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A creative office building in the Central Eastside Industrial District could be considered a diamond in the rough.

Eleanor Aschoff, a broker at Macadam Forbes, is listing a two-story, 5,174-square-foot office and warehouse building at 1215-1219 S.E. Ivon St. for $1.1 million. The building, which was constructed in 1977 for a plumbing and HVAC wholesaler, is owned and occupied on the second floor by the owner of FuneralNet, which provides custom website and e-commerce solutions for funeral homes.

“There’s not a lot of freestanding office buildings that are not large, or in this size range,” Aschoff said of the relatively smaller warehouse space. “There are very few flex buildings that you can potentially buy.”

That is especially true in the Southeast Division Street area known colloquially as the Ford District – a name coined by developer Michael Tevis of Intrinsic Ventures. The company redeveloped the 99-year-old Ford Building at Southeast 11th Avenue and Division Street, and is planning to do the same for two buildings across the street – a stone’s throw from the building on Ivon Street.

One block south of the Ivon Street building, construction is under way on the Clinton Street station for the Portland-Milwaukie light-rail line. Mixed-use development plans associated with that station are in the works, so the Ivon Street building could gain many new neighbors soon.

Two sections of offices act as book ends to the Ivon Street building and are connected via a catwalk over the warehouse. The tenants have month-to-month leases, but Aschoff said both would like to extend their commitments.

She said the price for the Ivon Street building is a premium because of anticipated growth in the area. The building is fetching about $15 per square foot, triple net, in rent – less than for other properties in more built-out areas. But as density increases along that stretch of Southeast Division Street, Aschoff expects the building’s rents to rise.

“As Portland becomes more bike-centric, and as people want to live and work close by, these are the types of infill projects we need,” she said in reference to Intrinsic Ventures’ project across the street. “So, when you look at this creative office building we have, the price is definitely a premium – we’re not at a must-sell. (But) it’s a price where the neighborhood is going to be.”

Block by Block is a weekly look at commercial real estate around Portland. Send suggestions for properties to [email protected].