City Close to Hotel Acquisition, Resale to University

PORTLAND-The Portland Development Commission, the city’s urban renewal agency, says it is making progress on a deal that will turn a Doubletree Hotel at Third Avenue and Lincoln Street into student and faculty housing for Portland State University.

Last week the city approved a disposition and development agreement with PSU. According to the agreement, PSU would pay the PDC $19.7 million for the property and create from it a 350,000-sf development that would include the aforementioned housing as well as conference facilities, academic uses, retail and parking. In exchange, PSU will make available land or development rights within the site or on another site for up to 150 units of affordable “open market” housing if the PDC can secure financing for such a project within the next 10 years.

Before PSU can purchase the property, though, the PDC must have it to sell. Boykin Lodging Inc., a Cleveland-based REIT, owns the property. The ODC has authorized its acquisition through condemnation, if necessary. But PDC development director Abe Farkas tells GlobeSt.com he has agreed to pay PDC for the property. Farkas says he expects both transactions to occur almost simultaneously next spring, when PSU’s financing for the acquisition becomes available.