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PAMPLIN FINANCIAL WOES MOUNT: Liberty Mutual Insurance last week filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oregon against R.B. Pamplin Corp. and various subsidiaries, including Pacific Northwest Aggregates Inc. The lawsuit alleges that the companies, which are owned by the industrialist Dr. Robert Pamplin Jr., breached a contract with Liberty Mutual relating to a long-running dispute over mining PNA conducted in Washington more than a decade ago. As WW previously reported (“Rock Bottom,” WW, June 8, 2022), the Pamplin company allegedly underpaid members of the Yakima Nation for sand and gravel they mined and transported off tribal lands. The Bureau of Indian Affairs determined in 2013 that PNA owed lease-holders a total of $2.4 million. PNA appealed and asked Liberty Mutual to post bonds for the damages while the appeals proceeded. In its lawsuit, Liberty Mutual says Pamplin officials failed to respond to communications about the bonds this year. The insurer then demanded Pamplin post $1.1 million in collateral to cover one of the bonds but says Pamplin has not done so. Pamplin officials could not be reached for comment.
PORTLAND DIAMOND PROJECT LOOKS TO BUY ZIDELL YARDS: The Portland Diamond Project, a private group of baseball supporters that has long sought to bring a Major League Baseball team to Portland, has signed a letter of intent with the Zidell family to buy its 33-acre plot of land along South Waterfront. The agreement gives the two parties 42 months to close the purchase of Zidell Yards. That likely means the Portland Diamond Project is waiting to learn if the city secures an MLB expansion team before buying the property. If the city doesn’t secure the rights to an MLB franchise team, the Portland Diamond Project has no use for the massive waterfront property. When reached by phone on Sept. 23, the group’s founder and president, Craig Cheek, declined to comment on the deal. But within hours of WW breaking the news, Cheek released a statement, saying that “we’ve spent years talking about a future Major League Baseball team calling Portland home. Now we can say Portland will have professional baseball in the heart of the city, along one of Oregon’s most iconic rivers.” Mayor Ted Wheeler said the potential sale “builds on our growing sports economy and culture.”
PROSPER LENDS MONEY TO NORTH PORTLAND DEVELOPMENT: The long-vacant lot near Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in North Portland took another step toward development last week after the board of commissioners at Prosper Portland, the city’s development agency, agreed to make a $10 million forgivable loan to help build apartments, houses and an office building on the site. The property at the corner of North Williams Avenue and Russell Street was once the center of a thriving Black community. Prosper (then called the Portland Development Commission) condemned the so-called Hill Block and razed it in the mid-1970s to expand Emanuel Hospital. The land has sat undeveloped ever since. The Williams & Russell Community Development Corporation plans to build 85 affordable rental apartments, 20 houses aimed at buyers making 60% to 120% of area median income, and a 30,000-square-foot Black Business Hub with offices and retail space. Prosper’s loan is the latest infusion into the project. In 2022 the Portland Clean Energy Fund awarded $4.5 million for solar panels and heat pumps. Earlier this year, Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley won $2 million in federal funds for development. In testimony before the Prosper vote, Williams and Russell president Bryson Davis praised the agency for changing its ways. “We’re not going back to 1970, and we’re not going back to 1990,” Davis said. “This project is the future of our community.”
BEND SENIOR HOME WAS UNDER STATE SCRUTINY PRIOR TO RESIDENT’S DEATH: A resident of a Bend assisted-living facility died Aug. 30 after being left out in the sun. WW has now learned that the facility where the death occurred had been under scrutiny for not meeting state training requirements for staff. WW first reported online earlier this week that the state had declared residents of Aspen Ridge Memory Care in “immediate jeopardy” following the death after an investigation revealed that only a single caregiver was on duty at the time. But a review of state inspection records shows this wasn’t the first time in recent months that state inspectors have identified staffing issues at the facility. In March, the state Department of Human Services cited Aspen Ridge for over a dozen issues, including failing to provide required training to six staff members. The facility’s administrator promised to fix the problem. But when inspectors returned four months later in July, they found that four new hires “lacked documented evidence of completing some or all of the pre-service orientation and training requirements.” “The health and safety of our residents has, and will always be, our number one priority,” said a spokesperson for the home’s management company, Frontier Senior Living. “The incident is under investigation, and we have contacted and are working with local law enforcement and Health and Human Services.”
CREDITOR SUES SORTIS HOLDINGS: Portland company Portrait Holdings LLC sued Sortis Holdings Inc. on Sept. 16, seeking the repayment of a $250,000 loan and $46,000 in interest. The company, whose principal is Daniel Portrait, the founder of a Portland design firm, originally lent Sortis Holdings, the owner of Bamboo Sushi and numerous hospitality companies, $250,000 in March 2022, according to the lawsuit. The loan was then amended twice, increasing the interest rate from 5% to 9% and setting a repayment date of October 2023. But Sortis never paid any interest or principal, the lawsuit says. After acquiring interests in numerous hospitality businesses during the pandemic, Sortis Holdings since late 2023 has faced a series of lawsuits alleging nonpayment of various obligations. Sortis Holdings did not respond to a request for comment.