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A trendy restaurant and bar is the only business now operating out of the Everett Street Hotel building, which formerly included transitional housing on its upper two floors. But new plans for the property are moving forward.

Previous owner Jeremy Graziano last month sold the 11,316-square-foot building for $800,000. Graziano formerly was a tenant on the ground floor of the building, which is on Northwest Broadway at Everett Street. He and his wife operated Ogle, a designer eyewear store and art gallery.

The first floor now has approximately 2,000 square feet of vacant retail space, and the upper two stories, both slightly less than 4,000 square feet, have been vacant for more than five years.

The previous upper-floor tenants were part of a program run by Transition Projects, a private nonprofit working to end homelessness. The agency rented the space for more than a decade, providing 29 single-room units of transitional housing for people recently released from Multnomah County corrections facilities.

Macadam Forbes, a Portland-based commercial real estate brokerage firm, represented both the buyer and the seller in the recent sale of the Everett Street Hotel building.

鈥淲e had a tremendous amount of interest in the building,鈥� said Greg Burpee, one of the brokers who worked on the deal. 鈥淲e just had to find the right buyers to roll up their sleeves and tackle the project.

Bridgeway Realty Resources LLC, a local investment management firm, acquired the property and has begun some repair work while assembling a business plan and seeking tenants.

Soon after closing the deal, construction began on the roof of the building, which Bridgeway principals Gary Owca and Rudy Munzel said was in bad condition and needed to be fixed as soon as possible.

The investors are still sorting out code and budget issues, but they have a vision for the building. The Gilt Club, a bar and restaurant, renewed its five-year lease, and Bridgeway has talked to a number of retailers, including restaurants, with interest in the remainder of the ground-floor space, according to Owca.

For the upper two floors, the early plan is to create multifamily, workforce housing.

鈥淲e are still researching options with architects and the city,鈥� Owca said. 鈥淏ut our vision is to provide housing, which is sorely needed in Portland currently.鈥�

Although Transition Projects decided to move out of the Everett Street Hotel building slightly more than five years ago, executive director Doreen Binder said she is excited that someone bought it.

鈥淚 believe it was a loss for the community when we decided to move on. It has sat empty for far too long,鈥� she said. 鈥淲orkforce housing is a critical piece for this community. This is a great city; the streets should be as attractive and as useful as they can be.鈥�