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The Portland Development Commission, owner of the riverfront Centennial Mills property for 16 years, is still trying to figure out what to do with it.

The PDC‘s board on Wednesday narrowly approved a staff recommendation to spend $1 million to raze a faltering feed mill at the Centennial Mills site.

The feed mill building rests upon the existing seawall. On-site personnel from KPFF Consulting Engineers, KLK Consulting and Northwest Demolition & Dismantling have observed the property settling and leaning.

Engineers are concerned that the building may not stay upright.

鈥淭here is no evidence that the seawall, once deprived of the structural support provided by the wharf itself, will be able to support the weight of the building without buckling and collapsing into the Willamette River,鈥� the PDC stated in a staff report.

The additional $1 million will keep the project within its $13.7 million budget, the report said.

The cost to save the feed mill 鈥渇ar exceeds any funding that PDC has available,鈥� agency spokesman Shawn Uhlman said.

Commissioners voted 3-2 to go forward with the feed mill demolition. Chairman Tom Kelly, William Myers and Gustavo J. Cruz Jr. voted in favor of the demolition plan, while Mark Edlen and Alisha Moreland鈥揅apuia voted against it.

鈥淚t’s just indicative of how challenging this project is and has been,鈥� Uhlman said. 鈥淭here’s been a variety of perspectives.鈥�

Because of the split vote, 30 days must pass before demolition can begin, according to the commission’s rules. At that point, the PDC will sign an amendment to the demolition agreement and work will proceed. Until then, personnel will work on other aspects of the site, Uhlman said.

This past spring, when CBRE marketed the Northwest Portland parcel to developers, three firms made formal offers. Of those, two did not include the feed mill in their plans, and the third requested heavy subsidies that exceeded PDC’s budget, according to the report.

The PDC has notified the three bidders that it would not accept any of the offers, Uhlman said. For now, the parcel is in an extended holding pattern while the agency considers the feed mill demolition.

The property has 20,000 square feet of development potential, after accounting for preservation of the flour mill and providing open space. The site is 1.02 acres, with a height limit of 100 feet, plus a possible 75-foot bonus.

Engineers have known about the feed mill’s structural problems for months. In May, Matt Johnson of KPFF said at a Centennial Mills open house hosted by the PDC that 鈥渁n extraordinary effort鈥� would be necessary to save the feed mill.

If the PDC’s demolition plan were approved, officials would need to obtain an updated demolition permit for the site.

鈥淭he primary issue is getting in there and recognizing exactly what’s happening with that foundation,鈥� Uhlman said.

The PDC also has scaled back an effort to salvage materials at the site. The quality of the timber, safety and other concerns led to salvaging only about 300,000 board feet of timber, most of which was sold to Pioneer Millworks.

Environmental regulators have also raised issues with construction in the floodplain that touches Centennial Mills. The property was inundated by the 1996 Willamette River flood, and even the 鈥渙rdinary鈥� high-water line covers a portion of the property.

The floodplain makes underground parking on the site infeasible, Uhlman said.

Under terms of the spring offer, any potential development would have to accommodate 200 feet of the Willamette River Greenway on the site, along with a public easement to allow access from the neighboring Pearl District and Slabtown areas.

The PDC acquired the property from ADM Milling Co. in 2000. In March 2013, the PDC and Jordan Schnitzer’s Harsch Investment Properties signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding to work toward a binding development agreement for the site. The PDC let that MOU expire last year, and later began seeking new proposals for the property.

Centennial Mills sits within the River District urban renewal area.