According to reports coming from the University of Oregon, the vacated Concordia campus is receiving due diligence in preparation for it’s purchase. It is planning to use the funds from a $425 million donation to purchase the former Concordia campus. The Steve and Connie Ballmer for the children’s behavioral health institute would reside there now.
Concordia Portland originally opened in Northeast Portland in 1905 as a high school. It remained connected to the Lutheran Church where it later grew into a private university. That university had programs that were connected to the community.
Warner Pacific University seemed to had it’s eyes on the campus as well but was not successful in the bid process. The UO’s Board of Trustees has been ask to approve $60.5 million to purchase the campus that is facing over $7 million in maintenance costs.
The campus is pleasing to the eyes and spans more than 19 acres with 23 buildings and a recently renovated athletic building. It also has on-campus housing for more than 500 students.
UO has said the new institute will connect with public schools and community groups in efforts to create “intervention and treatment programs” for K-12 students. In addition, UO’s current Portland-based programs will be relocating from the city’s Old Town neighborhood to the Concordia campus after the purchase.
Concordia Portland creating big news in 2020 when it stated that it would close. There is a $302 million lawsuit filed by technology company HotChalk. The company managed the university’s online programming before it all went bad. The plaintiff, HotChalk, argues in the lawsuit that Concordia Portland and others associated with it owe money for a breach of contract, fraud and other allegations. The lawsuit created bigger questions about weather the property would ever get sold. UO’s acknowledged the Concordia ongoing legal dispute but the university states that it doesn’t anticipate it holding up the purchase. According to board documents, the purchase agreement contains legal protections to prevent disruptions to its acquisition of the Concordia campus.
