Skip to main content
The long-running saga of the former Gordon’s Fireplace Shop has taken another turn. The building is set to be sold in a public auction after a Multnomah County Court judge ruled on Dec. 2 that its owner is in default on the building’s debt.
The auction will be held online Dec. 16-18 and will be overseen by the commercial auction firm Ten-X. Bids start at $225,000.
Click here for more information on the auction.
The building, located at 3312 NE Broadway in the Grant Park neighborhood, has slowly deteriorated since 2017, when a Seattle-based real estate firm bought it for $2.7 million. The plan then was to redevelop the 25,655-square foot structure.
Before serving as Gordon’s home for 61 years, the building had a variety of incarnations, including briefly serving as an aircraft parts manufacturing facility, which is why some people refer to it as the Aircraft Factory. The new owners hoped to turn it into creative office space but later switched to housing and retail. Neither happened. (At one point, a representative of the building’s owners blamed slow city permitting and the pandemic for the project’s lack of progress.)
As WW has reported, two construction companies that worked on the project filed liens and then lawsuits alleging non-payment. The project’s lender also sued for non-payment. Over time, the city of Portland filed a series of liens for code violations as the building attracted squatters and vandals. The city liens led to the city scheduling a foreclosure auction this fall but that got called off at the last minute when the project’s lender stepped in and paid the city liens to maintain control of the property.
Related: The Financial Challenges of Portland’s Biggest Eyesore Come to a Head, But Aren’t Over
But on Dec. 2, court records show, time appeared to run out on negotiations between the building’s owners, 3300 Broadway LLC, Grant Park Parking LLC and Robert Boyce and the lender. On that day, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Christopher Marshall signed a default judgement against the owners in favor of the Cayman Islands investment firm which holds the note on the building.
In an email, Carl Grending, one of the brokers now tasked with finding a buyer for the property, says the online auction will offer a fresh start for an iconic building.
“The property is more than just a redevelopment opportunity,” Grending says. “It’s a chance to bring a visible and significant piece of Portland history back into productive use.”