PORTLAND, Ore. – Two new units that are built on the site of a demolished 129-year-old house have sold for a combined total of $1,351,300, which is more than $1 million higher than the razed house sold to the developer for.
The former house, built in 1886, was located at 8226 SE 19th Ave. It was 1,180 square feet. The house sold to SE 19th Lofts LLC, registered to Roman Ozeruga, in January for $287,100, which was $27,100 than it sold for eight years earlier.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
In January the city received an application for construction of a new two-story house on the property. The applicant was Kevin Partain of Urban Visions. On Feb. 3 the city received an application and issued a permit for demolition of the 129-year-old home, with Urban Housing Development listed as the contractor.
The demolition permit was applied for and issued the same day because the developer submitted an application for a new single-family residence concurrent with the demolition. Under the former demolition regulations a tear-down was exempt from a 35-day delay period if the developer planned to replace it with one “and only one” house on the same tax lot as the demolished house.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The former house sat on a single 7,500-square-foot tax lot, but four days prior to applying for demolition the developer applied to confirm two underlying lots on the site and to shift the position of the line between them.
By doing so the developer could apply for construction on the second tax lot and still waive the delay, not necessarily constituting a violation of the exemption rules but circumventing the purpose behind the delay exemption, which was often referred to as the “one-for-one” rule (one house would be replacing another, without any changes in density).
That exemption has since been ended and new demolition regulations are in effect.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle
The two new houses on Southeast 19th Avenue have since sold. The house at 8218 SE 19th Ave. sold on Sept. 2 for $679,000, while its neighbor at 8226 SE 19th Ave. sold on Oct. 2 for $671,400.
The real estate listings described the new houses as “unparalleled new construction, spacious floor-plan with clever layout, warm & welcoming modern design, efficient, super rare home in this desirable Sellwood neighborhood.”
They went on to explain that each home was “painstakingly built & designed to the smallest detail.”
Each new house sold for more than double the price the single demolished house was purchased for.