Oppenlander Field in West Linn. (Staff file photo)

During a special meeting Wednesday, July 16, the West Linn-Wilsonville School Board voted to select a bid from Icon Construction & Development to purchase the Oppenlander property.

Icon’s offer of $7.875 million was tied with the Lennar Corporation for the highest of the three bids received by the deadline of July 10 — and equal to the district’s asking price when it placed the 10-acre property on the market in May. The sale of the property, which has been owned since the 1970s and is primarily used for sports fields, would end a tumultuous saga between the West Linn-Wilsonville School District and the city of West Linn that began in 2021.

“The district will now work with Icon to negotiate a non-binding letter of intent and enter into a Purchase and Sale Agreement,” read a statement included in the July 16 School Board Briefs posted online.

Icon has previously stated that it intends to develop most of the land into housing while keeping some of it as a park with baseball fields.

“As we have consistently stated over the last several months, the City is open to working with the private sector to try and preserve some park space at Oppenlander,” West Linn Mayor Rory Bialostosky said in a statement to the West Linn Tidings. “The City could not afford to purchase the full 10 acre property at $7.875 Million plus the cost of improvements and ongoing maintenance given our capital needs and budget outlook. We look forward to continued discussions and engagement with the community, Friends of Oppenlander leadership and representatives from Icon Construction about what a park partnership could look like and associated potential costs and funding options.”

Background on Oppenlander

In 2021 the school district signaled interest in a sale of Oppenlander, causing the city of West Linn and the school district to briefly come together for a deal.

This ultimately led to the 2022 lawsuit filed by the school district against the city over a valuation of the land, which was decided in favor of the district last August. Both sides have expressed interest in finding an outcome that maintains some portion of the land as park space, although the district said it intends to use $1.2 million of the sale proceeds for two new baseball or softball fields at Riverside High School.