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Last month, devoted Portland preservationists were subjected to a distasteful sight: track hoes 鈥� up to three at once 鈥� feasting on buildings at the Centennial Mills site.

Many people had fought hard to save these structures. But following years of neglect and government inaction, a demolition order had come from the building inspector, regardless where the Portland Development Commission stood with a redevelopment plan. Preservationists took some solace in knowing there would be an from the buildings.

The thinking was that if the buildings couldn鈥檛 be preserved, their fine old-growth Douglas fir could at least be put to good use elsewhere.

With the first of two phases of demolition now nearly complete, even that salvage plan has been scaled back, with much more wood than expected heading for a pulp mill. The PDC has its reasons: the poor condition of the wood, employee safety, a less-than-ideal job site, too many randomly-placed nails. But the PDC鈥檚 wood buyer, , has a simpler theory.

鈥淚 think it was mostly to do with money,鈥� Pioneer鈥檚 president, Jonathan Orpin, said.

Salvage love

One of the faster-moving progressive shifts occurring in Portland is one away from traditional demolition and toward deconstruction 鈥� i.e., taking buildings apart consciously and with an eye toward reusing their materials. In fact, few demolition firms these days do not offer deconstruction as one of their services. Mayor Charlie Hales wants to require the practice for some structures, and regulations are being written to protect houses at least 100 years old.

A showcase of deconstruction and material reclamation was to be redevelopment of the Centennial Mills site along the Willamette River in the Pearl District鈥檚 north end. The PDC, the city鈥檚 economic development agency, purchased the 4.75-acre site in 2000 with a goal of redeveloping the aging mill complex. There were several false starts by developers involving visions ranging from a simple lot clearance to expansive mixed-use projects with heavy historical components.

Most recently, the PDC scuttled a memorandum of understanding with developer Jordan Schnitzer鈥檚 Harsch Investment Properties. Then the city’s Bureau of Development Services in early 2015 declared the buildings dangerous, issuing a demolition demand letter. Northwest Demolition & Dismantling of Tigard won the bid in April 2015, and the project started in October.

But the PDC has said it will try to salvage as much of the building materials as possible 鈥� around 800,000 board feet 鈥� which soothed some watchers, like Restore Oregon Executive Director Peggy Moretti.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an important thing,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ur overall position on deconstructing historic buildings is that it should be done to salvage materials as a last resort when the buildings cannot be preserved.鈥�

Northwest Demolition & Dismantling is performing the $14 million demolition-deconstruction, which involves five warehouse buildings and three grain elevators. The first phase is scheduled to conclude by the end of the month. The second phase is scheduled to begin in June and will involve removing the foundation flats of the previously demolished buildings as well as the wharf itself.

Most of the materials that will be saved have been already, PDC spokesman Shawn Uhlman said.

The reclamation effort has involved two kinds of salvageable wood 鈥� structural timbers and wood slabs from the site鈥檚 granaries. So far a total of 300,000 board feet of salvaged timber, according to Uhlman. The majority of that was sold to Pioneer Millworks, though a few lots were sold to members of the public.

A difficult recovery

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in New York with a design studio in Portland, Pioneer Millworks is one of the largest reclaimed wood companies in the U.S. It reclaims millions of board feet per year.

Pioneer received about three-quarters of its goal for structural timber, and is happy with what it got, according to company president Jonathan Orpin. But what the company didn鈥檛 get was the vast majority of the site鈥檚 granary wood. Instead of 800,000 board feet, Pioneer got approximately 40,000 board feet, Orpin said.

The company had hoped to refine this material into high-grade board stock for a line of products: flooring, paneling and trim. Instead, all that wood is heading to a pulp mill.

鈥淚t鈥檚 disappointing,鈥� he said.

Uhlman said the deal the PDC struck with Pioneer Millworks came at the beginning of the project, before officials knew exactly how much wood could be salvaged.

鈥淚t was made clear that nobody had an accurate estimate of what the total yield for the project was going to be,鈥� said project manager Will Thier of Northwest Demolition & Dismantling. 鈥淚t was understood by all of the parties that the project was going to yield what it was going to yield.鈥�

Several factors led to a reduced yield. Some of the wood was rotting, the buildings having sat empty for more than a decade. And much of the wood on the grain elevators was located at dangerous heights and would have taken so many man-hours to prepare for sale, the cost would have been exorbitant, Thier said.

鈥淚t simply wasn鈥檛 in the financial interest of the project,鈥� he said.

Then there are the many long nails spaced irregularly every few inches.

鈥淪o it makes it kind of hard to take a chain saw and make a panel and go all the way to the floor,鈥� said Bryce Jacobson, Metro鈥檚 senior waste management specialist who toured the site at the beginning of the project.

Another issue was the cramped layout of the Centennial Mills site, he said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 not a lot of what we call lay-down space,鈥� Jacobson said.

Another thing: much of the wood that鈥檚 been pulped has been painted or otherwise treated, which presents other problems, according to Jacobson. Among the big recent changes in waste disposal in the region is that the one facility in the Metro service area that accepted painted wood 鈥� SP Fiber Technologies鈥� mill in Newberg 鈥� closed in October.

The demolition contractor would have needed space to separate all the painted wood from the unpainted, which would have taken a long time, Jacobson said.

All these issues would have taken time to address, which would have cost money. Orpin suspects that with enough time, the PDC would have liked to have reclaimed as much wood as possible, rather than send it to the pulp mill, because 鈥淚 pay better than the pulp mill,鈥� he said. He wouldn鈥檛 disclose what he pays, but said it鈥檚 more than for fresh-sawed timber, partly because of the labor involved in the recovery process.

鈥淲e鈥檝e reclaimed millions of board feet of granary woods,鈥� he said, 鈥渟o this isn鈥檛 the first place that has long nails and difficult recovery.鈥�

A missed opportunity

From a historical perspective, the Centennial Mills site couldn鈥檛 be more significant, Moretti said. It began as the home of Crown Mills in 1910, and played a critical role in the city鈥檚 early economic growth.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an extremely important site,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is more or less where Portland started.鈥�

Prior to the demolition project, Centennial Mills was home to 11 wood and concrete structures built between 1910 and 1940. The antiquated mill complex is rich with building materials with hefty resale values, as well as a story to tell.

鈥淚 think this is a real missed opportunity,鈥� she said.

Another question to be addressed at Centennial Mills is how to deal with the site鈥檚 two remaining stone structures: a feed mill and a flour mill. For now, they are being left alone by demolition crews; however, the estimated cost of redevelopment is around $30 million.

One of the project鈥檚 structural engineers has said it would take an 鈥渆xtraordinary effort鈥� to save the buildings.