Village Market
Success
New Columbia
grocery strives
fo r good health
Rose
Festival Time
Holiday weekend
to open waterfront
fo r CityFair
See story, page 3
See Metro, page 13
if Jfarilanir ® hserlier 43
Read back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
‘City 0 /Roses’
Volume XXXXI, Number 19
Wednesday • May 23, 2012
Established ¡fl 1970
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Committed to Cultural Diversity ^ ^ rM itv s e w ic e
Landmark
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Developer buys
Washington
High for housing
L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
by
The former Washington High
School in southeast Portland is on
course to come alive once more, but
this time as a center for urban living.
A local company known for pre
serving historic buildings has pur
chased the abandoned school from
the Portland School District and
plans to keep the four- story build
ing standing by renovating the
structure into housing.
Exact plans for the remodel will
take months of study, but some
th in g s are now clear: one o f
Portland’s largest and oldest school
buildings, vacant since 1982, is now
in the hands of someone who wants
to keep it standing.
The School Board last month
unanimously agreed to sell the build
ing for $2 million to developer Art
DeMuro, owner of Venerable Prop
erties, on the condition that he can
preserve the 112,000 square foot
structure and use it for housing.
Venerable will have nine months
to pursue “due diligence,” which
will include pursuing ways to make
the project work financially.
While DeMuro said he is commit
ted to the housing conversion,
“What form that will take, I don’t
know,” he told the Portland Ob
server.
He said the pool of possibilities
includes rental versus ownership
suites, single rooms or larger family
units, market rate or subsidized hous
ing, or a mix of housing types.
DeMuro said he will adhere to the
wishes of the school district and
neighborhood advocates who want
to see the building nominated for
national historic designation, either
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Art DeMuro of Portland and his company Venerable Properties has purchased the abandoned Washington High School in southeast
Portland from the Portland School District and plans to renovate the four-story building into a housing complex.
One o f our mandates with Portland Public
Schools is that we nominate the building fo r
national historic designation, either as a
landmark or as a contributing structure.
- Art DeMuro, owner of Venerable Properties
as a landmark or as a contributing current use,” DeMuro said.
structure to a future Buckman His
Washington High School was
toric District.
combined with the defunct Monroe
This means, in effect, that the High School and renamed Wash
school ’ s 600 seat auditorium will be ington-Monroe before both schools
preserved. “It is a character-defin closed in 1982. Since then, the build
ing feature, but not necessarily in its ing at Southeast 14th and Stark and
has been used for a variety of other
purposes. In 2003, it was declared
surplus, and the following year a
citizen task force examined the 7.5
acre property and developed a mas
ter plan for its use. Part of the site
was set aside for a future commu
nity center, part as public open space,
and the rest, including the old build
ing, was designated for sale for
housing development.
The city of Portland purchased
the community center site, but does
not have the funds to build a center,
with an estimated cost of $40 to $60
million. At one point Brad Malsin
and his Beam Development bid to
acquire the housing portion, but the
deal fell through.
DeMuro and his Venerable Prop
erties have specialized in restora
tion of historic properties. He has
served as chair of the Portland His-
continued
on page 7