It’s no mystery what is happening to blue, blob cities and escape states, but if you need yet another example of the destruction bad policy has wrought, look no further than the case of Portland’s U.S Bancorp Tower.
The city leaders’ refusal to clean up the drug addicted homeless population plaguing U.S. Bancorp Tower and its surrounding areas has affected the location’s desirability. The publishing company, Digital Trends, moved out of the tower, and now it sits mostly empty. According to Digital Trends, the property was infested with homeless vagrants using drugs and causing destruction in its hallways and stairwells. Now, the owners of the tower are attempting to sell it for more than 80% below what they paid for it, according to The Wall Street Journal’s Peter Grant, who writes:
The 42-story tower was recently put up for sale. The building affectionately known as Big Pink because of its pink-hued Spanish granite and pink glazed glass has an asking price of about $70 million, according to brokers. That is more than 80% below what the owners paid for it a decade ago.
The owners of U.S. Bancorp Tower aren’t the only ones looking to sell off their property in Portland. PacWest Tower, another of the city’s largest office buildings, is also for sale. And these follow the sales or expected sales of a number of other properties in the city. OregonLive reports:
Northwest Portland’s Montgomery Park office complex sold for $33 million last year, a fraction of its 2019 sales price. Under intense financial strain, the downtown Block 216 tower that holds the Pacific Northwest’s only Ritz-Carlton hotel is poised to transfer to its lender.
Why are so many of Portland’s big properties for sale? It turns out owners are just following the money. Multnomah County, home to the city of Portland, has watched as its wealthier citizens have moved out for nearly a decade. Mike Rogoway of The Oregonian reports:
The average income of households moving out of Multnomah County was nearly $105,000 a year in 2022, according to newly released tax data. That’s up by more than a third from 2020.
Among those moving into the county, the average household income was about $74,000 – up just 8% compared to 2020.
That disparity may help explain why Multnomah County’s population has declined this decade, reversing rapid growth in the early 2010s.
Rogoway goes on to explain that high taxes, “long response times for police and ambulances, potholes on the road, and the quality of public schools,” are turning people against the area.
Action Line: If a city’s leaders won’t provide safety, a good education, and a clean environment, despite high taxation, residents will leave. If you’re looking for a better America, begin your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2025 Super States. Then, click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
