Port Set to Decide Toyota Consolidation, Redevelopment Deal

PORTLAND-The Port of Portland board of commissioners will vote this week on a lease and development agreement with Toyota Motor Sales USA, which has kept an auto processing operation at the port since the 1970′s.

Toyota currently leases around 104 acres; 65 acres down by the river for parking cars and another 40 acres about a mile up a hill behind Terminal 4 that holds aging metal buildings used for processing the cars before shipment to both regional and national dealerships. The Tokyo-based car manufacturer’s rent payments total about $1 million annually under the terms of its current 20-year lease.

Under the proposed agreement, Toyota would consolidate its operations onto 82 acres all down by the river at Terminal 4 and spend $30 million developing six new buildings totaling 97,600 sf. Toyota would lease the site for at least 15 years at a base rate of $1.4 million that would be adjusted each year according to CPI-U. The Port, for its part, would invest $10 million in environmental improvements to the property.