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Address: 2401 SW 4th Ave.
Year built: 1962
Square footage: 15,680
Market value: $3,215,310
Owners: SPMC Holdings LLC
Property tax owed: $110,142
How long it’s been delinquent: Since 2021
What those taxes could buy: 874 weeks of methadone treatment
Why it’s delinquent: Motel blues
Given the state of downtown Portland right now, it’s easy to understand how even an ordinary citizen might be less than eager to pay their property taxes.
But talk to someone who owns a hotel downtown and you’re in for a real earful.
The SureStay Hotel by Best Western Portland City Center is owned by SPMC Holdings LLC, which in turn is owned by Seok-Ju Chung. We talked to his son Phil and their longtime manager, Tony Sonera, who told us how bad things are for Portland hotels.
In 2019, the SureStay had 80% occupancy, Sonera says. Ever since the pandemic and the protests that left downtown looking like Beirut, occupancy runs 30%. There’s little convention business, and many visitors think antifa is running wild.
“They still ask how far we are from where the riots are happening,” Sonera says. “The real story isn’t that the SureStay can’t pay its taxes. The real story is that the hotel economy hasn’t bounced back because of addiction, homelessness, and because no one wants to visit.”
The SureStay is perched just south of Interstate 405, across from Portland State University. Locals know it best for its downstairs bar, Suki’s, a karaoke and standup comedy magnet. It also draws patients getting treatment at Oregon Health & Science University, just up Marquam Hill. Those patients are down, Sonera says, and the visits of drug-addled wanderers to the lobby are up.
The Chungs aren’t tax cheats, Sonera says. They’ve owned the hotel since 1990, and they’ve employed him for 15 years, with health care benefits. “I love the Chung family,” Sonera says.
The Chungs are doing everything they can to stay open. They’re on a payment plan with the Portland Water Bureau and with their electric utility.
Since December, they’ve been leasing 14 of their 40 rooms to the Joint Office of Homeless Services to house homeless families. The county pays them $75 a night, enough to include a small breakfast, compared with the $96 Sonera would like to get.
“The county haggled on the price,” Sonera says.
Phil Chung says the Joint Office should take the whole place. The hotel is mostly empty, and hundreds of homeless people are camped nearby.
“If they wanted to purchase the property or lease the building, we’d be open to that,” Chung says. “If something doesn’t get done really soon, a lot of people will lose everything, including ourselves.”
So, yeah, Chung and Sonera say, the hotel is behind on its taxes. What do you expect to happen?