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‘City o f Roses’
Volume XL1V
Number 24
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Wednesday • June 18, 2014
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server 44
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
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neigborhood o f north Portland. Witt, 4 bedrooms. 3
h/ hanl enitlr S ''ke accessory dwelling units with kitchens on the ground floor, the sellers are asking for more than $ 5 50 ,00 0 each. The construction was made
possible by demolishing a modest 1 9 0 8 single family home and dividing the property into two parcels.
Trend sees older housing stock leveled for higher-cost living
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North and northeast Portland have expe-
rienced a number of changes in the past few
years adding to the gentrification of local
neighborhoods.lt s easy to see the increased
density, the changing neighborhood demo-
graphics, and, perhaps most apparent for the
average resident, rising housing costs.
While there are many components to each
of these changes, a recent development trend
of demolishing older single-family housing
properties and splitting them up to make
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room for multiple luxury homes and condos
has contributed to all of them and more.
Records from recent real estate transac-
tions in the relatively low and medium in­
come Humboldt Neighborhood of north and
northeast Portland, for example, show homes
on single family lots that were assessed in
the $200,000 range being divided into two or
more lots and replaced with luxury homes in
excess of $500,000each,
“We used to do probably 95 percent res-
torations, 5 percent new construction,” says
Mike Hubbell, founder and managing mem-
ber of Portland Development Group, a resi-
dential real-estate development company.
“Now it’s probably about 70 percent new
constructions, 30 percent restorations.”
There are several factors at work in the
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demolition and infill increase, and cost is a
major player. Hubbell cites the Urban Growth
Boundary as one factor in the rising demoli
tions.
“When you’re not allowed to move out, to
push the city limits out, [it’s] driving up the
prices,” says Hubbell. “It’s a less viable
option to restore a house, versus remove it
and put two homes on it.”
However, finances are not the only factor
in the increase in new construction.
“Restoration is a very hard, very highly
expertise-driven business,” says Hubbell.
“What makes new construction so attractive
is that a lot o f contractors can do it. It’s easy,
it doesn’t take a lot of expertise.”
Regardless of the reasons behind the trend,
the demolition increase has some Portland
residents worried.
“People are concerned with demolitions
about a wide variety o f issu es,” says
continued
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