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A century-old Portland Sephardic Jewish congregation has submitted plans to demolish its distinctive midcentury synagogue on Barbur Boulevard and to sell the property for a small apartment project.

Congregation Ahavath Achim proposes to demolish the building at 3225 S.W. Barbur Blvd. to make way for future development, according to an early assistance request filed with the city of Portland鈥檚 Bureau of Development Services.

Architect Stewart Straus said he filed the early assistance request for conceptual guidance on the project. As envisioned, two buildings could be built totaling 20 to 30 multifamily units. The site is complicated by a major sewer line that comes down Marquam Hill from Oregon Health & Science University.

鈥淲e are doing the early assistance process as a way of trying to get preliminary approvals from the city of Portland to clear a bunch of easements and sewer lines that are on the property so we will have a property that will be more marketable to a potential purchaser,鈥� Straus said.

The congregation has not yet made the final decision to move forward with demolition, said Renee Ferrera, the congregation鈥檚 board president.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to note our members will have the final vote on what we鈥檙e going to be doing,鈥� she said.

If the Barbur property is sold, the congregation would use the proceeds to build a permanent home.

The congregation continues to hold larger holiday services at the Barbur synagogue, but more regular services moved in January to a new home at 6686 S.W. Capitol Highway. The move was prompted in part by a growing Orthodox population in the Hillsdale area. Devout members walk to services on the Sabbath, making proximity to their residences critical.

The site has two buildable areas, one on the north side and another on the south side, Straus said. The sewer line runs through the middle of the property. The western portion of the site is designated as open space. About 60 percent of the property is covered by easements. The Aerial Tram glides overhead.

Straus said he plans to build a bridge between the two apartment buildings at the height of the third or fourth floor, high enough to avoid complications with the sewer line.

Congregation Ahavath Achim has moved before. In 1961, the city鈥檚 Urban Renewal Committee asked the congregation to make way for the South Auditorium urban renewal project.

鈥淭he (Barbur) site was kind of cobbled together by the city of Portland because the previous location of the synagogue was in the urban renewal area, and they needed to find them a place to move them to,鈥� Straus said.

The congregation tried to move its building from Southwest Third Avenue and Sherman Street, but it collapsed in the moving process, according to a history on the congregation鈥檚 website. The congregation built a new structure at the Barbur site in 1965 using the insurance proceeds. The result was a distinctive 3,440-square-foot reddish domed structure with a white base.

If development proceeds on the parcel, it would add to a raft of apartment construction in Portland that is driven by rising rents and low vacancies.

鈥淚t鈥檚 close in to downtown, but not right in the core,鈥� Straus said. 鈥淭he upper floors of this will have a killer view of Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, the downtown, the South Waterfront area.鈥�

The Barbur Boulevard site is also less than a quarter-mile south of the former YMCA building at Duniway Park that is being renovated for Under Armour, the athletic wear company.

An early assistance meeting for the Congregation Ahavath Achim project is scheduled for July 6.

鈥淲e should get a pretty good idea of whether the concept we鈥檙e putting on the table is achievable,鈥� Straus said. 鈥淚f it is, we should be able to get the property sold so the current owner can get a new location.鈥�