Occupying nearly a block along W Burnside at SW 4th, the
Grove Hotel is a crumbling reminder of a bygone era in Old Town’s
history—a building that, despite its size, has flown under the
city’s radar for decades as a place where the rooms come cheap and no
questions are asked.
Currently, it’s home to dozens of tenants, paying $550 a month for a
single room—most of that money comes from Social Security or
public assistance. It’s also home to mice, cockroaches, crumbling
walls, piles of trash, broken plumbing, alleged criminal conduct, and
numerous fire, health, and safety code violations. Months ago, it
became the fifth target of an ad hoc taskforce set up by Commissioner
Randy Leonard, consisting of police, fire, and building inspectors,
which aims to reform buildings with egregious violations and criminal activity.
Building and fire inspectors began slapping the building’s owner,
Morris Hasson, with fines, and eventually began “orange tagging” rooms
as soon as they became vacant, keeping them from being rented again
until the building’s problems were fixed. At last count, around 40 of
the Grove’s 70 rooms were tagged, and therefore vacant.
“With my time at the fire bureau, I thought I’d seen the worst of
the worst,” says Leonard. “But this was just amazing. And when you add
up the numbers—$550 by 70 rooms—he was making $38,500 per
month, and not putting a single cent into repairs. It’s a situation you
wouldn’t even let an animal live in.”
But here’s the rub—city agencies are reluctant to shut down
buildings like the Grove out of fear that they’ll be pushing a
vulnerable population onto the street.
Hasson, who couldn’t be reached for comment, had a choice: Bring the
building up to code, or sell it and get out of the flophouse business.
He chose the latter, and as soon as the building went on the market,
Leonard and Commissioner Erik Sten shot off a letter to the Housing
Authority of Portland (HAP), asking them to make an offer, which the
city would later reimburse.
HAP offered $1.8 million (the Grove’s assessed market value was
$1.08 million in 2006), and Hasson accepted. Within 60 days, the city,
through the housing agency, could be the new landlords of the Grove
Hotel.
“There was no effort on my part to get [Hasson] to sell the
building, but to bring it up to code so the people who live there can
live in humane conditions,” Leonard says.
It’s an interesting, if expensive, solution to the problem—by
buying the property, the city can make sure that it remains available
to people who need very cheap housing. They’ll only need to be
relocated if, or when, the entire building is fumigated to kill off the
bustling mouse population. Easing the fears of housing advocates,
Leonard has pledged to put up money for rooms elsewhere—”even the
Benson Hotel, if need be”—to make sure no one ends up on the
street.
After the necessary repairs are made to make it livable, HAP plans
to partner with a social service agency to staff the building and
provide services to the tenants. For now, anyway. HAP Director Steve
Rudman believes that in three to five years, the Grove will be
redeveloped into “something else” that will be in line with the
redevelopment of Old Town.
In the meantime, the Grove will get the facelift it needs, though
the price tag on those repairs is still up in the air. One thing is
certain; it’s not going to be cheap.