Co-Owner of Willamette River Tire Terminal Isn’t Paying Its Trash Bill, Suit Says

The company shipping shredded tires to Asia from an old grain terminal on the Willamette River isn’t paying its trash bill, according to a complaint filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court by Hillsboro Landfill Inc.

Castle Tire Disposal LLC owes the landfill $90,645.52, according to the lawsuit, an amount that includes late charges of $2,157.51.

“The defendant has not paid this sum, nor any part of it,” the complaint says.

The alleged late payment is the latest sign of distress for the owners of the old Louis Dreyfus grain elevator next to the Moda Center in North Portland. Late last month, the owners put the troubled property up for sale for $6.5 million.

The elevator is owned by an entity called Castle Arden 1 LLC, which, in turn, is controlled by Castle Tire owner Chandos Mahon and his business partner Beau Blixseth, son of Oregon timber baron Tim Blixseth.

Castle Arden bought the grain terminal for $2.9 million in February 2021. Castle Tire has been trucking shredded tires to the terminal and loading them on ships to Asia, where they are burned for fuel.

The tire venture has suffered a few blowouts.

In May 2023, a three-story pile of rubber caught fire at the site, then reignited at least three more times despite liberal dousing by Portland Fire & Rescue. Afterward, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality fined Castle Arden for piling too many waste tires on the site without a permit.

Hillsboro Landfill is a unit of Houston-based Waste Management Inc.

Neither Castle Tire nor Mahon returned emails seeking comment.