Boise Cascade announced today that the company is formally offering its Columbia River mill-site property in downtown Vancouver for sale. The 29-acre property is open for bid by any interested developers through March 17, 2006. The Boise, Idaho-based company said it intends to accept the best offer that calls for no conditions precedent to closing, with the buyer having completed all due diligence prior to making an offer to purchase. Company spokesperson Linda Alden said Boise would like to close the deal by the end of the second quarter.
“(Boise) would like to move expeditiously on this,” she said.
The company first announced intentions to sell the property in June 2005. Since then, speculation has circulated about the potential interest in the property by the city and the Port of Vancouver.
The company said the property is “at the epicenter of economic activity built at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers.” In a release, Miles Hewitt, senior vice president and general manager Boise Paper said, “We recognized that the property had greater value as a development site and that the sale of this property would complement the Vancouver City Center Vision Plan, which calls for the redevelopment of our site as a mixed-use, urban, in-fill community.”
The property was initially developed in 1928 as a site for the Columbia River paper mill, and the operation was purchased by Boise Cascade in 1962. In 1996, Boise Cascade stopped manufacturing paper at the site and began using it as a paper converting plant.
Boise Cascade completed a Phase II environmental assessment and completed remediation of issues discovered in the assessment, according to the company.
An offering price has not been established.
