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ADDRESS: 4904 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
YEAR BUILT: 1910
SQUARE FOOTAGE: 7,481
MARKET VALUE: $1.4 million
OWNER: The Fraternal Order of Eagles North Portland Eagles Aerie #3426
HOW LONG IT’S BEEN EMPTY: 3 years
WHY IT’S EMPTY: Dwindling fraternalism and aerie infighting
Motorists venturing far enough east on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard are routed south at 50th Avenue to veer around the foot of Mount Tabor. There, they circle one of Southeast Portland’s more conspicuous examples of urban blight, an abandoned meetinghouse of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. It was once known as Aerie #3256, and it’s now coated in graffiti and ringed by tents and dilapidated cars.
A neighbor expressed surprise to WW that the property hadn’t been redeveloped into condos, like the four-story “Meridian Lofts” across the street.
In fact, it nearly was. In 2016, with aerie membership dwindling, the national organization tried to sell the property. At the time, former member Pete Forsyth says, it was fielding offers north of $5 million.
One developer discussed plans with the city to build a “new 5-story apartment building with ground floor retail, basement parking, and 210 apartment units,” according to a preliminary building permit.
But the deal fell apart after extensive pushback from members like Forsyth who felt betrayed by national leadership. A petition to save the aerie received 805 signatures online. “It seems to me that [the meetinghouse] was a better service to the community than another four-story condo,” Forsyth says. (He hasn’t been involved in the organization in recent years.)
The fraternal order’s plans then hit another roadblock: pesky permitting issues. A developer didn’t want to pay to widen 49th Avenue for required parking, Forsyth says.
“There were so many permit issues,” agrees Peggy Aeh, who was a member of the aerie until it shut down for good during the pandemic. She’s now part of the organization’s state leadership.
The aerie closed for good at the beginning of the pandemic. Like other fraternal organizations, the Eagles have struggled to recruit younger members. WW profiled a similarly vacant Elks lodge last year prior to it burning down in April.
“Remember, that without all of you, our Aerie is just a building,” wrote President Dave Haskins on Facebook, announcing the closure March 19, 2020. The following year, ownership of the building was transferred to the North Portland Eagles, the last remaining aerie in Portland.
The property is still for sale, Aeh says, although WW couldn’t find an active listing online. Spots in the parking lot, however, are available for rent for $7 an hour.
“It hasn’t been a good market,” Forsyth muses. “They might be attached to a higher price tag than they’re able to get.”
Aeh said she would put WW in touch with the administrator responsible for the building, but the newspaper never heard back.
Without its membership, the East Portland aerie was soon transformed.
For a while, a member lived in a trailer in the parking lot to keep away vandals, Aeh says. But that seems to have accomplished little. Soon, the decade-old mural spanning the Hawthorne side of the building was ruined by graffiti and had to be painted over—before soon being coated in graffiti yet again.
Forsyth says he’s glad to see the property being used by unhoused Portlanders. “They’re able to sort of live on the edges of it without getting harassed too much,” he notes.
But he’s changed his prior views about the prospect of redevelopment. “Maybe it is a better use of the resource for it to be turned into condos and ease some of the housing crunch,” he says.