Lincoln Center (Oregon) - History

History

Developed by the Trammell Crow Company beginning in 1980, the first building at Lincoln Center was completed in 1981. Additional buildings were completed in 1985, 1988, and 1989. The complex was annexed by Tigard in 1986 after a state commission decided in their favor over Beaverton and Portland. In 1990, Trammell Crow sold the property to the Japanese firm Seiyu International Corporation, headed by Yashimitsu Misawa, for $120 million.

Misawa was assisted in the transaction by state representative and former Tigard mayor Tom Brian, who received a $2 million dollar commission for the sale. Brian faced formal ethics violations for his role and for accepting campaign contributions from the company and Misawa by the state, as well as charges by the Oregon Real Estate Agency for operating without a license, and a lawsuit by Misawa for an inflated sale price. He settled the lawsuit with Misawa and repaid part of the $2 million commission while Misawa was later arrested in Japan for various fraud charges concerning this and other real estate transactions. The ethics charges against Brian were latter dismissed.

In December 1991, Seiyu Corporation sold the complex to Sanyo Finance Company Ltd. for $102.7 million. Geese made news in 1991 and 1992 after nesting on the balcony of one of the towers. In 1995, SF Oregon Company (a subsidiary of Sanyo Finance Co. Ltd.) put the property up for sale with a listed price of $100 million. In 1996, Knickerbocker Properties (owned by the New York State Teachers Retirement System) purchased Lincoln Center for $89.4 million.

Knickerbocker placed the complex on sale in 2000, with Spieker Properties Inc. buying the center for $118 million in July 2000. Spieker merged with Equity Office Properties and adopted the Equity name in March 2001. The building was used in an earthquake response drill by county groups in April 2003. Equity Office Properties sold Lincoln Center in 2007 to Shorenstein Properties.