With the West Linn-Wilsonville School District putting the 10-acre Oppenlander property for sale on the open market last week, West Linn real estate developer Icon Construction plans to submit an independent bid to purchase the property. Icon’s hope is to develop the majority of the land into housing while keeping 3 acres as a park with baseball fields.

After the West Linn-Wilsonville School Board voted May 2 to solicit bids for the property — after four years of failed negotiations with the city of West Linn — the district was expected to open the 60-day bidding process May 12 or 13.

Prior to the board’s May 2 decision, Icon Construction had worked with the city of West Linn on plans to develop 7 acres of the Oppenlander property and preserve the remaining 3 acres as a park with baseball fields. City officials saw this partnership as the best way forward after trying for nearly four years to purchase the district-owned property to keep as a city park with fields for youth sports.

“If we are successful with our bid and enter into a purchase agreement with the school district, our plan is to still partner with the city to create a park and baseball fields on the north end of the property,” Icon owner Mark Handris told the Tidings in an email.

Handris noted his company’s plans for the property are “basically the same” as the plan for housing and a park space previously shared by the city.

“It will be up to the school district to consider the offers it receives and pick the offer that fits their interest best,” Handris said. “I am hopeful the district chooses the idea of getting all the land value for the district plus the community a park and baseball field.”

The district has owned the Oppenlander property on Rosemont Road in West Linn since the 1970s, having purchased it then as a possible future school site. Since then, the flat open space with three baseball fields has primarily been used by local youth sports teams and dog walkers. When the school district determined in 2019 that the property was no longer viable for a future school, it decided to put the land up for sale, a move that prompted concern from community members and a four-year struggle to find a way for the city to purchase the property.

Though the district had Oppenlander appraised at nearly $7.9 million less than a year ago, how much the property actually sells for won’t be clear until the district begins receiving bids. Handris declined to comment on how much Icon would offer in its bid.

The district plans to put $6.5 million of proceeds from the sale into the district’s land bank fund while spending $1.2 million to construct new turf baseball and softball fields at Riverside High School and using the remaining funds to bring back educational staff members who were recently cut due to budget constraints.