PORTLAND, Ore. – Next door to a 127-year-old commercial building that is pending demolition on Southeast Belmont Street, a second building has been removed from the city’s historic resource inventory, a move which although it doesn’t signal any definite development plans, removes any obstacles that would delay a future demolition of the structure.
Located at 3342 SE Belmont St. and 3348 SE Belmont St., the building was built in 1923. It sits on an L-shaped 5,700-square-foot lot one building west of the corner of Southeast 34th Avenue and Belmont Street.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
The property most recently sold to Wayne Sabbak in 2010 for $525,000. It then transferred into ownership by Full Belmonty LLC, registered to Sabbak with a business address in Spokane, Wash.
The Belmont Street property was listed on the historic resource inventory, a list compiled in 1984 of properties that could potentially be designated as historic landmarks with a higher degree of protection.
Image from historic resource inventory listing
However, three days ago the city issued a letter acknowledging Sabbak’s request to remove the property from the inventory.
“A written request from Mr. Sabbak was received by the Bureau of Development Services on May 9, 2016 and the property was officially removed from the City’s Historic Resource Inventory on that date,” the letter states.
The 93-year-old building is directly adjacent to the commercial building formerly home to Belmont Records, which closed last month, and Tara Tibetan Collections.
That building, which dates back to 1889, is proposed to be demolished and replaced by a three-story mixed use building. The existing building was removed from the historic resource inventory in February per the owner’s request.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Properties on the inventory list are sometimes given ranks in order of their significance.
Ranked properties are subject to demolition delay review, which among other provisions triggers a 120-day demolition delay (commercial structures can otherwise receive same-day demolition permits).
Some resources, like the Belmont Records building, were not given a ranking, meaning even if the owner had not removed it from the list, no demolition delay review would be required.
Its neighbor to the east, on the other hand, the 93-year-old building, was given a ranking of III, meaning a 120-day delay would have been applied to any demolition proposal had the owner not removed it from the list three days ago.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Still, the removal does not necessarily mean the building is coming down.
“A property owner’s request to remove a property from the Historic Resources Inventory does not in and of itself demonstrate intent to demolish the resource,” City Planner Brandon Spencer-Hartle said in an email.
But he added that because ranked properties are subject to delay, as this building would have been, “removal from the Inventory prior to application for a demolition permit would expedite the process for an owner seeking demolition (of) an Inventory resource.”
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
The building is home to Suzette Creperie and Circa 33.
Its former inventory listing noted that the building is an example of “Zig-zag Moderne” style and that it was originally in retail and factory use as Pantorium Dye Works.
Image from historic resource inventory listing