PORTLAND, Ore. – A house built more than a century ago in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Southeast Portland will be demolished by a Beaverton-based residential redevelopment company, following a structure fire that occurred six weeks ago — while the vacant house was under ownership by a separate development company.
Located at 3542 SE Taylor St., the house was built in 1890 and sits on a 5,000-square-foot lot. It is located in an R2.5 zone, meaning there can be two units built on the land in future land divisions.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
On Oct. 2 the 125-year-old house sold to Columbia Redevelopment LLC, a residential redevelopment company, for $320,000.
But on Nov. 1 Portland Fire & Rescue responded to a report of a fire at the 1890 house. Crews arrived shortly after 5:21 p.m. to “a fully involved house fire,” according to a release. “Neighbors say that the house is vacant. Firefighters verified that the house was empty while simultaneously extinguishing the fire. This incident was declared under control 20 minutes later, without injuries.”
The cause of the fire was later determined to be “smoker carelessness,” although no further information was provided about who was involved in starting the fire in the vacant house owned by the development company.
The Oregonian reported that “fire investigators determined squatters smoking inside the house caused the fire” based on information from the fire department spokesman.
Just shy of three weeks after the fire Columbia Redevelopment sold the house and property to Everett Custom Homes Inc., registered to Vic Remmers at a Beaverton address.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The sale price was $400,000, which is $80,000 higher than Columbia Redevelopment paid despite the structure fire occurring in the intervening month and a half.
Five days after the sale was recorded Everett Custom Homes applied for demolition of the house. The permit, which is subject to the 35-day delay likely to expire Dec. 30, indicates that the “scope of work does not include tree removal.”