On Tuesday, May 19, 2026 the Portland Botanical Gardens and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) signed a much anticipated Prospective Purchaser Agreement (PPA) for the McCormick & Baxter Superfund site in North Portland.
The agreement follows two years of due diligence and outreach, and resulted in overwhelming support submitted during DEQ’s sixty-day formal comment period. The PPA describes the specific conditions and requirements to acquire the site and develop it into botanical gardens. Based on agreement terms, the nonprofit has up to a year to close on the property.
The Portland Botanical Gardens, an Oregon nonprofit public benefit corporation, plans to develop botanical gardens on a portion of the property, as well as build and steward a ten-acre public greenspace along the riverfront. Founded in 2020, the nonprofit spent its first few years searching for potential locations and building capacity. After considering various sites in the Portland area, in 2023 it decided to focus on the McCormick & Baxter property – which had been sitting vacant for almost two decades – and signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement on April 22, 2024.
Key requirements before the site can be purchased are PPAs from DEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As of today, the DEQ PPA has been signed, and the EPA PPA will soon be posted for a thirty-day comment period, and may be signed shortly afterwards.
The PPA is in the form of a Consent Order, a document used by public agencies to enforce terms and actions around remediation and reuse of brownfields (including Superfund sites), and which gives to the Portland Botanical Gardens, should it acquire the property, certain liability protections related to the previous contamination.
Notable requirements in the PPA for Portland Botanical Gardens include:
- Demonstrate before closing the nonprofit has at least $3,000,000 in funds secured for initial development and operations
- Pay DEQ at closing $1,195,000 in compensation for previous and future cleanup (i.e., and remedial costs)
- Adhere to site development and use restrictions that ensure the cleanup infrastructure is not damaged and will remain protective of human health and the environment
- Build and maintain a ten-acre public greenspace that includes the Willamette River Greenway trail, interpretive native plantings, open gathering space, and access to the river
- Create and implement a Tribal Engagement Plan, and update and implement existing Community Engagement Plan
- Maintain habitat improvements to the conserved riparian forest
- Develop and implement an Integrated Pest Management Plan and Invasive Plant Screening Policy
- Conduct quarterly site monitoring and provide annual reports to DEQ
- Submit for DEQ approval the design and final construction drawings for all proposed development, and provide as-builts for all completed construction
- Maintain perimeter fencing and overall security of the site (fencing can be replaced and moved with DEQ approval), and do not allow activities that negatively impact remedial infrastructure
The $1,195,000 in compensation will go to the state industrial orphan site fund, and at DEQ’s discretion may be applied to further remedial actions or habitat improvements at the site. No proceeds will go to the existing owner, the McCormick & Baxter Creosoting Company.
The DEQ PPA also details DEQ’s ongoing obligations, including repair and maintenance of remedial infrastructure like the impermeable liner and associated underdrains, subsurface containment walls, monitoring and extraction wells, and all components of the sediment cap that covers much of the property below the ordinary high water line of the Willamette River.
Learn about the Portland Botanical Gardens and the signed PPA at www.portlandbg.org, and about DEQ and its work at www.oregon.gov/deq/programs/pages/mccormick-baxter.aspx.
For inquiries or more information, please email info@portlandbg.org or call (503) 926-7092.