Vacant Building on Alberta Street Sheds Bricks Onto Sidewalk

The city would like to talk to the owner, identified in property records as Erzsebet Eppley.

LOOK OUT BELOW: Passing by the vacant former home of Al Forno Farruzza. (Michael Raines)
By Anthony Effinger

One of WW’s mystery buildings is looking even worse for wear.

The two-story brick building on Northeast Alberta Street with graceful curved lintels above the windows shed a pile of bricks on Saturday, dropping them on the sidewalk along 28th Avenue in what could have been a skull-crushing rain of masonry.

The Portland Bureau of Development Services opened a “dangerous building case” and an inspector visited, says BDS spokesman Ross Caron. Earlier today, the Portland Bureau of Transportation set up a fence around the whole building.

“We are trying to contact the property owner and will be sending them notification of the steps that need to be taken,” Caron said in an email.

Throwing bricks: A building at Northeast 28th Avenue and Alberta loses more of its luster. (Anthony Effinger)

The building, erected in 1917, was once home to Al Forno Ferruzza, a Sicilian pizza place that opened in 2009 and closed in 2014. At the time, owner Stephen Ferruzza said he had to close because a burst pipe, and the landlord didn’t act in time to prevent an “excessive mold buildup” that “rendered the building unsafe for our workers and customers.”

Property records show the owner is Erzsebet Eppley. On LinkedIn, she calls herself an “independent apparel and fashion professional.” WW had no luck reaching her when we ran our story on the building in August, and LinkedIn, the only place we could find her, wouldn’t let us send her another one because she hadn’t responded to our first.


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