The county is constructing a new Central Courthouse at SW 1st Avenue and SW Madison Street, which will open in 2020. In April 2018 the County Board declared the old Courthouse to be surplus property and directed county staff to market the property for disposition and hold a 60-day public comment period.
Following marketing and a public comment period, staff recommended a sale of the full block property to Portland-based NBP Capital, LLC for $28, million. Staff also recommend approval of a lease that will allow the county to continue court operations in the building until the move to the new courthouse is complete.
NPB Capital is a privately-held commercial real estate fund. The company plans to preserve and renovate the historic courthouse.
The proposed purchase and sale agreement includes:
- A 30-day due diligence period for the buyer to investigate the property.
- An initial earnest money down payment of $1 million cash; of which $100,000 has already become non-refundable; the remainder becomes non-refundable upon buyer’s satisfaction with the results of due diligence
- An additional $1 million in earnest money upon buyer’s satisfaction with the results of due diligence
- Closing within 30 days after notice of buyer’s satisfaction with due diligence
Key terms of the lease include:
- Zero base rent for 24 months from closing date: two 2-month extension options, $50,000 and $100,000 base rent per month, respectively.
- County to pay all insurance, taxes, maintenance and operations expenses during lease.
The Central Courthouse was built between 1909 - 1914. The neo-classical structure has 39 courtrooms on eight floors. The building has a gross building area of 292,717 square feet. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The property was marketed by real estate firm CBRE, Inc. and the transaction was exclusively negotiated by Graham Taylor and Charles Safley.
Twenty-one public comments were received during the 60-day comment period, which included a public open house. Comments received ranged from requests to preserve the structure to taking it down, and using the site for affordable housing, commercial/office and other uses.