Multnomah County has agreed to sell the Wapato Jail to Portland developer Marty Kehoe.

Terms of the transaction, which has not been finalized, weren’t disclosed. County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury signed a letter of intent to sell the 18.24-acre property to Kehoe.

A medical-device distributor is interested in taking most of the 155,400-square-foot building, Kehoe said.

“My company has an interest in a medical device company, so we are considering using the majority of the warehouse for that business,” said Kehoe, founder of multifamily and commercial development firm Kehoe Northwest Properties.

The property has distinct advantages, Kehoe said.

“It’s a good location, being so close to Interstate 5,” he said. “It’s a very sizable building that has many uses allowed under the current zoning.”

The jail, at 14355 N. Bybee Lake Court in Rivergate Industrial Park, was built as a minimum-security detention center in 2004. The 525-bed jail was never used, aside from as a set for film and television productions. The money to build the jail came from a $46 million bond voters approved in 1996.

“Wapato has dogged every board and cost every taxpayer since it was completed,” Kafoury stated in a news release. “It is past time to end this debacle and get this property back on the tax rolls.”

The county received six bids for the property after it was marketed by CBRE. The purchase now enters a due-diligence period.

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