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- Peter Kusyk Begins Church Demolition
- Northeast Church Demolition Well Underway
PORTLAND, Ore. – The city has received an application for demolition of a church in the King neighborhood of Northeast Portland, with a concurrent application received for new construction on the site.
Update: A petition to save the church has been started.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The church, located at 801 NE Failing St., was built in 1904 by Volga Germans on a 5,000-square-foot lot and was utilized as St. Paul’s Evangelical and Reformed Church until 1973, according to a detailed history by Steve Schreiber of The Volga Germans in Portland. The church building is 3,756 square feet in size.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Following a sale in 1973 the church became the Gethsemane Church of God in Christ for decades but has been vacant for several years now.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
On Dec. 30 the county recorded a sale from Gethsemane Church of God to Firenze Development Inc. for a price of $382,500. Firenze Development Inc. is registered to Peter Kusyk in Wilsonville.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Kusyk was previously going to demolish the Markham home in Northeast Portland and replace it with two residences, but that redevelopment was stopped by neighborhood efforts to save the house.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
On March 31 the city received an application for demolition of the church at Northeast 8th Avenue and Failing Street. Because it is listed on the Historic Resources Inventory taken in 1984, the demolition would have been subject to a mandatory 120-day demolition delay.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
However, on the same day the demolition application was received, Kusyk requested the property be removed from the Historic Resources Inventory list, thereby negating the requirement for the delay.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
In place of the 111-year-old church Kusyk plans to build a two-story duplex with a tuck-under garage for one unit and a “parking pad” for the other.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The property is located within an R2.5 zone, meaning there can be one residential unit per 2,500 square feet of property. It is also located within an Alternative Design Density overlay zone, one of the goals of which is to “focus development on vacant sites.”
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Other properties within this overlay zone profiled by the Portland Chronicle include a house at 3959 NE Mallory Ave. and one at 4407 N. Haight Ave.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The demolition and construction permits at the church are still under review.