Skip to main content
Movement Center Is Moving: After 26 years in the historic Mann mansion in the Kerns neighborhood, the Movement Center, also known as the Nityananda Institute, is under contract to sell the property to an undisclosed buyer. The 60,000-square-foot, 61-bedroom property sits on 3.14 acres at Northeast 33rd Avenue and Oregon Street. The asking price was $8.8 million. (The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and won't be razed.) The Movement Center offers yoga and meditation classes and retreats. A letter circulated to community members said its leader, "Swamiji," aka Michael J. Shoemaker, is relocating to Gold Beach, Ore., but urged anybody thinking of following him "not to convey a message that the Ashram is moving" lest it upset people in the seaside village of 2,000. Sharon Ward, an attorney for the group, says it will buy another property in Portland and continue to offer services here and in Los Angeles.
Andersen Construction Heirs in Family Feud: A new lawsuit has exposed a deep rift in the family that owns Andersen Construction, one of the city's oldest and largest contractors. Sandra Andersen, widow of company founder Andy Andersen, and her granddaughter, Brittany Jurj, allege in a lawsuit filed June 6 in Multnomah County Circuit Court that current company management, led by Andy Andersen's grandson Joel Andersen and Joel's father David and uncle Stephen, engaged in a number of secret transactions that unfairly deprived Sandra Andersen and Jurj of millions of dollars. The properties at issue include a dormitory in Eugene and a high-end apartment building in Slabtown. "This is a family issue that, regretfully, has been made public in a very hurtful way," Josh Ross, an attorney for the defendants, said in a statement. "The allegations are grossly false and rooted in misconceptions."
Mayor Poised to Sign Onto Tenant Protections: For weeks, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has jockeyed with Commissioner Chloe Eudaly over her proposal to limit how landlords screen prospective tenants and how large a security deposit they can demand. Wheeler now tells WW he is wiling to support Eudaly's tenant screening and security deposit ordinances. That's "contingent upon amendments being adopted," says his spokeswoman Eileen Park. The mayor has proposed seven amendments that range from technical clarifications to expanding exemptions in the ordinances—for example, allowing more landlords to turn down tenants who have violated their lease repeatedly in the past year. Eudaly is "mostly amenable to the mayor's proposed amendments," says her spokeswoman Margaux Weeke. A City Council vote on the amendments (but not the ordinances) is expected June 12.
Trump Considers Campaigning in Oregon: President Donald Trump is weighing whether to invest re-election resources in new places—including Oregon. CNN reported June 11 that a memo to the Trump campaign from pollster Tony Fabrizio suggested the president should consider "expanding the map" when campaigning for re-election—and included Oregon. And a senior Trump campaign source told the news channel it was considering hiring staff here to "test the waters" on the Pacific Coast. Democratic Party of Oregon spokeswoman Molly Woon says if the Trump campaign sets up shop here, "they should be prepared for an icy reception from Oregon voters."