Opportunity knocked for sale of shop building
By Terry Murry on Friday, July 16th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners had never considered selling its maintenance shop on Southeast Court Avenue. Then, Oregon Grain Growers came knocking, offering to pay the assessed value for the building adjacent to its operations.
“The real reason we did it was because the Oregon Distillery approached us and said, ‘We’ve got some national contracts, our business is going way beyond expectation, and we need to basically double our business,’” Murdock said.
He added that the building itself was under-used and was used for storage of items that were no longer needed, including records that had been digitized. The board’s approval of the sale was more about helping economic development than about making some money.
“They’re the space adjacent,” Murdock said. “They’ll knock a hole in the wall and they’re going to double their business. That’s what we’re about. We’re not about building government. We’re about building private business.”
