Skip to main content
Address: 2812 NE Alberta St.
Year built: 1907
Square footage: 1,377
Market value: $482,170
Owner: Gregory J. Martin
How long it’s been empty: At least two decades
Why it’s empty: It’s part of a collection.
Twenty-five years ago, it was hard to imagine Alberta Street being home to a French bakery (Petite Provence), an Australian coffee shop (Proud Mary), or a home décor store peddling succulents (EcoVibe).
These days, it’s hard to fathom how the hulking warehouse that sits amid all the fancy stores at Northeast 28th Avenue remains such a mess.
The side facing Alberta is a Potemkin shell, made to look like an apartment building. Now covered in graffiti, it went up some years ago to hide the wreckage inside. But the junk remained unconcealed out in back, where an irregular tide seems to wash up wrecked cars, mattresses, lumber and a lot of trash.
A visit last week revealed that the flood had spilled out from the chain-link fence and into the alley between the warehouse and the building next door, which houses the Black United Fund of Oregon. There, a gold Toyota Avalon is beached beside an ancient forklift. Deep in the trash around the vehicles was a late model Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup, its passenger door open. A man slept inside, his spine bent backward at an unnatural angle, his legs hanging out like a rag doll’s.
The story of this retrograde building is a sad one. It’s owned by Gregory J. Martin, according to property records, an electrician who decades ago had enough money to buy up a lot of real estate in Northeast Portland.
In addition to the Alberta junk pile, he owns a derelict house just north of Alberta in the 5100 block of Northeast 23rd Avenue. The once-stately foursquare sits among decades of dried weeds, its white paint dirtied to a depressive gray. The only bit of color is a red notice from the city that hangs on the doorknob. “Act now to prevent water shutoff,” it warns.
Martin owns at least three other properties in the Mississippi neighborhood, all in the 600 block of North Beech Street between Kerby and Borthwick avenues. They also appear to be abandoned and are falling into disrepair as the neighborhood around them gentrifies.
All of the properties have been hit with nuisance complaints.
In his prime, Greg Martin was a hard worker who made enough money to amass a small empire in Portland real estate, says a person who knows him but declined to give their name for fear of losing Martin’s friendship. Now, he’s in his 70s and is unwell, the person says. “He doesn’t trust people.”
Martin lives near North Mississippi Avenue, the person says. Many would-be buyers have courted him over the years, looking for bargains on his broken-down properties. He’s balked in almost every case, the person says, missing out on one of the greatest real estate booms in Oregon history. Both Mississippi and Alberta have become hipster havens, and prices have soared in the past two decades.
Adding to his woes, Martin’s ex-wife, Rose, and his daughter, Alzena, sued him in July to remove any interest he may hold in their house at 2507 NE 8th Ave., at the corner of Brazee Street. Rose and Alzena claim Martin hasn’t paid any of the taxes on the property since 1981 and hasn’t paid his full share of other costs since 1988. Worse, in 2015, Martin had a judgment entered against him for $7,952.16, and that became a lien on the property, they said in their complaint.
They want Alzena declared the owner of the property, free and clear of Martin. They also seek damages equal to 50% of the property costs when he was a co-owner.
The Alberta property has had an “AVAILABLE” sign on it for months now. A phone call to Magellan Properties, the listing agent, wasn’t returned. Perhaps the agent knows his client isn’t really interested in selling.
Every week, WW examines one mysteriously vacant property in the city of Portland, explains why it’s empty, and considers what might arrive there next. Send addresses to newstips@wweek.com.