Fire Station No. 7
- Development cost: $3.8 million
- Construction start date: August, 2009
- Completed March, 2010
- VIEW PHOTO GALLERY
The historic Fire Station No. 7 and adjacent wood-frame industrial building was completely redeveloped by Venerable Development, LLC with Bremik Construction as general contractor and Emerick Architects handling the design work.
Completed in 1927, Fire Station No. 7 is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The building’s architect was Fire Chief Lee Gray Holden, who designed 24 firehouses in Portland and Fire Station No. 7 was Holden’s last work of firehouse architecture with his retirement that year from the Portland Fire Bureau. The building was state-of-the art and served as the Fire Bureau’s east side headquarters for many years.
The adjacent 6,324 sq foot building was leased by Bremik Construction who has relocated their headquarters from Troutdale to the site. This addition was building in the 1930s with updates added in the 1960s. The original construction added a handball court to the fire house. The character of this building was retained including construction of a new brick storefront, restoration of the interior tongue-and-groove fir siding and accenting the 30 foot height with an expanded mezzanine.
The restoration of the 9,161 sq foot Fire Station transformed the property, formerly used for auto repair, into small spaces for office/retail businesses, including a recently leased hair salon in the south apparatus bay. The original exterior will be restored including tuckpointing the masonry, new, historically accurate ground floor windows, new carriage-style garage doors that will replicate the original doors based on period photographs and original light fixture replicates.
A new separate entrance on SE 11th Avenue offers a grand, light-filled common area with a double stairway and skylight. There will be secure bicycle parking and storage available for tenants.
The Fire Station’s second floor has been restored through the preservation of the original box-beam ceilings, fir floors, high ceilings, plaster walls, steel casement windows and original doors and moldings. Venerable has also saved the brass fire poles and the original fire pole “closets” on the second floor.
The redevelopment cost has been $3.8 million with construction financing from Wells Fargo Bank. Federal Historic Tax Credits will be utilized as historic preservation incentives.