Northrup shelter lease is for 12 years

Mayor Wilson had indicated to residents that the deal would be for two to three years

Mayor Keith Wilson told about 25 neighbors in June that the lease for 1435 NW Northrup St. was for no more than three years.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson had announced the signing of a “two- or three-year” lease with Vanessa Sturgeon to use her commercial building at 1435 NW Northrup St. for a 200-bed homeless shelter. But the lease signed by Sturgeon and the city on May 27 is for 12 years, and it limits use of the 16,000 square-foot space “only for shelter for unhoused individuals and associated sheltering services.”

If overnight shelters are to be a short-term solution until more lasting solutions to the city’s homeless crisis can be enacted, why is 2037 the expiration date?

The city can terminate the lease earlier, but penalties may apply.

The lease, obtained through a public records request, has other surprising details:

The city will apply for a property tax exemption that would save Sturgeon’s company that was created for this property, North Pearl LLC, from an annual tax bill of about $42,000. She currently owes $63,000 for property taxes in 2023 and 2024.

Another element of the lease is a confidentiality clause that states: “Tenant shall not record the lease,” a normal practice in commercial leases that protects tenants from eviction should the landlord lose control of the property.

The monthly rental rate is $18,000, which is set to increase by 3 percent annually after year five.

While voters were promised an end to unsanctioned camping by Dec. 1, much longer time periods were contemplated and formalized behind the scenes.

Proposed shelter as seen from Northwest 15th and Northrup streets looking northeast.