The PDC acquired the property two years ago in a $2.5-million package deal that included several properties on the east bank of the Willamette River. The original plan was to renovate the three-level, high-ceilinged building and lease it up to businesses and organizations with river-related operations and build a light watercraft dock for use by the tenants.

Since that time, cost estimates to permit the dock, operate the building and abate asbestos have increased and would-be light watercraft users have reduced their space requirements. As a result, the PDC is preparing to sign off on construction of a less ambitious $688,000 plan that provides just enough to prepare the ground floor for a light watercraft center and construct the dock, with the main tenant being the Portland Boathouse. The first-floor mezzanine and the second floor would remain vacant.

The alternative option not chosen by the PDC was to mothball the building altogether and not build the dock. According to a 2003 PDC staff report, neither option is a profitable one. Mothballing the building would have lost the city about $300,000 over the next decade. The path chosen will lose the city closer to $400,000, according to the staff report, but it will have the dock as a new public amenity that "activates" the area and sets the stage for development of Crescent Park, which is planned as a major feature of the new east bank experience, which already includes the Eastbank Esplanade.