DECEMBER 1,2009
MOKE SIGNALS
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By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
The Tribe has purchased a new
building in Portland.
The Portland satellite office, cur
rently renting space on Kelly Av
enue, will move into the two-story
CIDA building at 4445 S.W. Barbur
Blvd., at the beginning of next year,
said Tribal member and Tribal Re
alty Specialist Ann Lewis.
Purchase of the 20,000-square-foot
building was completed on
Nov. 6.
Because the Tribe currently uses
less than 5,000 square feet of the
Kelly Avenue site to house Tribal
services, vocational rehabilitation,
employment and training, and edu
cation resources, most of the new
Barbur Boulevard building will be
available to rent, producing income
for the Tribe.
"I paid attention to the market,"
Lewis said. "I knew the market
was going down and I wanted the
Tribe to take advantage of the
downturn."
Lewis has been looking for a prop
erty to house the Portland satellite
office since the middle of 2008 and
has been working to buy the CIDA
building since February.
"I probably evaluated more than
100 buildings," Lewis said, "and
personally inspected more than 35.
It was difficult to find something
that met all of our criteria."
The Tribe was looking for some
thing close to public transportation,
as well as close in to downtown
Portland.
"We also wanted something that
would appreciate in value and had
parking and handicap accessibil
ity," Lewis said.
The CIDA building is close in
to downtown and has 54 parking
spaces. It also is handicap acces
sible. "It's a beautiful, two-story
building with 10,000 square feet on
each floor," Lewis said.
The building also is in "very good
condition." Originally constructed
in the 1970s, it was remodeled
completely in 1999 by the architect
who purchased the building.
"He took four buildings and
turned them into one, but you'd
never know it by looking at the
building," Lewis said.
"It's so nice I'm thinking about
moving my own council office there,"
said Tribal Council member Chris
Mercier.
The property never was offered
for sale publicly, but Lewis learned
about its availability through her
industry contacts, and quietly pur
sued the purchase.
To Lewis, it was "pretty obvious"
that the rental building currently
used for the Portland satellite of-,
fice was "not a building we needed
to stay in."
"I believe that the Tribal Council
has taken a fiscally responsible step
to decrease our dependence on an
4445 S.W. Barbur Blvd
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outside entity and move in the di
rection of Tribal sovereignty," said
Tribal member and Tribal Execu
tive Officer Chris Leno.
"This project has been on the
mind of the Tribe for a very long
time," said Tribal member Jan
Michael Reibach, manager of the
Tribal Lands Department. "Instead
of paying somebody else rent, the
idea was to position ourselves and
pay ourselves the rent, while pro
viding quality space for ourselves
and other organizations."
With the blessing of Tribal Coun
cil, Lewis looked for a building
to serve the needs of the satellite
office and also give the Tribe the
benefits of ownership. With owner
ship, Lewis said, the Tribe expects
Map created by George Valdez
to enjoy the increase in value that
is generally a benefit of real estate
over extended periods of time.
"Ann did an excellent job and
brought her years of experience
to work just at the right time for
the Tribe," said Reibach. "I con
gratulate her and the Tribe on this
wonderful achievement."
Mercier ticked off a range of other
benefits for the Tribe:
"A lot of our members live in
Portland, and they use" the office
extensively," he said. "Plus Port
land is within our ceded lands. And
we do a lot of business in Portland.
And we can lease out some of the
other space, which will bring in
additional revenues. All in all, it's
a no-lose situation."
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