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Zidell Family
Vision Statement

ZRZ Realty

ZRZ Realty Company is the Zidell company which is focused on real estate activities.  It was formed in June, 1952, by the Zidell family to purchase the Commercial Iron Works site on Moody Avenue in Portland, adjacent to the Willamette River.  The 30-acre site has been the home of various industrial activities, dating back to the early 20th century, with significant development of the site occurring during World War II, when Commercial Iron Works delivered 185 ships to the United States Navy from its operations on Moody Avenue.

COMMERCIAL IRON WORKS, PORTLAND, AUGUST, 1945 (REPRODUCED BY THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES & RECORDS ADMINISTRATION)

When Emery Zidell returned from his WWII service in the US Navy, he led the family business into ship dismantling, and Zidell initially leased portions of the Commercial Iron Works site to perform that work.  That activity grew, and in 1952, ZRZ was formed to purchase the site from the Union Pacific Railroad.  That purchase actually expanded the Zidell family’s presence on Moody Avenue, linking it to the 2-acre storage facility which Sam Zidell had established on Moody Avenue in the early 1920’s.

Over the years, the site became the home of all of the family’s industrial activities, and today, it remains the home of the family’s marine business, Zidell Marine Corporation.

As time passes, conditions change, and companies evolve.  ZRZ is no exception to that rule.  Initially, its focus was a passive one – that of serving as the site of the family’s industrial businesses.  While it continues to play that role, ZRZ’s future is focused on the eventual re-development of its site to other uses.

For several years, the South Waterfront neighborhood of Portland has been changing from an industrial past to a new vision that combines residential and commercial uses in an urban landscape that mirrors its downtown proximity.  ZRZ’s 30-acre site is at the heart of the South Waterfront district, and in 2001, the Zidell family developed a vision statement for how it hopes to see the family’s property evolve into the future. 

Today, Zidell Marine Corporation builds barges on ZRZ’s land which is immediately adjacent to the recently constructed tram station which links OHSU’s Center for Health and Healing with its Marquam Hill campus. Planning for the eventual redevelopment of the property continues, even as the company prepares to implement its plans for remediating the environmental contamination which occurred over the many years of its operation as an industrial site.

For a glimpse of the Environmental Cleanup, click here.

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