Firehouse

Sam Rodriguez, senior managing director at developer Mill Creek Residential's Portland office, confirmed the company will likely demolish a Pearl District firehouse.

(City of Portland)

A developer is planning a 12-story apartment building at the site of a former Pearl District firehouse built in 1913, city documents show.

Sam Rodriguez, senior managing director at developer Mill Creek Residential's Portland office, confirmed the company will likely demolish the firehouse, replacing it with market-rate apartments, basement parking and ground-floor retail. The site is along the north side of Northwest Glisan Street between Interstate 405 and Northwest 14th Avenue.

"We'll explore all the options," Rodriguez said. "But we can't guarantee that we'll be able to save the building."

The restaurant Touche occupies the building now. The site is also home to the restaurant Hawaiian Time.

Mill Creek hopes to start construction in May of next year and finish the building by early 2019, Rodriguez said. The firm will also consider reusing brick from the firehouse and rebuilding its facade.

"It seems to me that if there's anything to be saved, it's that facade," Rodriguez said. "The rest of it has been modified and remodified so many times." The old fire door, for instance, is gone, he added.

Some in the Pearl District - including the operators of Touche - are concerned about losing the historic firehouse, one of few left in Portland.

Touche posted a document on Twitter urging Pearl District residents to write letters to the city in an effort to save the building.

"Density and building diversity should not be an either/or proposition," the document reads. "We can have increased density AND retain significant historic structures."

The building is on the city's historic resource inventory, but that doesn't prohibit demolition. Representatives from the neighborhood, Mill Creek and the city met April 20 to discuss the project, Rodriguez said.

"We told them that we were looking at multiple options but demolition was definitely a strong one," Rodriguez said.

Mill Creek has agreed to buy the building but hasn't yet closed the sale. Rodriguez declined to reveal the terms.

The Portland Tribune first reported on the potential demolition.

-- Luke Hammill

lhammill@oregonian.com

503-294-4029

@lucashammill