UDG to Demolish Sellwood Structure, Build Four Stories

PORTLAND, Ore. – An 81-year-old retail building in the Sellwood neighborhood of Southeast Portland will be demolished and replaced by four stories of apartment units built by a notorious Beaverton-based development company.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

The building, located at 8234 SE 17th Ave., was built in 1934. The retail structure is 8,504 square feet in size and is built on a 15,000-square-foot lot.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

The structure was, until recently, home to the South Sellwood Design Center, which was made up of a number of design-related businesses. For the past 20 years one of those was Trio Furniture, which moved into a new location in March.

Last June the property and building sold for $1,421,000. It had most recently sold before that in 2003 for $470,586, meaning the lot more than tripled in value in the intermittent 11 years.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

The seller in the 2014 transaction was 8237 SE 17th, LLC, registered to Richard R. Hattenhauer in Southwest Portland, while the buyer was UDG Umatilla LLC.

UDG Umatilla LLC is registered to Mary and Dennis Sackhoff, and is one of the many LLCs registered to Sackhoff’s Urban Development Group, a development company located at 735 SW 185th Ave. in Beaverton.

Last summer Urban Development Group representative David Mullens applied for early assistance on development at the site. The application described a “proposed 74 unit apartment building.”

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

On May 7 the city received an application for construction of a four-story wood-frame apartment building on the site. The building plans to include underground parking, bike storage and a “dog wash room.” The construction permit does not state how many units will be built, so it is unclear whether 74 units is still the plan.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

Urban Development Group has a number of apartment buildings under construction across Portland’s east side, many of them reported on by the Portland Chronicle, including buildings at SE 13th and Burnside, SE 27th and Ankeny, SE 20th and Morrison, SE 50th and Stephens and SE 21st and Belmont. Completed buildings include those at SE 30th and Hawthorne and SE 39th and Alder. This developer has also proposed a building at SE 11th and Burnside, although the address is not listed on the application and was determined by the Portland Chronicle.

Writing on the windows of the building at Southeast 17th Avenue and Umatilla Street announces a sale that occurred prior to the businesses moving out. “Beat the wrecking ball,” the announcement reads.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

A sign on a telephone pole in front of the building references another nearby upcoming demolition and redevelopment project and advertises a film called Den$ity as well as United Neighborhoods for Reform.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle