No one seems to know what will happen to the No. 1 and No. 10 Sixth St. buildings in Astoria.

Slated for a foreclosure sale Dec. 30, then gutted by fire Dec. 16 and 17, now slowly rotting in the winter and spring rains, the buildings hunch next to the river, crumbling.

Mold spreads across the walls. Water falls in droplets from the second floor to land in pools on the first. Entire office walls have become folded heaps of rubble. Books, still carefully in a line on their shelves, are bloated with water and spotted with soft green fungus.

The two buildings, the majority of which were owned by developer Chester Trabucco, had been clamped down in a receivership an attempt by Trabuccos backer Eric Jacobsen to collect more than $800,000 he had invested. The fires struck 14 days before the scheduled foreclosure sale.

The sale date has since been extended four times. According to the Clatsop County Sheriffs Office, it is now scheduled to take place July 29.

Four months after the fires, insurance companies believe the cause was electrical in nature, but the police investigation is ongoing.

Four months and there are still more questions than answers.

I literally dont know whats going to happen, said Astoria resident Randall Bowe.

Bowe was one of the handful of investors who had poured money into Trabuccos real estate company, No. 10 Sixth Street LTD, over the years. While many of them sold their interest back into the corporation, at the time of the fire, Trabucco held the majority. Five individuals held roughly 40 percent ownership, Bowe said. They were Bowe, his former wife Debby Bowe, Steve and Denise Allen, and Trabuccos mother, Sue Collins.

There are no plans about the property or, ultimately, who may control it, Trabucco said in an interview with The Daily Astorian this week.

They are waiting for the insurance money to come in, Jacobsen told The Daily Astorian.

Were working on getting the creditors paid and the bank paid, Trabucco added.

 

Insurance valuation

According to Bowe, the insurance policy on both buildings is valued at $5 to $6 million.

Its possible that with the insurance proceeds … the owner of No. 10 could rebuild, Jacobsen said.

If the insurance company is able to write its final check and all the creditors including Jacobsen are paid, the foreclosure may not occur. 

I think by the time we tear the building down, and all the other interests are paid, there may not be much left, Bowe said. We may end up owning a piece of dirt.

Bowe said hes been trying to arrange a meeting with Trabucco, who is out of state.

Where do we stand with insurance? Who do we owe money to? Who do we have to pay and who do we not have to pay? he asked.

Bowe is sure the fire prevented the initial foreclosure.

I guess you could say it was brilliant timing because it staved off the foreclosure for a while, he said. We owe a lot of money to (Jacobsen).

The fire also forced more than 20 businesses to relocate. 

Rick Thomas, president of Eagle Financial Group, formerly housed in the No. 10 building, called the unplanned move a blessing in disguise.

The two months of displacement were difficult, but his new office at the Red Building in Astoria has proven to be a much better fit and location for his business.

The same has been true for Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare. The change was hard at first and the staff is still adjusting, but its new setup at the Park Medical Building seems to work better for many of their clients, said Deputy Director Sumuer Watkins.

 

Mixed feelings

Interactions with the property managers, however, seem to vary from tenant to tenant.

I had to push and shove to get results, to even get in the door, said Thomas. There was a lack of empathy, a lack of communication.

At first we got some threatening letters from lawyers, said Robert Brown, owner of Brown Financial Group, also now relocated at the Red Building. It was aimed at the tenants, as if (the fire) was their fault.

A fire alarm was going off for weeks before the fire, Thomas said.

Right outside my office. They said it was a low battery issue. Well, thats easy to fix. Then there was the fire.

Since the fire, the property managers have pretty much ignored us, Brown said.

But Watkins said CBH had a lot of contact with property managers right after the fire. That contact decreased as time went on simply because there wasnt anything we needed to talk about, she said.

I understood their predicament, said Deborah Jaques, a biologist who had an office in No. 10. Her one complaint was the time it took before tenants were allowed into the burned-out buildings. 

It was such a big anxiety, such a big unknown, she said.

The tenants werent allowed back into the buildings to recover anything until police released the buildings to the property managers. Then the buildings were turned over to the insurance investigators and the tenants had to wait again. 

We felt like going in against the law, Jaques said, half joking.

By mid-January the buildings were opened for the tenants.

None of the them have heard for sure what the future holds for the buildings.

 

Talking with city

In the past month, Jacobsen has started talking to the city about demolition permits, according to Brett Estes, community development director for the city of Astoria.

The unsafe (and unsightly) buildings are secured by a fence, but the city is interested in cleaning up the area.

Were looking at ultimately making sure theres not a hazard thats developing, Estes said.

Something of this magnitude takes some time, he added. If it were to linger too long, wed look at enforcement.  

However, the city feels comfortable with the situation right now, Estes said. The property owners and managers are talking with the city about solutions, he added.

The priority for the insurance company is the secured creditors, Trabucco said, meaning Jacobsen and the Bank of the Pacific.

Bowe remembers purchasing No. 10 for $150,000 in the late 80s from Bumble Bee Tuna. The building had been vacant for years. They patched it up and began leasing out spaces to businesses. They tore down much of the No. 1 building, leaving behind the portion that became the Cannery Café.

Trabucco led the company as it put money into the property, a never-ending process, Bowe recalls.

Buildings on pilings in the river are huge holes in the water that you just shovel money into, he said.

Still, the early years were profitable, he said.

Bowe viewed the $10,000 to $20,000 and inflated rent he said he put into the corporation as a long-term investment. He did not play an active role in day-to-day operations. 

We (the investors) were not active in management and didnt have a lot of control. Chester ran it as he saw fit, he said. He regrets that, and says he sees now that the books were not in order.

A report that Jacobsen received in June when he took over the buildings showed that there was more than $100,000 outstanding in accounts receivable. Of that, three tenants alone owed more than $60,000 in overdue rent. 

Trabucco said he wouldnt be surprised if that rent still hadnt been collected. 

According to Jacobsen, at least 10 tenants still owe money.