN Excavation Inc. is the contractor performing the demolition.
Dozer Construction LLC is registered to Jennifer Farmer. The applicant on the demolition is listed as Meron Alemseghed of the same development company.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
While Alemseghed is not shown as a registrant of Dozer Construction LLC, his name is affiliated with a number of inactive business registries including Bridge City Investment Group Inc., Geza Development LLC (active until April 2015) and Urban Structures LLC.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The Piedmont home demolition delay period, now rendered inconsequential, will officially end July 2. This is the first un-permitted demolition the Portland Chronicle has reported on.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle