Komatsu Unloads 94-Acre Complex for Paltry $5M

HILLSBORO, OR-Multimillionaire Raymond Park acquired Komatsu Silicon America’s local plant last month for a paltry $5 million. The 94-acre complex, which Komatsu spent nearly $500 million developing, holds 422,427 sf of buildings. It was originally listed for sale at $40 million and its book value is $35 million.Parent company Komatsu Ltd.’s official comment on the transaction was that it sold the complex “to reduce and make effective utilization of Komatsu Group’s assets.” The $30-million loss was accounted for in the company’s projected consolidated business results for the year ending March 31. A broker who specializes in the sale of high-tech facilities tells GlobeSt.com he was “shocked” by the sale price. “The sale price effectively results in the land being sold for $1.24 per sf in a market where all land is valued at a minimum of $3.00 per sf,” he says. “It sets a new low with respect to ROI given the (investment) Komatsu had in the site.”As partial explanation of the steeply discounted price, the broker says he believes Komatsu cut the deal in order to conclude the sale by the end of is fiscal year, which ended March 31. As well, he says Park is taking the property in “as is” condition and that there was no decontamination carried out on the site by Komatsu.The property is located on Northwest Evergreen Road west of Shute Road. Komatsu began developing the property in 1996 with a silicon-wafer coating facility that was going to be supplied with wafers made at Komatsu plants in Japan and Taiwan. That same year, confident that demand was strong enough to justify it, Komatsu began construction of a wafer-making facility 12 months ahead of schedule. It was preparing to open the plant in 1998 when the semiconductor industry tanked. The property was never put to its intended use, though its office and warehouse space has been partially utilized over the years.Park, who grew up in the greater Portland area, could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon regarding his plans for the site. In 2002, he was listed by Forbes as the nation’s 368th richest person. His estimated net worth at that time was $600 million. Officially, the buyer was Park Company of Oregon LLC, a subsidiary of Park Corp. of Cleveland. The chairman of the company is Raymond Park and the major shareholder is the Park family.Komatsu Ltd., a manufacturer of heavy manufacturing, mining and industrial equipment, says it has no relationship with Park; however, according to published reports the Japanese conglomerate leases 3,000 acres in Arizona from the Park Corp.