College of Oregon finalizes buy of Concordia campus for Ballmer Institute, UO Portland
The College of Oregon is aiming to welcome college students to the brand new UO Portland campus in fall of 2023.
Courtesy of Allison + Companions for Colliers Portland / Allison + Companions for Colliers Portland
The College of Oregon has finalized its buy of the previous Concordia College campus in Northeast Portland, or because the Geese will quickly comprehend it: UO Portland.
Cash to purchase the campus got here from a greater than $425 million donation from former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his spouse Connie, a former UO alumna and trustee.
The UO Portland campus will notably home the brand new Ballmer Institute for Youngsters’s Behavioral Well being. In response to UO, the institute is creating a brand new bachelor’s diploma centered on behavioral well being, pending approval from the state. The college institute expects to rent roughly 20 new college members and plans to associate with Ok-12 faculties statewide, beginning with Portland Public Faculties. Earlier than closing in 2020, Concordia’s training program had a partnership with PPS centered at Faubion Ok-8, which is positioned proper subsequent to the 19-acre campus.
Together with The Ballmer Institute, UO plans to maneuver a few of its present Portland packages to the brand new campus.
“The acquisition of our new campus, UO Portland, is likely one of the most essential developments within the lengthy and storied historical past of the College of Oregon,” UO President Michael Schill mentioned in a press release on Tuesday. “Along with housing The Ballmer Institute for Youngsters’s Behavioral Well being, we anticipate UO Portland to deal with many different partnerships with native establishments and the group which is able to educate and enhance the lives of younger individuals within the metropolis of Portland, our state and our nation.”
Again in March, UO’s Board of Trustees accepted a $60.5 million buy settlement for the Portland property. In response to the college, the ultimate buy value for the property was slightly below that — $60,350,000.
The previous non-public Concordia College, affiliated with the Lutheran Church, has a greater than 100-year historical past in Northeast Portland, positioned in a neighborhood named after it.
The Concordia College campus in Northeast Portland on Feb. 10, 2020, the day college, workers and college students discovered the 115-year-old non-public faculty was closing.
Rob Manning / OPB
The College of Oregon bought the property from the Lutheran Church Extension Fund, or LCEF, a nonprofit monetary establishment that helps the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and affiliated organizations via loans and different monetary help. The LCEF is at present wrapped up in an ongoing greater than $300 million lawsuit with the expertise firm HotChalk, which labored with Concordia on the varsity’s on-line programs. HotChalk can also be suing Concordia Portland itself and others, together with particular person members of Concordia Portland’s Board of Regents.
The UO Board of Trustees had famous that it was not fearful about LCEF’s inclusion in that ongoing lawsuit affecting the sale of the property in any respect.
Jim McDermott, a lawyer representing HotChalk mentioned he had no touch upon the finalization of the sale.
Matt Messier with Foundry, a industrial actual property agency representing LCEF, mentioned in a press release that the Extension Fund was “intentional to find a purchaser for this property that might serve in the perfect pursuits not solely of the instant surrounding group however of youngsters and households that will probably be impacted by the optimistic outcomes that can come out of the Ballmer Institute for Youngsters’s Behavioral Well being for many years to come back.”
Peter Keller, chair of the Concordia Neighborhood Affiliation, known as UO’s buy of the property a “boon” to the neighborhood and all of Portland.
“We’re excited to listen to that UO finalized their buy of [Concordia University],” Keller informed OPB. “The management of UO Portland has been nice to work with maintaining the Concordia Neighborhood Affiliation knowledgeable via each step.”
Keller mentioned the neighborhood affiliation is trying ahead to partnering with the college on a “good neighbor settlement.”
The College of Oregon says it’s aiming to welcome college students to the UO Portland campus within the fall of 2023.
Editor’s word: This story has been up to date to incorporate the acquisition value, which was not obtainable when this story initially revealed.
