There was a bit of a commotion last night near this old building, located on Stark between 5th & 6th in downtown Portland.
They've been tinkering with it for the last month or two. For a while there was a big DANGER sign warning passersby that some sort of "remediation" was in progress. They didn't explain exactly what sort of remediation it was, but the place gave off an awful, gag-inducing musty smell for weeks on end. So I figure it was black mold, maybe with a side of asbestos.
So those were the 'before' photos, and these are the 'after' ones.
Yep. The whole thing's gone, torn out in the course of one night. They're also renovating the notorious (and nearly as musty) 1960s aggregate-coated building down the block, and I gather this is part of the same project. I think they're turning the whole complex into a new upscale hotel or something.
I usually don't cheer the arrival of new lifestyle amenities for the idle rich, but I'm pleased to bid this building a hearty "good riddance". It was empty for as long as I can remember. Decades, possibly. The covered entrance was a popular home -- and restroom -- for the homeless, so walking past often made you gag even before the "remediation" began. So instead we'll probably get the usual doggie day spa / martini bar combo, but even that would be an improvement. Well, an improvement for everyone except the poor homeless people who used to use the place. The city and the Powers That Be keep offering vague promises to provide an unknown number of public restrooms for the homeless at some unspecified future date. So maybe that'll happen and maybe it won't. What usually happens with these things is that a proposal muddles along in process limbo for a few years, with endless public meetings and steering committees and such, and eventually they announce it'll cost far more than originally estimated, there's no money in the budget, and that's the end of it. Unless you're building an aerial tram, of course.
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