PORTLAND, Ore. — The former Gordon's Fireplace Shop building in Northeast Portland will not be auctioned off Monday as originally anticipated, officials with the city of Portland confirmed Friday — the result of the property changing hands at the last minute.
Portland City Council foreclosed on the property in June after the building's owners built up roughly $150,000 in liens for code enforcement violations, leading the city to schedule it for auction.
The historic building at Northeast 33rd Avenue and Broadway, overlooking I-84, was bought in 2016 by developers looking to turn it into office space and retail, then housing and retail. But the project never moved forward, and the building continued to deteriorate, becoming a magnet for graffiti and broken windows.
Despite mounting code violations from the city, the owners refused to pay off the liens, culminating in the June foreclosure.
When KGW spoke to him earlier this month, a representative for the owners said he was working to improve the property and was considering litigation against the city to fight those liens. He also suggested that the owners could postpone the sale through bankruptcy.
But at the end of August, a lender called PNC Bank sued multiple involved developers for defaulting on their loan for the Gordon's Fireplace site, alleging that the owners owed almost $5 million to lenders as of July.
According to the city of Portland, the lender has since foreclosed on the property, and a court appointed a receiver to take charge. On Friday, the lender paid off the majority of outstanding liens — resulting in the Gordon's property being pulled from Monday's city foreclosure sale.
"The court-appointed receiver has already engaged with Portland Permitting and Development about addressing the current code violations, as well as ongoing issues at the site, such as illegal entry and nuisance issues," a city spokesperson said.
In total, the lender paid $102,661.88 to take care of the liens and get the property off the auction block. As of Aug. 28, the total balance in liens topped $152,000, according to records provided by the city.
A handful of other blighted properties are still scheduled to be auctioned off Monday.
