PORTLAND, Ore. – Fifty-nine years after it was built just west of Northwest 23rd Avenue, a warehouse will be demolished for multifamily housing following a December sale of the property for more than $2 million.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Located at 2330 NW Raleigh St., the 7,320-square-foot building was constructed in 1956. It sits on a 13,463-square-foot lot, part of which is taken up by a parking lot.
City records list the building’s use as a warehouse with more than 20 percent of the space classified as “good (quality) office.”
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
While the warehouse directly abuts the structure to the east, classified as a garage, they are separate buildings and have separate ownership.
On Dec. 29 a sale of the warehouse property was recorded. It was sold by Gerald Dickerson to 2330 NW Raleigh Investments LLC for a price of $2,150,000. It had been owned by Dickerson since a 1988 sale for $185,000, meaning the 2014 sales price represented a 1162 percent increase in value over those 26 years.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The warehouse was formerly home to A-1 Scale, which provides weighing equipment for a number of industries. A notice on the company’s website states it has moved out to a location in Vancouver about 16 miles away.
On May 21 the Bureau of Development Services received an application for early assistance on redevelopment of the site. The application calls for a four-story, 40-unit apartment building with 22 parking spaces provided onsite.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
While business registry records do not list any humans associated with 2330 NW Raleigh Investments LLC, instead only listing a law firm as the registrant, the permit application indicates Don Mutal is associated with the limited liability corporation. Mutal is involved with another in-the-works demolition and redevelopment project on Southeast Ankeny Street, reported on by the Portland Chronicle earlier this year. He has previously worked on the Pearl District’s 300 Building and The Kingston.
The listed applicant for the Northwest Raleigh Street project is Julio Rocha of LRS Architects, which previously designed The Lovejoy at Northwest 13th Avenue and Lovejoy Street in the Pearl district as well as the Cook Street Apartments between North Vancouver and Williams avenues, one of several large apartment complexes in that area reported on by the Portland Chronicle in March.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
According to its website, part of the architecture firm’s challenge with the Cook Street Apartments project was to maximize density while “respecting the layout and access to the New Seasons Market” which was also under construction at the time. It is not stated whether a challenge arose in respecting the neighborhood that predated even New Seasons.
The Raleigh Street project is located just west of Northwest 23rd Avenue. No demolition or construction permits have yet been filed.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
A rendering of a project sited at the Raleigh Street address appears on NBP Capital‘s website. This company, “a privately held investment real estate fund,” describes the project as a 34-unit building. It is unclear whether this is a former plan that has been scrapped or whether it is still connected with the project.
Rendering of a project at 2330 NW Raleigh St. from NBP Capital. As LRS Architects is now handling the design, it is unclear whether this rendering still has any relation to the current project.