91ÊÓƵ

Prosper Portland will hold a to debate the possibility of exempting the upcoming demolition of the former U.S. Postal Service campus in the Pearl District from competitive bidding.

The agency intends to rely on a construction manager/general contractor to demolish multiple buildings on the 13.3-acre site at 715 N.W. Hoyt St.

The hearing will take place beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 13 at Prosper Portland’s offices at 222 N.W. Fifth Ave. in Portland. Officials will receive public comments and discuss draft findings in support of such an exemption.

If the findings are approved by Prosper Portland’s board of directors, the agency intends to proceed with two requests for proposals to abate hazardous building materials such as asbestos from the old facility and demolish multiple structures.

The primary subject buildings include the main processing and distribution center (the single largest structure on the property), the vehicle maintenance facility and the electrical transformer building.

The USPS property is the single largest one that is part of the 32-acre Broadway Corridor area that spans the Old Town Chinatown and Pearl District neighborhoods. Prosper Portland recently applied to present a master plan for the Broadway Corridor before the Portland Design Commission.

Demolition of the roughly 400,000-square-foot mail processing facility is expected to start in 2021. The entire permitting, abatement and demolition process is expected to require between three to four years to complete. Construction of the first phase of high- and medium-rise development in the Broadway Corridor is expected to begin in late 2022.

Interested parties can obtain a copy of the draft findings by emailing Prosper Portland Business Operations Manager Dan Spero at [email protected]. Written comments on the draft findings may be submitted to Spero, also via email, no later than 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 13.