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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Friday, August 23, 2019 Bend investors bid on The Bulletin real estate By KATHLEEN MCLAUGHLIN Bend Bulletin BEND — A Bend real estate investor bid $13.25 million to buy out of bank- ruptcy The Bulletin‘s head- quarters — property near Oregon State Universi- ty-Cascades that includes 2.5 acres of vacant land with development potential. Next Development Group, led by Bradley Kent, would pay cash for the property, according to an asset purchase agreement filed in bankruptcy court Wednesday. Prior to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, The Bulletin‘s par- ent company, Western Com- munications, had listed its office building and printing plant on Chandler Avenue for $20 million. It was one of the highest-priced real estate listings in Bend in February 2017. Completed in 2000, the 86,394-square-foot build- ing sits on close to 10 acres. It’s in a mixed-use urban zone, which allows for dense development with a variety of commercial and residen- tial uses. Western Communica- tions hired real estate bro- kers in Portland and Bend in April, and their combined Bend Bulletin Photo, File A Bend real estate investor bid $13.25 million to buy out of bankruptcy the Bend Bulletin’s headquarters — property near Oregon State University-Cascades that includes 2.5 acres of vacant land with development potential. sequent bidding would go up in $100,000 increments, according to the agreement. As the stalking horse bid- der, Next Development could earn a $300,000 breakup fee — if it’s approved by the bankruptcy court — in the event that it’s outbid. Competitors would have to provide cash to cover the breakup fee in addition to a deposit and 10% of the pur- chase price. Because of debt tied to the building, Western Commu- nications owed about $19.1 million to its main creditor, Sandton Credit Solutions Master Fund III, LP. Sand- ton’s claim is down to about $16 million since Western databases reached 2,000 potential buyers, according to a motion filed Wednesday. The brokers, CBRE and Compass Commercial Real Estate Services, had con- tact with 75 potential buy- ers and provided confidenti- ality agreements and access to due diligence documents to 39. The deadline for com- peting bids would be 5 p.m., Oct. 15, according to the motion. An auction, if needed, would be held Oct. 18 in the offices of Tonkon Torp LLP. The next high bidder would have to exceed Next Development’s offer by at least $400,000, and sub- Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY Mostly sunny and pleasant Sunshine, breezy and pleasant Nice with plenty of sunshine Pleasant with plenty of sun Very warm with plenty of sun 86° 62° 85° 56° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 81° 51° 89° 56° 84° 56° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 89° 64° 88° 59° 85° 52° 92° 55° 87° 54° OREGON FORECAST ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 69/57 82/55 86/58 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 87/66 Lewiston 76/52 89/62 Astoria 69/55 Pullman Yakima 87/62 75/50 89/64 Portland Hermiston 80/55 The Dalles 89/64 Salem Corvallis 83/48 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 85/55 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 85/49 86/51 87/57 Ontario 90/57 Caldwell Burns 82° 61° 86° 56° 103° (1946) 41° (1960) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 83/50 Trace 0.05" 0.14" 4.61" 5.13" 6.06" WINDS (in mph) 87/56 86/45 0.02" 0.12" 0.30" 9.73" 6.49" 8.25" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 82/51 83/51 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 86/62 88/61 80° 59° 86° 56° 103° (1897) 37° (1904) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 74/52 Aberdeen 82/60 85/64 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 73/57 Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 95/58 Sat. SW 4-8 WNW 4-8 WSW 8-16 W 10-20 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 88/49 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Last 6:05 a.m. 7:50 p.m. 11:56 p.m. 2:09 p.m. New First Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) Aug 23 Aug 30 Sep 5 Sep 13 State’s disclosure database shows Brown has $920,000 in her campaign fund By JEFF MAPES Oregon Public Broadcasting SALEM — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, who continues to raise money for her cam- paign fund even though she can’t run for re-election, is now tapping donors from the business community. Since the start of the month, Brown has raised more than $120,000 in busi- ness-related contributions, including from several firms that do business with the state of Oregon. Campaign Bol- sonaro vvs have up to 30 days to publicly disclose contribu- tions, so her fundraising totals this month could be higher. Thomas Wheatley, a polit- ical consultant who handles the governor’s fundraising, -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s 50s ice 60s cold front E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays EastOregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to EastOregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Copyright © 2019, EO Media Group 70s 80s 90s Finalists named for vacant seat on appeals court Merkley, along with Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, appointed a bipartisan committee of attorneys who narrowed down the pool of candidates to four. The finalists are vying to fill the shoes of Diarmuid O’Scannlain, who assumed senior status in September 2016, a version of semi-retirement for federal judges. President Donald Trump had initially nominated conservative federal prose- cutor Ryan Bounds to fill O’Scannlain’s vacancy, despite vocal opposition from both of Oregon’s senators. They called him an “unqualified nominee” after writ- ing from his college days surfaced, reveal- ing inflammatory views on gay rights, race and university responses to sexual assault. — Oregon Public Broadcasting CORRECTION: In the Page A3 story “Brown won’t make it to Round-Up this year,” published Thursday, Aug. 23, the story misstated how many times Sen. Jeff Merkley has attended the Pendleton Round-Up. This will be his third year attending. 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818. Subscriber services: For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1 SUBSCRIPTION RATES EZPay 52 weeks 26 weeks 13 weeks hler last November, Brown put on a continued fundrais- ing push in the months before the legislative session started in mid-January. She collected about $500,000 in that period. And she stepped up her fund- raising again following the session’s end on June 30. Her major target in recent weeks has been the business community, much of which has had major differences with her. Many business donors openly supported Bue- hler. And Brown’s support for a climate bill and a new tax on business sales also drew opposition in many corners of the business community. But several lobbyists and consultants noted that many companies have good reasons for donating to the governor when she asks. “The lobby has got to deal with her for a couple more ses- sions,” veteran business lob- byist Len Bergstein said, add- ing that Brown also continues to maintain warm relations with many business leaders. BRIEFLY Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s refused to discuss any of the con- t r ibut ion s. But he said in an email that Brown Brown is raising the money to “communicate directly with the public, to support her priorities and to support candidates who share her values.” Among other things, Brown is backing two mea- sures that the Legislature referred to the November 2020 ballot. One seeks to remove constitutional pro- hibitions against limiting the size of campaign finance donations and the other would raise tobacco taxes for health care. Brown has repeatedly said that while she would like to get big money out of politics, she won’t unilaterally stop taking big donations until the rules are changed. After defeating Republi- can challenger Knute Bue- SALEM — The White House is con- sidering four finalists to fill the vacant Oregon seat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Oregon Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden forwarded the names of four applicants to the White House Mon- day: Bruce Campbell, a partner at Port- land-based law firm Miller Nash Graham & Dunn; James Egan, chief judge with the Oregon Court of Appeals; Danielle Hun- saker, a presiding judge with the Wash- ington County Circuit Court; and Erin Lagesen, a presiding judge with the Ore- gon Court of Appeals. To arrive at these jurists, Wyden and NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY serve the going concern value of those newspapers,” Kennedy said during a hear- ing Monday in Portland. “Had this not been filed, and had all of the expenses not been incurred, those news- papers would’ve closed down.” Summers argued that the professional fees should be paid from the sale of the real estate, which could close at the end of October if no other bidders come forward. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Trish Brown agreed to allow $300,000 from the news- papers’ sale to be held in escrow. “That gives you incentive to keep going — right?” she said. The building’s sale includes a two-year lease with EO Media Group, though that can be termi- nated early with 180 days’ notice, according to the agreement. EO Media has until the end of November to move the printing press out of the Chandler Avenue building. Heidi Wright, chief oper- ating officer of EO Media, has said The Bulletin‘s press will be marketed for sale. The company has already arranged to shift printing to a press owned by Pamplin Media in Prineville. Wright will become publisher of The Bulletin on Sept. 1. Brown reaps $120K fundraising haul from business donors Full NATIONAL EXTREMES High 111° in Imperial, Calif. Low 31° in Angel Fire, N.M. Communications sold five other newspapers in Cali- fornia and Oregon plus other real estate, said Tony Sum- mers, an attorney at Lane Powell PC in Portland who represents Sandton. Several other associates of Western Communica- tions also have liens on the real estate. They are Mal- lory Jean McCool, Anna Jane Stevens, Western Com- munications Chairwoman Elizabeth C. McCool, Alex Leigh McCool, Margaret C. and Gregory F. Cushman, Mary Jean Chandler, Jef- frey C. Cushman, John A. Costa and Denise B. Costa, according to the motion. Those creditors loaned money to Western Commu- nications before the bank- ruptcy filing, Tonkon Torp attorney Michael Fletcher said. Selling the real estate would repay them and property tax collectors in Deschutes and other coun- ties, he said. With EO Media Group of Salem expected to complete its purchase of The Bulletin and Redmond Spokesman Aug. 30, Sandton would gain another $2.3 million. EO Media is buying the news- paper business, not the real estate. Although EO Media Group bid $3.65 million for the papers, more than $1 mil- lion of that will go to various parties, including the firm that brokered the newspa- per sale, Deschutes County for personal property taxes on The Bulletin‘s printing press, and the newspapers’ employees and vendors. Rhode Island Suburban Newspapers, which was the first bidder for the newspa- pers, will receive a $67,500 breakup fee. Western Communica- tions’ attorney Al Kennedy of Tonkon Torp argued to keep an additional $570,000 in escrow to pay lawyers and other professionals for their work so far. “This entire Chapter 11 has been necessary to pre- Local home delivery Savings (cover price) $13/month 60 percent $173.67 41 percent $91.86 38 percent $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge Single copy price: $1.50 Tuesday through Saturday Circulation Dept. 800-781-3214 ADVERTISING Regional Publisher and Revenue Director: • Christopher Rush 541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com Advertising Services: • Angela Treadwell 541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com • Grace Bubar 541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Business Office Coordinator • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com Classified & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com Business Office Manager: 541-966-0824 COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com
