City needs to get the process right

Let’s get it right this time.

Portland Board of Works on Thursday approved the termination of its contract with John Goodhew of Goodhew Roofing and Metals for the purchase of the Sheller-Globe south building on Bridge Street in Portland. The contract included a provision that allowed Goodhew to terminate the deal if the environmental studies did not come back clean.

Given the tumultuous process the city went through to decide who to sell the building to, it’s not a surprise that the deal went south.

First, the city in 2017 turned down a proposal from Herman & Kittle Properties to rehab the site as an apartment complex. It was part of an offer that would have also included a senior housing complex at the former Jay County Hospital Site at 510 W. High St. and constructing three new homes where blighted houses had been torn down.

The city passed on that opportunity, in part because it was, and still is, storing some of its street department equipment in the Sheller-Globe south building.

Then the city put the property up for sale. It initially opened bids at a meeting in December 2018.

Four different entities put in offers, with the city’s board of works selecting Goodhew. But because of a dispute — Goodhew’s offer came in below its $52,163 assessed value while all of the other bids were well over that number — the city restarted the process. The board of works selected Goodhew again, and Portland City Council eventually approved the sale after three meetings of discussion. The entire process took about seven months.

Almost two years later, that contract has been rescinded.

Now what?

Portland Mayor John Boggs on Thursday said the plan is to put the property up for sale again, with no promises of a clean environmental study. At Monday’s city council meeting, council member Janet Powers asked if the site had been considered for the city’s street department, which is currently cramped in its Wayne Street building adjacent to Weiler-Wilson Park. It’s possible a developer could be interested in the site for apartments again, as Herman & Kittle was four years ago.

(Rather than simply putting the site up for sale, it might make more sense to put out a request for proposals. There may also be interest in using the property for something we haven’t even considered yet.)

Whatever the path, the city needs to avoid the pitfalls it has stumbled over so far.

The building is one of the worst eyesores in Portland. And we’ve already seen that it doesn’t have to be.

The former Sheller-Globe north building was sold to TLS by Design in 2013. The furniture company fixed up the property and is now running a successful business that has already been named industry of the year once and is nominated again this year.

It’s time to step back, reconsider, take some time and get this right.

Let’s do everything we can to make sure the result is another TLS success story and that we’re not sitting here in another two or four years, still hoping for progress. — R.C.