Willamette Falls in Oregon City is one of the highest-volume waterfalls in North America. Metro officials have decided not to place a formal bid on the Blue Heron mill site near Willamette Falls, opting instead to file a letter of interest with the trustee of the bankrupt facility.
It's a new strategy Metro hasn't used before, said Jim Desmond, director of the agency's sustainability center and head of its natural areas acquisition program. But, he said, Willamette Falls is a unique site, with unique challenges, and that's made it hard to even begin to guess what the site is worth.
"We're hoping the letter of interest allows us to continue that dialogue with the seller and figure out some ways to assess what fair market value is here, instead of us throwing a number at them today," Desmond said.
Bids were due Wednesday for the mill property, on the south shore of the Willamette in downtown Oregon City.
"We were not prepared to commit to a number today," Desmond said.
The Blue Heron property has been an industrial site for more than 170 years, and Metro officials are concerned about how much environmental cleanup the agency would be responsible for if it purchased the site. Desmond said the agency also wants to know about the stability of the site, parts of which rest on concrete pilings that may be a century old.
"We believe it to be stable. But before you invest money to build on top of it, there would be additional study," Desmond said.
Metro would not release the letter because it contained information about real estate negotiations. But staff said the letter explains the public partnership interested in the site, outlines the variables that Metro thinks would impact the site's value, explains that the agency doesn't want to obstruct private investment at the site and says the agency wants to continue researching a potential purchase.
In September, Metro and other agencies, including the state, Clackamas County and Oregon City, began discussing whether to use money from Metro's 2006 natural areas bond measure to buy the site. Bids were originally set to be due in October, but that deadline was extended to Dec. 14.
The project's partners have focused on improving access to the falls, restoring habitat, highlighting the cultural history of the site and spurring economic development as the core goals of the project.
Desmond said he didn't know how long it would take for the trustee of the bankrupt company to respond to the letter.