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Multnomah County plans to vacate the Portland Building‘s top two floors, which it has controlled since the troubled landmark was constructed in 1982.

The move is tied to preparation for a $195 million reconstruction and seismic retrofit project that is heating up.

The Portland City Council approved the terms of an intergovernmental agreement at its meeting on Wednesday.

The 15-floor Portland Building houses a number of key city offices. In addition, the county was given a sublease in perpetuity, under an intergovernmental agreement reached in 1979. Currently, the county operates its support enforcement, dispute resolution and tax supervisor offices on the 15th floor. But because it hasn’t had need for office space on the 14th floor, the county has leased it back to the city since 2004.

Since opening almost 34 years ago, the Portland Building has drawn criticism for its unconventional design, leaky envelope and vulnerability in a large seismic event. The focus of the extensive renovation/reconstruction project will be to improve building efficiency and functionality.

Officials are days away from naming the winning bidder for the design-build-relocate project. Three teams submitted qualified bids – Howard S. Wright Construction and DLR Group; JE Dunn Construction and Yost Grube Hall Architecture; and Andersen Construction, FFA Architecture and Interiors and Perkins & Co.

Hoffman Construction, which built the structure in the 1980s, declined to bid.