Ankeny Redevelopment Continues as House Will Be Razed for 40 Units

PORTLAND, Ore. – A 119-year-old house in the Buckman neighborhood will be demolished and replaced by a five-story apartment building, and will become the latest in a string of developments on Southeast Ankeny Street.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

The house was built in 1896. It is located at 1459 SE Ankeny St. It is two stories, and city data indicates that the ground floor is in use as a retail store while the upper story is an office apartment.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

In 2013 the house sold for $585,000 to Ankeny Building LLC. Four years earlier it had sold to George Kassapakis for $890,000. It is unclear why the price dropped more than $300,000 in those four years.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

In March 2014 the developer applied for construction of a mixed-use development containing five stories of 40 units. In April the city approved a land use review allowing the development, with commercial and parking on the main floor.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

On Jan. 9 the developer applied for demolition of the house. It was approved the same day, likely because the house is no longer being used as a single-family home.

The house is connected to a “generic commercial use” building built in 1936. That building is under separate ownership, and does not appear to be part of the redevelopment plan. However, the parking lot to the south of the 1896 house is also owned by Ankeny Building LLC, and will likely be part of the five-story project.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

Ankeny Building LLC lists Rudolph Munzel as a member of the business, with Jonathan A. Bennett as its registered agent.

Photo credit: Portland Chronicle

This development will be about four blocks east of a six-story development in Portland’s “new hipster LoBu neighborhood,” three blocks east of a proposed Urban Development Group development at Southeast 12th and Sandy Boulevard, two blocks east of an Urban Development Group apartment building on the former site of Old Wives’ Tales restaurant, one block west of three new townhouse unit developments, about 10 blocks west of a house that will be demolished for a four-story 23-unit structure, 11 blocks west of a new “urban infill pocket community” called Ankeny Row, 11 blocks west of the Ankeny Lofts and about 13 blocks west of an Urban Development Group complex at Southeast 27th and Ankeny.