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NBP Capital, the Portland real estate firm backed by itinerant billionaire Nicholas Berggruen, has been sued by a contractor brought in to clean up water damage to the old Multnomah County Courthouse, which an entity controlled by NBP bought for $28 million in 2018.
In a complaint filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on May 6, PuroClean Restoration Services says NBP owes it $6.3 million in unpaid invoices for the work.
NBP called about water in the basement of the old courthouse on Jan. 18, PuroClean says. NBP signed a contract for PuroClean to “perform emergency mitigation services for water loss affecting several floors of property” that same day, PuroClean says. The company says it sued NBP after sending four invoices that went unpaid.
NBP didn’t return an email or phone call seeking comment. The old courthouse is owned by NBP 1021 SW 4TH LLC, which is controlled by NBP Capital, according to state records.
Water damage is the latest setback for the old courthouse. According to county records, the property at 1021 SW 4th Ave. has a market value of $14 million, half of what NBP paid for it in 2018. NBP hasn’t pulled a permit for work on the building since 2022, county records show.
NBP plans to turn the courthouse into “a unique, commercially viable mixed-use building highlighting key historic features,” NBP says on its website.
NBP Capital was founded by the sister-and-brother team of Lauren and Spencer Noecker. Lauren graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004, and Spencer got his bachelor’s from the University of Oregon two years later.
The pair started NBP in 2008 and partnered with Berggruen a year later. Berggruen, born in Paris to a wealthy art dealer, according to The Washington Post, became known as “the homeless billionaire” in the mid-2000s after he sold his homes and shuttled between luxury hotels in his Gulfstream IV jet. He later settled in Los Angeles, according to a 2022 article in The New York Times.
Spencer Noecker is no longer with NBP, according to the company’s website. In 2015, he pivoted into the cannabis business, buying warehouses for grow operations.
Among NBP’s other holdings in Portland are the Dairy Apartments on Northeast 21st Avenue, where the old Sunshine Dairy once stood. That project is under construction. NBP also owns the old RiverPlace Athletic Club, which it bought for $9.85 million in 2015. That building is vacant.
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