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The Portland Development Commission‘s board on Wednesday approved, by a 4-0 vote, a $1.2 million purchase agreement for the property at Northwest Fourth Avenue and West Burnside Street that currently holds the Right 2 Dream Too camp.

The agreement includes a 30-month due diligence period for the PDC to evaluate the 7,762-square-foot parcel on the northeast corner of the intersection. The agency will make monthly option payments of $10,000 – a total of $300,000 – to the sellers, a group led by Michael Wright.

“This is the opposite of what PDC has traditionally done, which is to buy property knowing what it’s going to do,” PDC spokesman Shawn Uhlman said. “This will give PDC time to figure that out.”

The delayed closing also will give the group selling the property time to relocate the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp, Uhlman said.

The property is part of PDC’s urban renewal plans near the Chinatown gate, which is an entryway to Old Town Chinatown, he said.

The option payments will be in addition to the purchase price and be made to compensate the seller for the delayed closing. The PDC will reserve $1.5 million in its budget to acquire the property and lock it up, Uhlman said.