Luxury conversion wows community members

Private club proposed to generate high revenues required

A white elephant is becoming an exclusive social club.

Longtime neighbors who knew the 1909 masonry landmark at 1819 NW Everett St. as the Northwest Service Center, home of shoestring social agencies and neighborhood gatherings, are amazed.

Directors of the nonprofit Northwest Neighborhood Cultural Center, which owns the building, were thrilled to find a buyer willing to pay $4.75 million for the vacant property in 2022. Founders Developments Inc. of Las Vegas saw possibilities that locals did not.

Though the company was unable to complete the purchase that year, it has been making $50,000 monthly payments to keep the agreement in place while assembling a team of top national architectural, engineering, construction and interior design firms. Construction, which is estimated to cost $70 million, could begin early next year.

The team presented computer-generated images at the center’s annual meeting last month, drawing reactions ranging from “mind boggling” to “bowled over.”

“The presentation was stunning, absolutely magnificent,” said Roger Vrilakas, a president of the center’s board of directors for many years.

How did Founders find rich possibilities in a building officially having almost no economic value?

(The Multnomah County Assessor’s office estimated the land to be worth $4.1 million, but the structure only $172,000.)

Founders is tapping into the national revival of private clubs, members-only retreats featuring food, drink, gyms, spas, event spaces, game rooms and social interaction. Soho House opened a members-only club in Southeast Portland earlier this year, but Founders CEO Tanya Toby said, “Portland has not yet experienced this level of club.”

The center’s auditorium level will become the club, with a sunken floor under the grand dome. The other two levels will have restaurants, bars, fitness facilities, a game room and library open to the public. The current parking lot will become a boutique hotel.

Vrilakas calls it “a grand and glorious thing for Portland.

“If that’s what it takes to preserve that building and transfer millions of dollars to the neighborhood, I don’t have any reservations about it being expensive,” he said.

Revenues from the sale will be contributed to an Oregon Community Foundation fund to benefit the neighborhoods surrounding the center.