PORTLAND, OR – Southeast 30th and Hawthorne is an encapsulation of southeast Portland’s changing character. Once a comfortably spacious lot home to a modest building hosting a variety of businesses over the years, it is now completely occupied by a massive apartment complex.
In the 1960s this site was home to a one-story service station, according to city documents.
In the 1970s Tastee Freez occupied the building, followed by a string of different restaurant businesses.
Later, in the 1990s, the site was recognizable to neighborhood residents as a 50s-style diner called At The Hop.
At The Hop closed in the late 90s. In 2003, the building sold for $245,000 and became home to Big Daddy’s Barbecue. The blaring orange paint may have seemed like a change in the building’s character, but it certainly wouldn’t impact the neighborhood as much as the site’s next transformation.
Big Daddy’s Barbecue closed in 2008. It then sat vacant for three years. During that period the city received at least one nuisance complaint, citing transient activity and a couch sitting on the property. In late 2010, the building was demolished.
Over the next year and a half it sat vacant. In 2012, the empty lot sold to UDG Hawthorne LLC for $870,000. Development began.
It is now owned by UDG Hawthorne LLC, located in Beaverton. UDG Hawthorne LLC’s registered agent is Dennis Sackhoff, who also owns the building’s property management company, Anchor Northwest Property Group. Sackhoff has been involved with a number of other recent similar developments, including the 81-unit complex on SE Division with no on-site parking.
The complex at 30th, called the Abernethy Court Apartments, has 50 units and no on-site parking. The decision not to include parking generated controversy, as neighbors feared the building and its renters would significantly impact the parking situation on surrounding streets. Renters are not required to forgo automobiles.
The apartments are filling fast. There is currently one listed available rental, a one-bedroom apartment for $1,195.
This process is visible on many other properties in southeast neighborhoods — older, smaller buildings are demolished and replaced with much larger, modern-style structures, often residential with a commercial floor at ground level. This trend has been ongoing since about 2011, and shows no sign of slowing. While neighbors have often expressed concern at the abundance of density quickly entering their neighborhoods, developers have pointed out that Portland's zoning code allows for the construction of these structures.
Neighbor complaints have had some effect: there are now minimum parking requirements for larger residential structures. Buildings with under 30 units do not need to include parking spaces, but from 31-40 units, .2 spaces per unit are required. From 41 to 50 units, .25 spaces per unit are required. Anything over 50 units requires .33 spaces per unit.
The Abernethy Court Apartments began construction before the requirements went into effect, and therefore were completed with no on-site parking spaces.