After finding structural issues, Providence Portland Medical Center will soon raze a three-story building at 5251 NE Glisan Street. The brick-clad building features ground-floor parking on its main level, with two floors of medical office space above. Crews recently fenced off the building before demolition, blocking the sidewalk, curbside parking, and a southbound bike lane on NE 53rd Avenue.
Providence constructed the 11,808-square-foot building in 1988 and completed the neighboring Building B in 1990. The hospital owns the entire block and has active inquiries with the City regarding a NE 52nd Avenue street vacation that would remove public right-of-way along its frontage from NE Glisan to NE Hoyt Streets. A decades-old Master Plan for the hospital campus similarly calls for the City to cede NE Hoy Street to the organization between NE 52nd to 53rd Avenues. In a 2017 Early Assistance application, Providence campus designers explored creating five stories of medical offices with three or four levels of underground parking for 500 vehicles. The expansion is attached to the Providence Professional Plaza at 5050 NE Hoyt Street, which sits west of this current worksite. However, this recent change could make way for an expanded footprint.
Although this building’s demolition would enable a full-block project, current work simply aims to remove an unfit building. “In recent building inspections, engineers noted structural issues with an exterior wall that required extensive repair. We relocated the few teams in the building to other Providence locations. After evaluating the cost and extent of the needed repair, the decision was made to demolish the building,” explained Providence Portland Medical Center representative Jean Marks.
Crews plan to demolish the building this June. As the building is dismantled, people should expect some minor disruption in the area, and pedestrians and cyclists will need to take detours around the work site. Providence has yet to finalize plans for future use of the cleared land, and that project could eventually require additional demolition to prepare the site.
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