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Across the street from the outdoor store selling $50 alpaca wool beanies and near a juice bar selling $5 wheatgrass shots, Brian Schutzler and three employees assemble car engines at Bearing Service Co.

Calendars of vintage cars and souped-up pickup trucks greet customers at the front counter. The back of the space is filled with industrial machines and row after row of small parts.

Bearing Service Co. occupies a quarter-block in one of Portland’s most expensive areas. The Pearl District business, in the same location at 1040 N.W. Everett St. since 1944, is surrounded by development and businesses catering to the neighborhood’s wealthy residents and visitors.

On the east side of the block, Mill Creek Residential Trust is building Modera Davis, a 12-story mixed-use building with 204 apartments, 7,000 square feet of retail space and underground parking.

The Northwest corner of the block is occupied by Deschutes Brewing Co.‘s Portland pub, a bustling spot offering high-end dining and craft beers.

Bearing Service Co.’s low-slung building stuffed with greased engine parts looks out of place.

Developers and commercial brokers submit offers for the property at least once or twice a year, Schutzler said.

鈥淚 have a file full of offers,鈥� he said.

So far, Schutzler and his father, Eugene, who owns the building, have yet to agree to sell the property. Developers have made every effort to coax the Schutzler family to sell, or to move the business out of the building.

鈥淎nything they can do to get you out, that’s what they do,鈥� Brian Schutzler said.

Bearing Service Co. illustrates the long and, at times, sensitive dance between legacy property owners and developers who are searching for the next location for a hotel, high-rise apartment or office building, spurred by Portland’s booming population and free-flowing capital markets.

Bearing Service Co. is among the last businesses of its kind in the Pearl District. What is now a Deschutes Brewery pub was once an auto-body shop. The half-block construction site where work is under way on Modera Davis was until recently the jazz club Jimmy Mak’s, and before that, a body shop, and next door was Eurocar, a mechanic for imported vehicles. Now, they’re all gone, and Bearing Service Co. is the last automotive business on the block.

鈥淭his used to be all industrial, and we’re pretty much the only ones left,鈥� Schutzler said.

The business was founded in 1929 by Brian Schutzler’s grandfather William Schutzler and a business partner, Tracy Cole. Fifteen years later, the business moved from Burnside Street to its current location in a build-to-suit project. Eventually, Schutzler bought Cole’s interest in the business.

In recent years, Bearing Service Co. has experienced difficulty attracting employees, Schutzler said. The shop uses specialized equipment that students can’t learn at local community colleges.

鈥淓verybody I bring in, we have to train them, and the training takes years,鈥� he said.

Schutzler is 52 years old. His father, Eugene, is 81. Brian Schutzler said he doesn’t know what will happen to the property when his father dies, in part because he has six siblings.

鈥淚t’s hard to say what would happen,鈥� Brian Schutzler said. 鈥淚t’s not my decision.鈥�

The property is undoubtedly valuable. The quarter-block Deschutes Brewery property sold for $2.2 million in 2007. More recently, Mill Creek Residential Trust spent $12 million assembling the half-block property on the east side of the block that enabled construction on Modera Davis.

鈥淚t’s a beautiful building, and it’s a great use in the neighborhood,鈥� said Sam Rodriguez, senior managing director of Mill Creek’s Portland office and a Portland Design Commission member.

The building’s interesting architecture and age might make demolition difficult, Rodriguez said.

鈥淚t’s got some good potential in the future for development, but it’s going to require keeping a lot of that architecture in place because it’s appreciated by the neighbors,鈥� he said.

The building was designed by Richard Sundeleaf, a prominent 20th-century Portland architect. Bill Tripp, an architect, is the only tenant in the Bearing Service Co. building, where he has had an office for 22 years. Tripp said the building is architecturally notable, with massive load-bearing wooden columns, thoughtful window placement and a unique central courtyard. He said Portland must preserve historic buildings like Bearing Service Co.’s.

鈥淚 look out my window every day and see people pointing, and looking in there, and they’re fascinated,鈥� he said.

Quarter-block buildings can be challenging to redevelop, developers said. Those properties typically become hotels or apartments. The limited footprint makes office use difficult because of the need for substantial parking.

Greg Goodman, co-president of Downtown Development Group, said it’s no surprise a property such as the Schutzlers’ would attract offers.

鈥淚 would imagine they get approached all the time,鈥� he said.

Goodman said he has not made an offer on the property, or seriously pursued it. He is a member of the partnership that owns the neighboring Deschutes Brewery building.

For developers, earning the ear of a reluctant seller can take time. Goodman, who owns many properties in Portland’s Central City, said he recently agreed to purchase a property after 25 years of conversations with the seller.

鈥淭o me, I try to cultivate a relationship, so when they do decide to sell, I’m in a relationship with them,鈥� Goodman said. 鈥淲e’re old-school. We’re relationship-oriented. A lot of the properties I buy, I’ve been talking to the people for 10 years.鈥�

Whether the Schutzlers eventually sell their property, they also have relationships with customers that date back decades.

One customer, Denny Pillar, said he’s had engine work done at Bearing Service Co. since the 1950s. This month, he was waiting for the shop to finish work on an engine for a 1956 Alfa Romeo Spider.

鈥淭hey do good work,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd if they don’t, I yell at them.鈥�

Pillar said he’s tried using other engine shops that promised faster turnarounds, only to come away dissatisfied.

鈥淭here’s a lot of machine shops that don’t know about older cars,鈥� he said. 鈥淚’m just more patient now.鈥�