PORTLAND, Ore. – An 82-year-old house in the Sabin neighborhood of northeast Portland will be torn down by a developer and member of the Portland Design Commission.
Located at 1926 NE Mason St., the house totals 1,753 square feet in size on a 13,033-square-foot lot.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
In 2007 the property sold to Erin Livengood and Ben Kaiser for $595,000.
Kaiser is the owner of Kaiser Group Inc. and PATH Architecture Inc., and has also served on the city design commission since 2008.
Kaiser’s development companies are responsible for a number of redevelopment projects along North Vancouver and Williams avenues, including an in-progress development at the corner of North Williams Avenue and Northeast Fremont Street.
Development at that site has been in the works for years. The Portland Business Journal reported in 2013 that nearly 180 units were planned for the development and that it would take up the entire block. The proposal approved by the Bureau of Development Services in December noted that only 14 residential units were planned in the eight-story, 85-foot building, and that it would be build on one corner of the block.
NextPortland reports the project will take place in three phases, with the 14-unit building as the first phase.
In 2014 work at the future site of that development violated city building and zoning codes, the Bureau of Development Services wrote in a compliance request dated Sept. 3, 2014.
[embeddoc url=”https://www.portlandchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/City-enforcment-document-.pdf”]On Oct. 2 the city received an application for demolition of the 82-year-old Northeast Mason Street home. The permit intake stated the demolition would be subject to the 35-day demolition delay (due to its location within a residential zone), although city records also indicate the permit was “approved to issue” the same day (which indicates that “all technical reviews have been completed, fees have been billed, and permit is ready to be picked up by customer”).
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Still, three months later the house had not yet been demolished. The applicant on the tear-down was Eric Wiley of Kaiser Group Inc.
There is not yet any indication as to what will replace the 1934 home. The demolition permit has not yet appeared on any Bureau of Development Services issued permit lists.