Opus Northwest Buying Private Airport

VANCOUVER, WA-Developer Opus Northwest has tied up the 60-acre Evergreen Airfield, which it will likely redevelop in to residential and commercial space. Bruce Wood, Opus’ point man in the Northwest, tells GlobeSt.com the firm is “just getting started on its due diligence,” but declined to say anything else until the deal closes.

The Port of Vancouver and the City of Vancouver looked at buying the private airport in 2000 because nearby Pearson Airpark, which is owned by the City of Vancouver, will be limited to historic aircraft in 2022. At that time, the Port and the City said Evergreen was increasingly becoming surrounded by commercial development, and they feared Olson may sell to a commercial developer, which would leave pilots virtually nowhere left to go in the county if Evergreen were to shut down.

Neither the city nor the port was confident the airport could pay for its self, but they also liked its potential for use in an emergency because the land sits higher than most of the rest of the area. Now if they want the land, it looks like they’ll have to talk to Opus.