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Wapato Jail soon will no longer be Multnomah County‘s problem.

On Thursday, county commissioners voted to sell the 18.24-acre property to Kehoe Northwest Properties for $5 million.

The jail, completed in 2004, was never used after voters passed tax restrictions and the county fell short of money to operate it. Crime declined, and the closest the jail came to use as intended was as a set for several film and TV productions.

Developer Marty Kehoe indicated he would at first seek tenants to occupy existing space.

鈥淲e are going to lease the property out for the foreseeable future and then make long-term plans for a distribution warehouse facility,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e don’t have any tenants yet. We will use some of the warehouse for our own business purposes.鈥�

Kehoe said he saw the transaction as a land deal, and looked to comparable land sales to arrive at his final $5 million offer.

鈥淚 told (the county) I couldn’t buy it at $10.8 million because we couldn’t repurpose the building,鈥� he said. 鈥淐omparable land sales dictated the property was worth about $5 million.鈥�

The jail, a 155,400-square-foot building, will eventually be demolished, Kehoe said.

鈥淚t might be three, four, five years out,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t some point to maximize the property to its full potential, the jail will have to come down.鈥�

Kehoe has until 5 p.m. on April 20 to close the deal. He said Thursday he would 鈥渄efinitely close鈥� on or before the final day.

If completed, the sale will remove an albatross from Multnomah County’s books. For years, the county has struggled to find a use for the facility. Some advocates have pushed for the jail to be used as a homeless shelter with associated services.

But some county officials, and even some advocates for the homeless, said the jail is a poor fit for a shelter. Not only would the jail be difficult to repurpose, but its location is far from social services and offers limited transportation access.

Last week, Portland developer Homer Williams and his nonprofit group, Oregon Harbor of Hope, submitted a late offer on the property for $7 million, contingent on a feasibility study. County officials gave little indication they seriously entertained Williams’ offer.

Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson said it was time to turn the page on the jail rather than continue to entertain other offers and proposals.

鈥淏uilding Wapato was a mistake,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut holding onto it any longer would also be a mistake, and that’s why I’m voting yes today.鈥�

The county marketed the property last year via CBRE after paying off more than $100 million in local bonds. The paltry offers illustrated the property’s limited value, Pederson said.

鈥淚t’s plain and simple 鈥� this building is a jail,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here’s not much you can do to change that. The value of the property is in the land; it’s not in the jail. It’s actually worth more without the jail on it.鈥�

Commissioner Loretta Smith strenuously objected to the sale, which she described as a 鈥渟hort sale,鈥� and cast the sole vote against it.

鈥淚t is such a horrible return on investment,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he taxpayers deserve a better return.鈥�

Smith said obstacles to use of the jail as a homeless shelter could be overcome, and she urged fellow commissioners to take another look at Williams’ offer. They were not persuaded.

鈥淲apato was built at a time when our community was scared and angry and thought the solution to the drug problem was a massive jail that is closer to Vancouver than it is to Portland,鈥� Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury said.

The money from the sale, Kafoury said, will be used to support affordable housing and measures to fight homelessness.

鈥淲e didn’t have the money to run Wapato then,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e don’t have it now. And we know other approaches work better.鈥�