DJC TUESDAY May 28, 2013 www.djcOregon.com T H E DA I LY J O U R N A L O F C O M M E R C E , A busy boulevard in Northeast Portland is being transformed by several developers with mixed-use projects Salvaging Sandy Sam Tenney/DJC Works is under way in the former Teen Challenge USA building to transform it into the Bindery – a mixed-use space. The project is one of several moving forward along Northeast Sandy Boulevard. Sasha Kirovski, above left, and Zeljko Grahovac are developing the renovation of the building. ‘Just by looking at Sandy, it doesn’t take much to figure out this is the next thing to happen,’ Grahovac said. BY LEE FEHRENBACHER [email protected] Sandy Boulevard is about to pop. At least that’s what a handful of developers adamantly believe; they’re snatching up real estate along the Northeast Portland thoroughfare. For years, it was dominated by auto dealerships, used car lots and strip malls. Now investors are envisioning new opportunities for the innercity corridor. “Within 24 months (as the recession waned), blocks and blocks of major buildings completely emptied out,” said Tod Breslau, a broker with Premiere Property Group. “Franchises were lost by the dealers, and all of a sudden you had this long street of interesting buildings that were now empty.” However, buildings aren’t remaining empty. Breslau is working with project owners Zeljko Grahovac and Sasha Kirovski on a million-dollar-plus renovation of the former Teen Challenge USA building at Northeast 31st Avenue and Sandy Boulevard. A large, underground winery will serve as the anchor tenant, retailers will occupy the first floor and creative office users will occupy the second. Construction of the Bindery is scheduled to finish in July. Grahovac and Kirovski are longtime friends who met in Portland in the early 1990s, after emigrating from the what was Yugoslavia. They said the city’s preference for food and drink and its pedestrian-oriented pace remind them of life in Europe. Also, they think redevelopment will continue to gain traction throughout lesser developed neighborhoods. “Just by looking at Sandy, it doesn’t take much to figure out this is the next thing to happen,” said Grahovac, who formerly was a designer with LRS Architects. “It’s happening right now. There’s a lot of interest from other developers and projects going on now.” One belongs to Guerrilla Development Co., the new name for the business led by developer, designer and property owner Kevin Cavenaugh. He said he never thought he’d be bullish on Sandy Boulevard. “We’re kind of all discovering it at the same time,” he said. “It’s not unlike that gal that nobody notices in high P O R T L A N D, O R E G O N school and then everyone wants to go to prom with her.” In April, Cavenaugh purchased the former Vic Alfonso Cadillac used car lot at Northeast 27th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard for $600,000. He plans to construct a building – the Zipper – similar to the Ocean at Northeast 24th Avenue and Glisan Street. Kirovski is participating in the project. At the moment, Cavenaugh is envisioning a $1.9 million development filled with four micro-restaurants, a bar and a coffee/donut shop. One of the funky design features will be a series of fins on the building’s facade. Cavenaugh plans to paint each fin with an image that appears to move as one drives past – like a cartoon in a flip book. Guerrilla also has money in escrow to purchase the building that Voodoo Doughnut co-founder Tres Shannon had hoped to open in 2011 as the Portland P Palace. Costly seismic upgrades put a wrinkle in that plan; the building has since sat vacant. Cavenaugh sees room for multiple micro-retailers – in this case he’s thinking women’s clothing and apparel. He doesn’t have grand illusions about Sandy Boulevard becoming the next Hawthorne Boulevard or Division Street, but with substantial traffic and the Laurelhurst, Irvington, Buckman, Kerns and Alameda neighborhoods close by, he does see potential. “Sandy will always be Sandy,” he said. “If I fought what Sandy is, it would be to my own detriment. But at 28,000 cars per day, there’s got to be a benefit to that.” Cavenaugh is preparing to apply for a permit for the “We’re kind of all Zipper. He also is planning discovering it at the to build a micro-retail building in the parking lot same time. It’s not next to the Ocean, and do unlike that gal that something “fun” with a nobody notices in building at Northeast 67th high school and then Avenue and Sandy Bouleeveryone wants to go vard. A couple of blocks from to prom with her.” the Bindery site, Grahovac – KEVIN CAVENAUGH and Kirovski plan to convert Developer, designer and property owner the Hollywood Motel into micro-apartments; work will begin in the next couple of months. They’re also working on plans to renovate a 32,000-square-foot cardboard box factory nearby into a light industrial version of the Bindery. That could include space for wineries, food production companies and distilleries. In December, Breslau and owners of the Mattress Lot at 2406 N.E. Sandy Blvd. bought the former Timberline Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership building at 2500 N.E. Sandy Blvd. The purchase price was $2 million, according to records obtained from First American Title Reprinted from the Daily Journal of Commerce. To subscribe, e-mail [email protected]. ©Daily Journal of Commerce. All rights reserved. Sam Tenney/DJC The Zipper, a mixed-use building featuring restaurants and retailers, is planned by developer Kevin Cavenaugh on a Northeast Sandy Boulevard lot. Insurance Co. Breslau said the plan is to convert the 20,000-square-foot building into a mix of retail and office space. Breslau said synergy is already building among businesses along Sandy Boulevard. It started with Voodoo Doughnut opening a store on the corner of Northeast Davis Street. Then See See Motor Coffee Co. opened in a space a couple of blocks north, followed by Children’s Gym across the street. One of the newest businesses to locate on Sandy is a bar, called Church, at Northeast 26th Avenue. Breslau said room remains for others to stake their claim. “You have a massive amount of vacancy with large buildings that take creative developers to figure out what to do with on a street that has been overlooked for several decades,” he said. “This is just the beginning. In 12 months I’ll be able to double that story.”
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