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915 NE 21ST AVE
- YEAR BUILT: 1928
- SQUARE FOOTAGE: 1,530
- MARKET VALUE: $873,280
- OWNER: NE 20th Artist Studios LLC
- HOW LONG IT’S BEEN EMPTY: Since 1993
- WHEN WE WROTE ABOUT IT: Oct. 12, 2022
WHY WE WROTE ABOUT IT: The property at this address is the tiny, iconic Fire Alarm Telegraph Building that stands at the south end of the Northeast 21st Avenue bridge over Interstate 84. Just behind it stood the Sunshine Dairy, which operated on the site from 1936 until 2018, when it went bankrupt with $12 million in debt. The following year, local real estate firm NBP Capital paid $8.1 million for both buildings. NBP planned to raze the old dairy and build a seven-story 271-unit apartment complex. WW wrote about it in October 2022 because no construction was happening and we wondered why. NBP, backed by a German American billionaire named Nicolas Berggruen, had purchased other chunky properties around town, including the old Multnomah County Courthouse and the defunct RiverPlace Athletic Club. Big plans to redevelop those properties appeared to be on hold in 2022, as well.
WHAT’S CHANGED: The old courthouse and the RiverPlace gym remain the same. Nor have any new permits been issued. But a two-towered new building called the Dairy Apartments is rising on the old Sunshine site. NBP and its founder, Lauren Noecker, have never returned our calls, and one we made this week went unanswered, too, so we don’t know when it will be finished. But this ghost has come back to life. And the telegraph building is still there.