- Update: Northwest Office Building Razed for 58 Units
PORTLAND, Ore – A 60-year-old one-story office building in the Northwest District has been demolished to make way for a six-story apartment building by a limited liability company registered to developer Mark Edlen.
The office building, located at 1313 NW 19th and reported on by this publication in October 2014, was constructed in 1956 and sat on a 10,000-square-foot lot.
In July 2014 the building was sold by the Portland Police Association to NW 19th LLC for a price of $1.6 million. The police association had purchased the property in 1994 for $305,000, indicating the property increased in value five-fold over the past two decades.
NW 19th LLC is registered to Mark Edlen, previously reported on by the Portland Chronicle regarding his proposed demolition of a 95-year-old building also in the Northwest District.
One month after the sale the city received an application for demolition of the building. The applicant was listed as Agustin Enriquez of GBD Architects, while the demolition contractor was R & H Construction.
In February the city received an application for construction on the site of the one-story office building. The permit calls for a six-story, 58-unit apartment building, and also indicates there will be ground-floor automobile parking. The number of spaces is not detailed. The applicant was Eric Buschert of GBD Architects, while the contractor was again R & H Construction.
The project has recently undergone another land use review procedure for a “new art installation and landscaping” along the west side of the building, as part of a “negotiated good neighbor agreement” with the neighboring mixed-use structure to the west. That building, two stories tall, was constructed in 1999.
Prior to demolition the office building on the corner had been partially used as Portland Police Association offices.
Several trees were removed during the demolition process.