PORTLAND, Ore. – An extended demolition delay period has been sparked by the proposed demolition of a 91-year-old house in the Kenton neighborhood of North Portland, as the structure is listed as a contributing resource to the Kenton Conservation District.
Located at 8210 N. Brandon Ave., the house was built in 1925 and sits on a 5,000-square-foot corner lot.
Photo credit: Submitted Photo
The most recent sale on record was in 1995 when the property sold to its current listed owners, Jacqueline and Dennis Shadduck.
However, public records are behind on the sales history, as on March 28 the house was listed for $324,900, according to real estate website Redfin.
The listing describes the house as a “charming (two) bedroom bungalow with hardwood floors and fireplace,” in a “supreme location.”
One week after the listing, a pending sale was recorded although real estate database websites do not list the sale price.
Photo credit: Redfin
But subsequent permit applications hint at the new owner. Several days after the pending sale was recorded, the city received an application for demolition of the 91-year-old home. The contractor is listed as Renaissance Custom Homes LLC, registered to Randy Sebastian in Lake Oswego, while the applicant was Kevin Partain of Urban Visions.
The 1925 home is listed as a contributing structure to the Kenton Conservation District, one of six conservation districts around Portland. Conservation districts are similar to the city’s 16 historic districts, but have a generally “lower” degree of historic significance, according to the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.
Contributing structures are so designated because they have been identified as adding to the historic nature of the district, while non-contributing “are those that, due to date of construction, alterations, or other factors, do not contribute to the district’s historic significance or character,” according to the BPS.
As opposed to the historic resource inventory designation, which a property owner can remove at any time — the Portland Chronicle has reported on several of these cases including a church in the King neighborhood — removal of a contributing structure from a conservation district is a more involved process, requiring the owner to “show that the benefits to the public and the property owner of retaining the historic designation no longer outweigh the benefits of removing the designation, or, that the owner objected to the designation at the time it was first adopted.”
Photo credit: Submitted Photo
The 1925 Kenton home has not been removed from the conservation district, meaning an extended demolition delay period of 120 days has been activated.
On April 12 the city issued notice of the extended delay, listing Anthony Cristobal of Renaissance Homes as the applicant.
“Demolition of this structure has been delayed for 120 days to allow time for consideration of alternatives to demolition,” the notice indicates. “Such alternatives include restoration, relocation, or architectural salvage.”
The notice also emphasizes that “the burden of finding an alternative to demolition is limited to any interested parties and the owner and/or their representative.”
The extended demolition delay period will end on Aug. 6.
Although no new construction permits have been applied for, Renaissance Custom Homes has applied to reopen and reconfigure multiple underlying lot lines, likely signalling a plan for multiple new units on the property.