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Erica Ceder, an associate with Portland-based FFA Architecture and Interiors, has learned that embracing the unknown is part of work with any historic building. Rehabilitation of a 120-year-old building on Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is no exception.

“It’s definitely quirky,” Ceder said. “There have been several times where we’ve cut through what we thought was a brick wall and found steel and beams. Construction on these older buildings is 90 percent reacting to unforeseen conditions.”

R&H Construction crews this spring started work on a $2.3 million renovation of the Industrial Home building to house Seattle-based outdoor retailer Evo, some smaller retailers and creative office users.

FFA has been working since 2011 on plans to renovate the 26,000-square-foot building, first for Portland-based Venerable Properties and now for current owner and developer Edmonds, Wash.-based First Western Development Services. Seattle-based Heliotrope Architects designed the tenant improvement for Evo’s first Portland store, which is scheduled to open this fall.

The three-story Industrial Home building was constructed as a hay and seed facility. It was later occupied by the Salvation Army for 100 years and used as a retail store, a shelter and transitional housing. The Industrial Home name refers to a former men’s shelter where residents learned industrial trade skills.

After the Salvation Army moved out in 2010, Venerable Properties purchased the building with plans for a $7 million renovation. After the firm’s president, Art DeMuro, died in 2012, Venerable put the property up for sale. Then First Western Development Services purchased it this past fall.

FFA’s project design will preserve the building’s historic character, including the original brick and stucco facade with cast stone Salvation Army medallions, Ceder said. Windows that were installed in the 1970s will be replaced with ones that more closely match the originals.

Also, workers will perform a full seismic upgrade and replace all mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. A new elevator and stair core and a small, second-floor roof deck will be added. Windows will be cut into the south-facing facade.

Evo will occupy portions of the building’s first and second floors and basement. Part of the second floor will be cut out to open up space for the retailer.

A mix between old and new is the goal, Evo founder and CEO Bryce Phillips said. Evo’s flagship store in Seattle occupies an older building called the Fremont Collective. It was renovated to accommodate Evo, two restaurants and an indoor skate park. Phillips said he’s hoping for a similar vibe in the Industrial Home building.

“We love the blend of that rich, soulful, historic building with the new, fresh life we can breathe into it,” he said. “One of the core elements of Evo is to give back. The fact that (the Industrial Home building) was a Salvation Army … it’s a really cool common thread.”

The Portland store will have many elements its Seattle counterpart does, Heliotrope Architects principal Mike Mora said.

“We don’t hide the cracks and wrinkles of the existing building,” he said. “We play off them.”

One of the challenges designing the Industrial Home renovation, Ceder said, is that it isn’t the first one for the building. An addition in the 1930s included an entire facade replacement.

“It’s a very strange building,” she said. “Since the face was put in in the ’30s, it doesn’t really relate to the inside.”

Research to include the Industrial Home building in the East Portland Grand Avenue Historic District helped inform the design of the renovation, but some interesting surprises have arisen during construction, Ceder said. For instance, a wall was opened and plumbing was found with deteriorating, 1930s-era newspapers shoved inside.

Work also has exposed a painting of the Salvation Army logo on what used to be the building’s outer wall. This will be preserved as part of the Evo store, Ceder said.

“It’s kind of fitting for an outdoor action store because (the Salvation Army) motto is ‘blood and fire,’ ” she said.

Industrial Home building rehabilitation

Location: 200 S.E. Martin Luther King Blvd., Portland

Cost: $2.3 million

Construction start date: March 2014

Anticipated construction completion date: September 2014

Owner/developer: First Western Development Services

Architects: FFA Architecture and Interiors, Heliotrope Architects

Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers

General contractor: R&H Construction