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A Pearl District landlord filed a tort claim notice with the city of Portland this week, threatening to sue the city over the emergency overnight shelter city officials opened last fall at the direction of Mayor Keith Wilson.
John DiLorenzo, the attorney representing Pearl District Apartments LLC, wrote in a tort claim to the city on Feb. 18 that his client “intends to file an action against the City for inverse condemnation, nuisance and negligence.” A man named Paul Rudinsky controls the LLC, which owns the nearby ORO Apartments, a luxury tower in the Northwest neighborhood,
The shelter in question is located in a building at the corner of Northwest Northrup Street and 14th Avenue. As part of Wilson’s push to open hundreds of new shelter beds last year, the city entered a $18,000 per month lease with Sturgeon Development Partners to rent a vacant office building and run a nighttime shelter inside.
Neighbors fiercely pushed back against the shelter in the summer months before it was set to open—a common occurrence when the city opens a new homeless shelter. Rudinsky even pitched his own tent outside the steps of City Hall, resulting in an arrest for trespassing. But despite the resistance, city officials opened the shelter’s doors on Sept. 1.
DiLorenzo, a lawyer who has successfully sued the city over homelessness issues in recent years, wrote in the tort claim to the city that his client also intends to sue the Salvation Army—the contractor paid by the city to operate the nighttime shelter.
According to the tort claim, Pearl District Apartments LLC hired a private security company, Echelon Investigative Services, to observe the area around the shelter and prepare a report of observations. According to Echelon’s report, according to the tort claim, the security company made “repeated observations consistent with narcotics use (foil, lighters, ‘hotboxing’), suspected transactions, and individuals slumped and minimally responsive in alcoves and doorways—often in close proximity to the shelter footprint and key neighborhood corridors." The security company said it also observed a “prevalence of incapacitated individuals outdoors in cold conditions,” tent camps cropping up around the shelter, and “offensive littering, including drug paraphernalia, trash accumulation, and biological waste.”
DiLorenzo wrote that the landlord believes he can prove that he lost $5 million in building value that’s ”attributable directly to the operation of the Shelter.” He wrote that his client would file a lawsuit by March 15 if the city didn’t take steps to remediate the alleged problems.
The city declined to comment on the tort claim, citing pending litigation. The Salvation Army did not respond to a request for comment.
