The Southwest Portland apartment building ravaged by a fire, suspected to have been started by a former resident last month, will be demolished, city officials said.
The city has not received a permit application, but confirmed that the owner of the May Apartments will be demolishing the century-old building. The owner is currently considering bids for a contractor, according to Ken Ray, a spokesperson with the Bureau of Development Services.
Once the owner hires a contractor, they will remove as many belongings as they can from the building before demolition begins, Ray said. The May is one of a dozen buildings owned by Larry D. Kelley, 72, through his company, SkyNat Property Management, business records show.
It’s unclear when demolition will start, but once an application is submitted, the bureau will let the process begin under an emergency authorization while the permit is being reviewed, Ray said.
The nearby Maxwell Hall building, heavily damaged by smoke and water during the May 16 blaze, is temporarily uninhabitable. The building is undergoing restoration, Ray said. The contractor may also remove residents’ belongings from that building for retrieval.
Portions of the May’s upper floors collapsed after the fire, which displaced all residents from the 42 units. The five-story building at 1410 S.W. Taylor St. spilled into the road in the days after the blaze, and residents were sent to shelters or hotels.
Jason Howard, who lived in the building for 18 years, was fortunate to find a new apartment nearby within a few weeks of the fire. His renter’s insurance paid for a hotel in the Pearl District while he waited.
Howard still wonders what might have happened had the daylight fire started at a different time.
“This happened around 10 a.m. and people were mostly at work and people were awake,” he said. “But if it happened at night, I don’t think I would be sitting here speaking to you. That’s something I think about often.”
Portland police arrested 30-year-old Garrett Repp on May 25 in connection to the fire. Investigators determined the blaze likely started in unit 310, where Repp lived, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Repp was indicted in Multnomah County Circuit Court on 55 charges connected to the fire Monday. He faces 28 felony counts of first-degree arson and one count of first-degree criminal mischief. Repp was also charged with five counts of first-degree animal abuse and 21 counts of reckless endangerment, court records show.
The May Apartments’ landlord had initiated an eviction order against Repp in February, saying he owed $3,400 in back rent and fees, court records show.
– Austin De Dios; adedios@oregonian.com; @austindedios; 503-319-9744
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