Agreement Coming on $2.4M Eastbank Land Swap

PORTLAND-The Portland Development Commission and the Oregon Department of Transportation have a tentative agreement for their land swap on the east bank of the Willamette River across from Downtown.

For not more than $2.45 million cash and responsibility for maintaining a chunk of Martin Luther King Boulevard, the city will purchase from the Oregon Department of Transportation several properties on the East bank of the Willamette River, including the 80,000-sf Holman Moving and Storage building. The City Council last week unanimously authorized the City’s development arm to draft a final purchase and sale agreement.

Alas, the PDC is currently unable financially to follow through with its plans for the building, which is penciled in as Phase III of its Eastbank Esplanade project, the first phases of which included a new transient moorage and improved and lengthened waterfront access. Phase III entailed renovating the former warehouse at 49 SE Clay St. and then leasing it out to companies with river-related operations, Michael McElwee, a project manager for PDC, told GlobeSt.com last fall. The building has 22-foot ceilings, two oversized elevators and a mezzanine on each level.