PORTLAND, Ore. – The proposed demolition of a 104-year-old building in the King Neighborhood has been appealed and an extended demolition delay will be considered by the city’s hearings officer next month.

The delay would require developer Everett Custom Homes to postpone demolition until late August.

Located at 5128 NE Rodney Ave., the building totals 5,486 square feet in size on a 12,500-square-foot lot. Built in 1912 and commonly referred to as the Ocobock Mansion, the house has a long history but was most recently in use as a foster fare facility for two decades before the organization, Give Us This Day, shut down in 2015.

Give Us This Day was associated with the Alfred Yaun Child Care Centers, which took ownership of the property in 1996 for no dollar figure.

After the foster facility closed last fall, the property was handled by Troubled Asset Solutions LLC, Willamette Week reported.

The property sold to Wilde Properties Inc., registered to Mark and Erika Wilde, for $570,000 on April 27.

But just nine days later, Wilde Properties sold the house for $900,000 to Everett Custom Homes Inc. Wilde Properties has flipped homes in this manner several times in the past, but this is the quickest price increase the Portland Chronicle has reported on.

Everett Custom Homes is registered to Vic Remmers at both Beaverton and northwest Portland addresses.

On May 16 Everett Custom Homes applied to demolish the 104-year-old building.

The permit was initially issued immediately, citing that the building was classified as commercial, but a few days later was revised to include a 35-day delay, which generally applies to residential structures in residential zones.

The house is technically a “multifamily” structure in a residential zone.

During its brief ownership of the house, Wilde Properties removed it from the city’s historic resource inventory. The building was included on that 1984 survey based on architectural significance. The demolition would have been subject to a mandatory 120-day delay as a historic resource, but its removal from the voluntary list removed that requirement.

Commission cites concerns

Given the building’s inclusion on the historic inventory, the city’s historic landmarks commission penned a letter to Multnomah County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury, bringing up state law that may have been violated in the multiple transfers of the 5128 NE Rodney Ave. property.

According to a requirement detailed through state law, when a state agency owns a property with historic significance the agency is supposed to work with the state historic preservation office (SHPO) to “conserve the property and assure that such property shall not be inadvertently transferred, sold, demolished, substantially altered or allowed to deteriorate.”

As the Rodney Avenue house has been transferred from public ownership twice — once back in 1996 when it was given to the foster care organization and once last year when the state placed the property in the hands of Troubled Asset Solutions — and is now slated for demolition, the commission voiced concerns this law was not being followed.

The letter, delivered May 31, asks the county to investigate the situation and figure out whether the law was followed; and if it was not, to figure out how to remedy the situation.

“We understand the challenges the county faces in attempting to increase density and livability in our area,” the letter reads. “However, our supply of historic structures is dwindling and once gone, these vital resources can never be replaced.”

The letter was cc’ed to Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Dan Saltzman, among others.

Appellants seek to postpone

A demolition delay appeal was submitted by the King Neighborhood Association on June 16, asking to delay the demolition for a maximum of 95 days. Because the neighborhood association signed on to the application the $1,368 cost otherwise associated with the application was waived.

Submitted with the application, a number of individuals included evidence of funds on hand to assist with a purchase of the house for preservation.

The applicants also included a detailed history of the house and ideas for how they could re-purpose it if a sale is actualized.

The demolition delay hearing will be held at 9 a.m. July 13 in Room 3000 on the third floor at 1900 S.W. 4th Ave.

The Portland Chronicle reported on the first half-dozen appeal cases to go before Hearings Office Greg Frank, and some of the issues that have been raised about the process.

Interior dismantling begins

On June 22 a video was posted to the Save the Historic Ocobock Mansion from Demolition Facebook page indicating structural demolition work was occurring inside the building, despite the structure’s ultimate fate still up in the air.

“We’re working at tearing out some ceilings and walls,” a worker reported, adding that the water lines were being removed as well.

The next day, the Bureau of Development Services published a release responding to the “many inquiries” the department received about the work occurring despite the demolition delay appeal still pending.

According to the release a BDS inspector visited the site and determined the work being done (walls and ceilings being removed) did not require a permit.

“However, if any structural members are removed or altered, then a stop work order could be issued,” the release said. “They are allowed to do hazardous materials abatement without a building permit.”

If the hearings officer decides to grant the appeal, the demolition could not occur before Aug. 20. If the appeal is denied, the permit will be issued and the developer could begin demolition at any time.