The has formally rescinded its offer to purchase the Portland Public Schools headquarters to build a baseball stadium.

Portland Diamond Project officials said Wednesday they would instead make way for the , a plan by civic boosters to reconnect the Rose Quarter to the street grid and reintroduce housing to the neighborhood.

The project team had in April offered $80 million to purchase the 10.5-acre property that houses school district offices and the Blanchard Education Service Center.

“Although we were initially drawn to this property for its close-in location, access to transportation and its potential to be transformative to the east bank of the Willamette, it became apparent to us that the Albina Vision Trust’s board of directors has a long-range plan for the building and the immediate area that will serve the overall community in a very meaningful way,” Portland Diamond Project CEO Craig Cheek stated in a news release. “Albina Vision’s focus on diversity and social equity is aligned with our mission, and we are putting our full support behind it.”

School district officials had indicated they were in no rush to sell the property. The district in May issued a request for proposals for a commercial real estate broker.

The Portland Diamond Project was likewise unable to scoop up the ESCO Corp. property, which was sold to a group of real estate investors. The 22.45-acre, Northwest Portland industrial site was purchased for $33 million.

The Portland Diamond Project’s statement said the group would announce property options for a ballpark within Portland city limits “in a few weeks.” Speculation has centered on riverfront sites including Zidell Yards and the Port of Portland‘s Terminal 2 area.

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A group of local developers and investors has emerged as the winning bidder for the 22.45-acre ESCO Corp. site in Northwest Portland.

The purchase price for the industrial property was $33 million. The owners have no immediate development plans for the property, but are weighing potential uses.

“It came out really fast, so everyone had to know the lay of the land and how things work around here to get comfortable in the time allowed,” developer Noel Johnson said.

Johnson, who is also a principal at Cairn Pacific, is part of the investment group along with construction executive Bob Walsh, Roger and Greg Burpee, Robert Ames, Warren Rosenfeld, developer Al Solheim, Scott Tillman and an anonymous member who is not a resident in the Portland area.

Colliers represented the seller.

The property is composed of 16 different parcels with various zoning. Much of the property is zoned for general employment use, but one parcel is zoned for residential use and could be a fit for approximately 100 residential units, Johnson said.

ESCO Corp. was purchased in April by Weir, a Scottish company. The local manufacturer uses three buildings on the former foundry site and has more office space elsewhere in Northwest Portland. ESCO has a lease-back arrangement for the three buildings that are part of the sold property. The ESCO site also has a legacy tenant in place, Reed Electric Co.

The new ownership group is unlikely to undergo a master plan process through the city of Portland, Johnson said. That doesn’t mean there won’t be a well-thought-out plan for adding to a rapidly developing area of the city, he added.

“We’ll be a generally patient group and thoughtful,” he said.

The Portland Diamond Project also pursued the property. The baseball group released a statement Friday saying: “Our negotiations with ESCO regarding acquisition of its Northwest Portland industrial property did not comply with our ballpark development timelines. However, we look forward to working with the new owners to explore future opportunities. We will soon be sharing details pertaining to other Portland-area sites under consideration for ballpark district development.”

The Portland Diamond Project has also made an offer on a Portland Public Schools property north of the Rose Quarter.

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Portland Public Schools has issued a request for proposals for a commercial broker to handle interest in the district’s North Portland headquarters office.

The broker would advise district officials on real estate strategy, including disposition of land and buildings.

The RFP comes as the 47,000-student district evaluates an $80 million offer from the Portland Diamond Project to purchase the 10.5-acre property north of the Rose Quarter that is home to the Blanchard Education Service Center.

The property at 501 N. Dixon St. is one of two Portland Diamond Project has offered to buy as a potential site for a Major League Baseball stadium. The baseball boosters made their offer for the Dixon Street property in an April 11 letter. The baseball group also offered the district the Banfield Pet Hospital property, at 8000 N.E. Tillamook St., to serve as the district’s next headquarters.

Portland Diamond Project’s other offer went to ESCO Corp. for an industrial site in Northwest Portland. Discussions with ESCO are under way, said John McIsaac, a spokesman for the baseball group.

“We’re working with ESCO right now,” he said. “As far as PPS, we are hopeful that we can be a good partner to them – we plan to be.”

ESCO did not respond to an email message requesting comment.

Portland Public Schools officials have indicated that the district is in no rush to sell the Dixon Street property.

“We consider this to be an extremely valuable asset for the district,” spokesman Harry Esteve said. “We’re going to treat that very carefully and very deliberately and not put ourselves under any deadlines at all.”

The Portland Diamond Project requested a response from the district by April 27. Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero responded in a letter that day, writing that the district would proceed with a “nonexclusive process.”

The district, Guerrero wrote, is “developing a comprehensive process for any potential sale of this property and a timeline that will allow interested parties to participate.”

Proposals in response to Portland Public Schools’ RFP are due May 17. The district intends to award the contract May 28.

The school district “seeks written proposals from qualified vendors able to provide professional, real estate advisory services related to real estate strategic planning, capital investments, and real estate acquisitions and dispositions of its real estate portfolio, including the potential disposition of the Blanchard (Education) Service Center,” according to the RFP.

McIsaac said the Portland Diamond Project has also considered suburban stadium sites, but he declined to provide details. The baseball group is led by former Nike executive Craig Cheek, former Trail Blazers announcer Mike Barrett and former state Sen. Jason Atkinson.

Last month, the Portland Diamond Project announced plans to secure a site for a 32,000-seat Major League Baseball stadium. Many hurdles remain, most notably attracting an MLB team via either a move from a troubled market such as Oakland or Tampa Bay, or expansion.

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A bid to bring Major League Baseball to Portland has gotten very serious, very quickly.

The Portland Diamond Project, a group led by former Nike executive Craig Cheek, has submitted formal offers on two large properties in Portland.

One is a Portland Public Schools property north of the Rose Quarter that includes the Blanchard Education Service Center, at 501 N. Dixon St. The property is zoned IG-1 for general industrial uses.

The other is an industrial site in Northwest Portland. While not identified by the Portland Diamond Project, the site matches the description of the former ESCO Corp. foundry that closed in 2016.

Earlier attempts to lure a major league team to Portland foundered because of difficulties finding a suitable site. Portland Diamond Project aims to fill that space in the lineup first.

Besides Cheek, the Portland Diamond Project includes former Trail Blazers announcer Mike Barrett and former state Sen. Jason Atkinson, according to a news release from the group.

The group has retained Kansas City’s Populous Architects, which has designed more than 20 MLB stadiums. TVA Architects is serving as a local design partner. The Portland firm did not return a message seeking comment. A New York-based attorney, Irwin Raij of O’Melveny & Myers, is serving as legal adviser.

The baseball boosters said they want to build multifamily units along with a ballpark. Both sites have “ample room for multifamily development, which can help alleviate Portland’s housing crisis,” Cheek stated in the news release. “We’re planning to pave the way for 8,000 new workforce and market-rate apartments to create a vibrant, walkable community around the facility, wherever it ultimately lands.”

The group is not seeking “new programs” to fund the ballpark, according to the release. Public funding for ballparks has become controversial after several deals across the nation left local taxpayers holding long-term debt.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, in a prepared statement, said he is focused on housing and homelessness.

“It’s my belief that city resources should be directed to these priorities,” he stated. “We will continue to watch the Portland Diamond Project proposal as it develops.”

Portland Public Schools was due to discuss the offer during a closed-door executive session Wednesday.

“The district is not really actively pursuing anything – more in listening mode,” PPS spokesman Dave Northfield said.

The PPS property has the advantage of proximity to existing sports venues – the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The area is also targeted in the Albina Vision, a loosely drawn plan for a large-scale redevelopment of underutilized properties. The historically African-American neighborhood was disrupted to make way for redevelopment in the 1960s. Albina Vision proponents did not return messages seeking comment Wednesday.

The ESCO property is close to Interstate 405 and the fast-growing Slabtown area. City leaders have discussed extending Portland Streetcar tracks to that area. The area is likely to become more integrated into surrounding neighborhoods, said Tom DiChiara, principal at Cairn Pacific, a major developer in Slabtown.

“I like the idea of the area north of Highway 30 there becoming more a part of Northwest Portland, more a part of a mixed-use neighborhood long term,” DiChiara said. He noted there are many obstacles to a baseball stadium in Northwest Portland, including zoning, transportation capacity and infrastructure.

Portland hasn’t had professional baseball since the minor-league Portland Beavers were sold in 2010 to make way for the Timbers soccer franchise.

The Hillsboro Hops began playing in 2013. Its 3,500-seat stadium is about 14 miles outside of Portland. Portland also has the Pickles, a summer league team that is mainly for college players.

A 32,000-seat baseball stadium would dwarf any other sports arena in the Portland area.

MLB has two teams that have made noise about moving to new stadiums. The Oakland Athletics just celebrated 50 years in the Bay Area, but their aging stadium has drawn few fans in recent years and generated embarrassing headlines for issues such as sewage problems. The team’s efforts to build elsewhere in Oakland have so far been stymied.

Similarly, the Tampa Bay Rays play in an older stadium and consistently rank among teams with low attendance.

MLB could also opt to expand. The league’s two newest teams, the Rays and the Diamondbacks, began playing in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Phoenix, respectively, in 1998.

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