PORTLAND, Ore. – Ten blocks east of an upcoming tear-down along a popular bicycle route in Southeast Portland, another demolition approaches where a 109-year-old house will be replaced by multiple new single-family residences.
Located at 4110 SE Clinton St., or 2704 SE 41st Ave. according to city records, the house was built in 1906 and sits on a 10,000-square-foot lot. The home itself is 2,320 square feet in size.
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City records list the most recent sale as occurring in 2007 when Matt Farr purchased the house for $400,000. County records are difficult to locate by searching for the address, as the county has erroneously listed the site address as 4110 SE 41st Ave. in an apparent combination of both addresses on record for the site. But even once located that listing does not give any recent property sales details.
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However, on June 2 real estate database Zillow recorded a sale of the corner lot for $687,000. Once again, Zillow is ahead of the city and county in recording property sales. The company’s “Zestimate” for the site’s market value is $486,895, meaning the sale price is a full $200,000 more than the property’s estimated market value.
Before the sale was even recorded by Zillow — and therefore long before the city or county records it — a developer applied for new construction on the site.
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On May 22 the city received an application to build a two-story single-family home with a tuck-under garage at 4110 SE Clinton St. The applicant is listed as Diana Catron of Everett Custom Homes. Vic Remmers, owner of the same company, is listed as the contractor.
Everett Custom Homes is registered at 732 SW 158th Ave. in Beaverton.
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On May 5 the Bureau of Development Services received an application for demolition of the 1906 home. To make the city’s property transfer recording practices even murkier, on that application the owner is listed as Everett Custom Homes, suggesting the BDS had recorded the property transfer just three days after Zillow recorded it even while city and county records still list Farr as the owner.
The BDS stated on the application intake that the demolition would be subject to the 35-day demolition delay now standard on residential-zoned home demolitions, instructing staff not to issue the permit until July 3.
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However, as the application was received June 5, a simple math calculation indicates this only provides 28 days of delay, rather than the legally-mandated 35 days. If the BDS were to apply the full required-by-law delay period, the permit should be delayed until July 10.
While this 10,000-square-foot lot is zoned R2.5, meaning there can be one residential unit per 2,500 square feet of land in future land partitions, it also has an underlying lot line that it appears the developer intends to take advantage of.
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On June 9 Everett Custom Homes applied for a lot confirmation to confirm two lots of record on the site and “adjust (the north-south) line to the west.” At present the north-south historical lot line bisects the property down the middle, so while there are no additional construction permits filed at this time it seems that moving the line to the west would give the potential for three or more lots to be created on the site. Its R2.5 zoning would allow for more land partitions to occur.
Several tall trees are located on the property. No information is provided in public records regarding the fate of these trees.
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In cases like this where both city and county records are behind in property ownership information, yet the demolition delay period has been activated, the very goals of that delay appear to be nullified as it is a difficult process for interested parties to obtain information that would allow them to contact the new owner and negotiate the fate of the house.
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