By Idaho Business Review staff

Three properties in McCall, Idaho, on Payette Lake near the Oregon border were put up for auction on July 18, however there were no bids on any of the properties.

The properties are held by the and the agency could not say why there was no interest in them at last week’s auction.

Land for the properties is held in trust by IDL for the benefit of State Hospital South, and, thus far, 161 cottage-site properties have been sold at auction at Payette Lake, the agency stated in a release. Thirteen sites remain, and all have houses on them. Though the land belongs to the trust, cabins and other improvements made to the land are owned by leaseholders as their personal property.

Bids were started at the reserve or “lot only” price of each lot with the property at 1903 Warren Wagon Road in McCall appraised at $451,000; the property at 2060 Warren Wagon Road at $495,000; and the property at 3800 Warren Wagon Road at $3.25 million.

“While IDL has confidence in the appraised value of the properties for auction (July 18), each property is unique in location and design, and there is no way to determine why there was no interest at this particular time,” a statement from the agency read.

Public auctions for the sale of state endowment trust lands are required by the Idaho Constitution and IDL cannot accept less than the appraised value of each property.

Along with the properties at Payette Lake, there are 337 lots at Priest Lake, 312 of which have been leased, and the total of the properties brought in at public auction is $277.1 million.

“Upon the transactions closing, the funds from the land sales will be deposited in the ‘Land Bank’ and may be used to purchase new endowment land in Idaho or may go into a Permanent Fund to continue earning returns for the endowment beneficiaries,” a release stated. “In May 2016, the Land Board approved the Strategic Reinvestment Plan and will consider strategic land acquisitions with the proceeds from the sale of cottage sites and commercial properties.”

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By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Tuesday marked the first-ever U.S. auction of leases to develop commercial-scale floating wind farms, in the deep waters off the West Coast.

The live, online auction for the five leases — three off California’s central coast and two off its northern coast — has attracted strong interest and 43 companies from around the world are approved to bid. The wind turbines will float roughly 25 miles offshore.

The growth of offshore wind comes as climate change intensifies and need for clean energy grows. It also is getting cheaper. The cost of developing offshore wind has dropped 60 percent since 2010 according to a July report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. It declined 13 percent in 2021 alone.

Offshore wind is well established in the U.K. and some other countries but is just beginning to ramp up off America’s coasts, and this is the nation’s first foray into floating wind turbines.

Auctions so far have been for those anchored to the seafloor.

Europe has some floating offshore wind — a project in the North Sea has been operating since 2017 — but the potential for the technology is huge in areas of strong wind off America’s coasts, said Josh Kaplowitz, vice president of offshore wind at the American Clean Power Association.

“We know that this works. We know that this can provide a huge slice of our our electricity needs, and if we’re going to solve the climate crisis we need to put as many clean electrons online as we can, particularly given increases in load demand with electric vehicles,” he said. “We can reach our greenhouse gas goals only with offshore wind as part of the puzzle.”

Similar auctions are in the works off Oregon’s coast next year and in the Gulf of Maine in 2024.

President Joe Biden set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 using traditional technology that secures wind turbines to the ocean floor, enough to power 10 million homes. Then the administration announced plans in September to develop floating platforms that could vastly expand offshore wind in the United States.

The nation’s first offshore wind farm opened off the coast of Rhode Island in late 2016, allowing residents of small Block Island to shut off five diesel generators. Wind advocates took notice, but with five turbines, it’s not commercial scale.

Globally, as of 2021, there were only 123 megawatts of floating offshore wind operating, but that number is projected to increase to nearly 19 gigawatts — 150 times more — by 2030, according to a report last week by Offshore Wind California.

The California sale is designed to promote a domestic supply chain and create union jobs. Bidders can convert part of their bids into credits that benefit those affected by the wind development — local communities, tribes and commercial fishermen.

As envisioned, the turbines — possibly nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower — will float on giant triangular platforms roughly the size of a small city block or buoyant cylinders with cables anchoring them underwater. They’ll each have three blades longer than the distance from home plate to the outfield on a baseball diamond, and will need to be assembled onshore and towed, upright, to their open-ocean destination.

Modern tall turbines, whether on or offshore, can produce more than 20 times more electricity than shorter machines, say, from the early 1990s.

As for visibility, “in absolutely perfect conditions, crystal clear on the best days, at the highest point, you might be able to see small dots on the horizon,” said Larry Oetker, executive director of the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Conservation and Recreation District, which has been preparing its deep-water port for the projects.

Offshore wind is a good complement to solar energy, which shuts down at night. Winds far out to sea are stronger and more sustained and also pick up in the evening, just when solar is going offline yet demand is high, said Jim Berger, a partner at the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright who specializes in financing renewable energy projects.

California has a 2045 goal of carbon neutrality. But “when the sun goes down we’re relying more on fossil fuel generation,” Berger said. “These projects are huge so when you add a project or a couple projects, you’re adding significantly to the power generation base in the state,” he said.

The lease areas have the potential to generate 4.5 gigawatts of energy — enough for 1.5 million homes — and could bring big changes to communities in the rural coastal regions nearest the leases.

In remote Humboldt County, in northern California, the offshore projects are expected to generate more than 4,000 thousand jobs and $38 million in state and local tax revenue in an area that’s been economically depressed ever since the decline of the timber industry in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Conservation and Recreation District.

The district already received $12 million from California to prepare its deep-water port for the potential assembly of the massive turbines, which are too tall to fit under most bridges as they are towed out to sea, said Oetker, the district’s executive director.

“We have hundreds of acres of vacant, underutilized industrial property right on the existing navigation channel … and there’s no overhead bridges or power lines or anything,” he said.
But some are also wary of the projects, despite favoring a transition to clean energy.

Environmentalists are concerned about the impacts on threatened and endangered whales, which could become entangled in the cables that will anchor the turbines. There are also concerns about birds and bats colliding with the turbine blades and whales getting struck by vessels towing components to the site. Federal regulators have set a boating speed limit for the project of less than 12 mph to address that concern, said Kristen Hislop, senior director of the marine program at the Environmental Defense Center.

“Floating offshore wind is brand new and there’s only a couple projects in the world and we don’t know how that’s going to impact our coast,” she said.

Tribes in the vast coastal regions also worry about damage to their ancestral lands from turbine assembly plants and transmission infrastructure. They fear that the farms will be visible on clear days from sacred prayer spots high in the mountains.

Frankie Myers, vice chairman of the Yurok Tribe, has attended four wind developer conferences in the past year. Tribes worked with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is overseeing the leasing process, to secure a 5 percent bid credit that includes tribal communities for the first time, he said. The agency also helped with a cultural assessment of the potential impact on views from sacred prayer spots, he said.

The tribes are so engaged now, early on, because they are used to outside industries coming to them with promises that aren’t fulfilled. They’ve seen things done wrong, and knowing this windswept area intimately, they want this to be done right, he said.

“Before they even showed us the map, before they even showed us all of their breakdowns … we were like, ‘We know exactly where it’s going,'” Myers said. “There’s no question where the best wind comes from, we all understand that. We’ve been here for a couple of thousand years.”

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ASTORIA (AP) — The listing agent for the Victorian home featured in “The Goonies” in Astoria, Oregon, said this week the likely new owner is a fan of the classic coming-of-age movie about friendships and treasure hunting, and he promises to preserve and protect the landmark.

The 1896 home with sweeping views of the Columbia River flowing into the Pacific Ocean was listed in November with an asking price of nearly $1.7 million.

Jordan Miller of John L. Scott Real Estate said the sale is expected to close in mid-January, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The new owner, a self-described serial entrepreneur, will make his name known at that time, Miller said.

Since the movie came to theaters in 1985, fans have flocked to the home in northwestern Oregon’s historic port of Astoria. The city celebrates Goonies Day on June 7, the film’s release date, and welcomes thousands of people for the event.

An offer was accepted six days after the house was listed, according to public record.

“After the word spread that the property was for sale, we received multiple offers, at asking price and higher, and we have a full backup offer,” Miller said.

Seller Sandi Preston is passing along movie memorabilia she has collected or has been given, and some of the furniture in the home, restored to its original 1896 style, may also be sold to the buyer, according to Miller.

Preston was known to be largely welcoming to visitors. But she lived in the house and the constant crowds were a strain that prompted her at times to close it to foot traffic.

After the film’s 30th anniversary celebration in 2015 drew about 1,500 daily visitors, Preston posted “no trespassing” signs prohibiting tourists from walking up to the property. She reopened it to the public in August.

Based on a story by Steven Spielberg, the film features a group of friends fighting to protect their homes from an expanding country club and threats of foreclosure. In the process, they discover an old treasure map that leads them on an adventure and allows them to save their “Goon Docks” neighborhood.

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The 154-acre former Weyerhaeuser lumber mill in Dallas will be sold at auction Aug. 28, and auctioneer Joe Tarpley suspects it could go for a bargain price.

No one is really interested in buying and operating a lumber mill these days, he said. Plus, Dallas is 15 miles west of Salem. Given the property’s relatively remote location and size, he doesn’t expect a huge crowd at the auction.

Weyerhaeuser plant auction

Location: Dallas

Date: Aug. 28

Parcels available:

• Three residential/farm tracts (6.5 acres, 8.5 acres, and 14 acres with frontage on Ash Creek).
• One industrial tract (19.86 acres with office and maintenance buildings).
• One industrial tract (26.95 acres with a log yard).
• One 66-acre mill site (including office, manufacturing and storage buildings and all remaining equipment).
• Two commercial tracts (nine acres and three acres east of Uglow Avenue).

“When you have a sale like this, you don’t get a lot of people, but you do get very interested people,” Tarpley said. “Hopefully, they will have deep pockets.”

However, pockets may not need to be deep. With a small crowd, he said, auction prices may stay low.

Tarpley is supervising the auction for , an auction and brokerage firm in Rome, Ga., that is acting as an agent for Weyerhaeuser. The Dallas lumber mill closed in 2009, seven years after it was acquired by Weyerhaeuser in a hostile takeover of Willamette Industries.

Because of the size of the property, auctioneers are going to try to sell it off in smaller chunks, including three parcels zoned for residential and farm use, two parcels zoned for industrial use, two parcels zoned for commercial use, and a 66-acre mill site with office, manufacturing and storage buildings. All remaining equipment will be included.

Scott Fertilizer Co. and have short-term leases for the mill’s nine-acre warehouse. Also, Dallas firefighters use the site for training.

Carl and Patty Van Well have operated the building supply store since 1976, leasing the land first from Willamette Industries and then from Weyerhaeuser. Carl Van Well said he is not nervous about the prospect of a new landlord, and may even become his own for the first time.

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” he said. “We’ll definitely be at the auction.”

In fact, he may consider a deal with the city. John Nelson, interim city manager, said Dallas officials might go in on a bid with the Van Wells to buy the parcel that includes both the building supply store and the existing firefighting training facility.

City officials have tried for years to get Weyerhaeuser executives to donate the land to the city, Nelson said, but without success.

A successful bid might also enable city officials to expand the training facility, he said. Outright ownership of the property would be preferable to the current lease, he added.

“The lease is kind of old now,” Nelson said. “It’s a month-to-month sort of thing.”

The training facility has a small tower used by firefighters.

“It’s probably at the end of its life,” Community Development Director Jason Locke said.

Prospective bidders can inspect the property on Aug. 27, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tarpley said 10 percent of the purchase price is due on the day of the auction, with the rest due in 30 days. People also can bid online by going to www.johndixon.com and registering under “upcoming auctions.”

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After holding one previous auction that netted more than 20 sales, the Beverley Hills, Calif.-based real estate firm is auctioning off the remaining 27 condominiums of an 87-unit waterfront development on Hayden Island.

Kennedy Wilson, the company that handled the John Ross Condominium auction in Portland and the Cannery Lofts auction in Astoria, will auction off the last units of the Waterside on Hayden Island at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront Hotel on June 12 at 1 p.m. Minimum selling prices range from $130,000 to $225,000 on the 27 condominiums, all of which are between 1,921 and 2,466 square feet.

“The October auction was the kickoff auction and we’ve been selling units ever since,” said Rhett Winchell, president of KW Auction Group, the wing of Kennedy Wilson that handles auctions. “But this is the closing auction, and once they are gone they are gone.”

The one- and two-bedroom units all have custom cabinetry, granite stone countertops, stainless steel appliances and Kohler sinks and fixtures. Purchasers will also have access to a private dock and marina along the Columbia River right next to the condominium project.

The condominiums were built in 2006. Prices originally ranged from $375,000 to $750,000. Find out more by visiting the information office at 707 N. Hayden Island Dr., Unit 417 or

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Fans of the Portland Trail Blazers may not ever be able to play basketball like the players, but now they have the chance to live like one.

Local auctioneer Realty Marketing/Northwest will auction off the Helvetia estate of former Portland Trail Blazer and 20-year National Basketball Association veteran Cliff Robinson. The company is accepting sealed bids for the 16.33-acre parcel located west of Hillsboro until May 18.

The reserve price on the property is $1.35 million, but Realty Marketing/Northwest is willing to split the property and accept bids on two different parcels, a 7.78-acre parcel with the house and amenities, as well as an additional 8.55-acre vacant parcel. The reserve price on the 7.78-acre site is $1.28 million and the additional parcel is $75,000.

The estate includes a five-bedroom, four-bath, 5,900-square-foot home designed in 1994 by Soderstrom Architects. The home underwent an extensive remodel in 2004. The property also includes a 50-foot infinity pool, a guesthouse and tennis courts.

Robinson is selling the home to pay back creditors as part of a 2009 bankruptcy. According to court documents, Robinson has $12.4 million in liabilities and about $7.1 million in assets.

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The Beverley Hills, Calif.-based real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson is putting eight homes in Wilsonville up for auction.

On Dec. 12 the company will auction six row houses at Seville Rows and two single-family detached homes at the Les Bois Collection, both located within the Villebois Village Center in Wilsonville.

The six three-story, two-bedroom row homes at Seville Rows range from 2,005 to 2,490 square feet. Opening bids on the four interior-row houses start at $175,000, while the two outside ones start at $195,000.

Bids on both detached homes start at $175,000. One is a two-bedroom, 2.5-bath home with 1,630 square feet, and the other is a three-bedroom, 2.5-bath home with 2017 square feet.

The auction will take place at noon on Dec. 12 at the Holiday Inn Portland South, 25425 S.W. 95^th Ave., in Wilsonville. There will be a ‘how to buy’ informational seminar at 1 p.m. on Dec. 5 at the Villebois Village Center Auction Information Center, 11422 S.W. Barber St., in Wilsonville.

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Bids continue to come in – albeit slowly – for the 1901-built U.S. Custom House in Northwest Portland. The building is currently owned by the General Services Administration.

PREM Group – a real estate services company – is the current leader with a bid of $1.9 million for the 78,000-square-foot building at 3:25 p.m. this afternoon.

The auction was originally slated to end Sept. 21. But every time a bidder places a new bid between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the day the auction is supposed to close, it’s extended one more day.

“I don’t think the people we are bidding against realize how this works,” said Jacob Johnson, president of PREM Group. “They need to make a bid outside of those hours so it isn’t extended.”

PREM Group would turn the upstairs space into its headquarters for its 90 employees. The ground floor would be turned into community space for various organizations around the Pearl District.

“There’s not enough meeting space for the organizations in the Pearl and this would help accommodate them,” said Johnson.

The bid now ends tomorrow at 3 p.m. But the auction could be extended once again if a bid comes in between the above-mentioned hours.

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An international real estate investment company will auction off 30 condominiums at the condominium development on the northeast side of Hayden Island.

Units in the auction will range from 1,805 to 2,899 square feet, with both one- and two-bedroom options. Prices of the listed units ranged from $375,000 to $840,000 at their peak on the market.

Minimum bids at the auction will range from $165,000 to $300,000, according to Rhett Winchell, president of Kennedy Wilson Auction Group.

The Waterside is an 84-unit waterfront development with a neighboring marina built in 2007. Currently 27 of the units have been sold.

The auction will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 24, at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront Hotel. The seller, Kennedy Wilson Auction Group, will also hold an informational seminar on how to buy for interested bidders on Sunday, Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. The informational seminar will be held in unit 201 of the development, located at 707 N. Hayden Island Dr.

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