Willamette Building

Portland Diamond District

534 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97204

 

HUB of the Jewelry and Precious Metals Industry in Oregon

As a long-term tenant at the Willamette Building, I can say that I know a good bit about this building. Not only I am a member of the community of professionals working in this building, but I am also, in addition to being a gold buyer, know a good bit about buildings. I have a real estate and an architecture license. So I know buildings very well. Here is what I know about this building.

Portland’s Diamond District

The Diamond on top of the arched, steel canopied entrance says it all. The Willamette Building is home to dozens of jewelry and precious metals businesses. Everything related to gold, silver, diamonds, jewelry, appraising, etc, is offered at the Willamette Building.

Every city in the United States has a “diamond district”. Portland is no exception. Portland’s diamond district centers at the intersection of SW 3rd and Alder. Between 3rd and Alder and 3rd and Washington in the North to South direction, plus a block to the East and to the West, is the highest concentration of jewelry and precious metals related business. Chances are that if someone is serious about precious metal and jewelry, they will eventually do business in this part of Portland.

Of all the buildings in this couple of city blocks, the Willamette Building is the one with the most concentration of precious metal and jewelry-related businesses. Portland Gold Buyers, LLC is located in suite 305. The green and blue “GOLD” neon signs are at the windows of the Portland Gold Buyers, LLC office. Along with many other tenants, are Pacific Gem Lab, West Coast Findings, Portland Jewelry Artisans, A&R Jewelers, and Paul Bartnik Designs. ABC Jewelry occupies the entire 5th floor and is owned by the owner of the Willamette Building, Mr. Hussein Sima.

The Willamette Building and the adjacent buildings house a very active and cohesive community. Lots of business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer interactions. This is a safe neighborhood to be at for doing high dollar value commerce such as precious metals and jewelry.

History

Not much is written about the Willamette Building and the neighborhood in general. Most of what I know is by me reconstructing facts based on images, interactions, and my knowledge about real estate and buildings.
The Willamette Building was most likely completed around 1913. It is not clear when building construction started. From old pictures, I can tell that the building initially had only 6 stories. The sixth floor was topped with a cornice. Based on old pictures, at that time, I am pretty sure the building was initially named the Panama Building. Sometime later the name was changed.

At the street level, it seems, early in the life of the building, that there was a wine store. The mezzanine had a dentistry office. The third floor, where Portland Gold Buyers, LLC is, was the Marine Corps recruiting office. This is evident from the wintery day image in which there are horse carriages together with Model-T type vehicles. The building had a steel canopy, but not the current one. The building was only six stories tall and crowned by a decorated parapet and cornice. It is not clear what was the building’s name at that time.

By the 1930s the building was already eight stories tall. The seventh and eighth floors were apartments. It seems that the bathrooms were shared. I don’t see provisions remaining for every room to have its own toilet and shower, but the rooms did have a sink. I know this because of the layout and the availability of water in most office spaces on those floors. In addition, an older gentleman customer told me that he had a girlfriend in the 1960s or 1970s that lived on one of those floors. From the images, I can see that the cornice was left, between the 6th and 7th floor, and the decorative parapet, somewhat altered, was placed at the new roof level.

By the 1950s for sure, the canopy was removed. The storefront street level was remodeled to a 1950s look. It is evident from the pictures that the building by that time was already catering to the pawn, jewelry, and precious metals industry. In fact, an older lady customer told me that in the 1960s her father had a pawn shop or such type of business at one of the Willamette Building’s street storefronts. It seems that there were also alterations to the looks and layout because she could not remember what entrance or space her dad had at the building.

At some point, most likely in the 1980s, the building was renovated to modern fire and life safety standards as much as it was possible. Thus, the building currently has a fire suppression sprinkling system. However, the staircase is open to the first floor and mezzanine. But that is grandfathered together with the metal fire escape ladder system on the Alder Street side. Probably it is at that time that the current steel canopy was installed.

Construction

The Willamette building has a brick exterior, with single-pane, original windows. It is heated by most likely the original steam boiler and radiator system. The building also has an independent and effective air conditioning system on each floor. The freight elevator seems to be original. The tenant elevator is not original. It seems to be from the later renovation.

The structure is steel and masonry. The floors are formed by a modular system of structural steel pans supported by steel and concrete joists. The structure is very solid. There are lots of super heavy safes in this building.

I don’t know what is the seismic rating of the building. But I am sure it is not great. If there is an earthquake, I will grab my materials and get out ASAP! I don’t see any big and evident structural upgrades to the building. Hopefully, it is good enough.

Special Attributes

The Willamette Building is grandfathered for manufacturing. So, it is one of the few structures downtown, if not the only one, where jewelry manufacturing can be done on the upper floors. There are plenty of torches, kilns, and other such high-temperature instruments. In addition, there is plenty of electrical power to go around, and then some.

Another benefit is that the owner allows the installation of security gates, security cameras, alarms, and all that is needed for security.

All of the above is hard to find and makes the Willamette Building unique.

Occupancy

As of this writing, in May 2022, The Willamette building is occupied at least 80% capacity. The tenants are mostly in the jewelry and precious metals industry. There is plenty of commerce within the building and between tenants.