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The Portland School Board on Tuesday night unanimously voted to execute a $16 million purchase and sale agreement for a building to house the Center for Black Student Excellence, about five years after voters first approved its creation in 2020.
The approval for the One North property in Albina, on 3506-3514 N Vancouver Ave. and 25 N Fremont St., is not a final authorization of sale. Rather, it marks the beginning of a 90-day due diligence period for PPS, where district staff and officials will be able to assess the building. Its sellers, Karuna Properties II LLC and Karuna Properties II West LLC, will not be able to sell the building to any other party during that time. The seller requires any transaction with the district close by Dec. 29.
Two buildings form the development, which was constructed in 2015. It has about 72,000 square feet of space, according to a district memo. Though an appraisal the district obtained in May valued the property at $15.2 million, Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong said the two parties negotiated to the stated price.
For hundreds of Black community members gathered in PPS’s central office to watch the board vote, the approval marked the first big step in a long-delayed process to establish the center. The CBSE is a space meant to improve outcomes for Black students across the district through engagement of community partners and culturally-sensitive material. (The district has emphasized the center will be open to all students.)
But the due diligence period will pose hard questions for PPS. Key among them is how, amid a string of budget deficits, the district plans to staff and maintain the CBSE. That’s in part because, although voters approved $60 million to the center in PPS’s 2020 bond, that money can only go toward physical facilities, not programmatic costs.
“We believe that we have identified the right site. This session is a critical step toward that vision,” Nicole Watson, the director of community and family engagement at PPS, said at the meeting. “It’s important to note that while this is a next step, it is not a final step. It is, however, an intentional one. The due diligence period puts the hard work in the open with community voices continuing to guide us every step of the way.”
A Sept. 2 staff memo from Dana White, the district’s senior director of real estate and construction, outlined the key pieces of a due diligence process. Building-wise, the assessment will include physical and environmental inspections; suitability for intended use and the remodeling required; and transportation and parking options.
Operationally, the district will also assess how it will use the space in the building, evaluate community partners, and develop “operating budgets and staffing plans for the building maintenance.” (The memo notes that as of Jan. 6, 2026, about 29% of the building will be occupied under current leases.)
A renewed sense of urgency on the CBSE stems from a 38-member coalition of nonprofit and community organizations, who in May demanded the district take steps to secure a building by Dec. 1. Aryn Frazier, the executive director of the advocacy group Center for Black Excellence, said the building in front of the board was the product of dreaming “with each other” and designing “with intention.”
“We are determined to leave this board room having laid foundational bricks to build not just the CBSE, but bright, bold, brilliant, and beautiful futures for children, families, and educators who call this place home,” Frazier said.
After the board’s unanimous approval, the entire board room erupted in cheers and embraces. But the journey to get there was anything but smooth.
That’s in part because two board members, both newly elected in May, kicked up last-minute pressure for the district to answer their questions on the CBSE’s financial sustainability. School Board members Stephanie Engelsman and Virginia La Forte both emphasized they’d need a lot of information to come to a yes vote in the December meeting.
Engelsman, specifically, emphasized that she’d been hesitant to vote for the due diligence process to begin. She said that was in large part because she was concerned about a slew of operational questions, including transportation and staffing logistics. She noted that at a time when the district is weighing school closures, deferred maintenance and HVAC upgrades, it is already stretched thin for resources without the center.
“PPS doesn’t have a penny to spend on this,” Engelsman said. “PPS doesn’t have any staff to give to the center. Not without taking more staff from schools that are already underwater. I say all of this because I need the CBSE to work and I need it to be self-sustaining in order to get to a yes vote in December.”
(One such way the district might be able to fund the CBSE: Armstrong noted the district will be able to rent out portions of One North to generate revenue. Details on that piece will also become more apparent during due diligence.)
Those comments were met with pushback, as many in the crowd emphasized the district would answer those questions through the due diligence process. An otherwise lively crowd sat in silence through Engelsman’s remarks.
During public comment, Gary Hollands, a former school board member, criticized board members for singling out the CBSE’s financial sustainability. Hollands said the board and previous boards have not asked for operational cost analysis for upgrades including those to athletic hubs and the Grant Bowl. “Nor were there operational cost analysis demanded before approving modernization projects despite enrollment declines that we all know exist.”
“The fact that this is suddenly a sticking point when it comes to the only Black-centered project this district has ever put forward is telling,” Hollands said, to roars of applause from the audience. “It forces us to ask the question why. And let us not ignore the undertones and the quiet conversations, because I hear them, that are going on in this city.”
In response to Hollands, La Forte said the difference for her between the building and other bond projects is that it’s a commercial space. “My intention is to have fiscal responsibility and ask the questions for literally every project that is put in front [of me],” Engelsman added, to some groans in the crowd.
Other board members, including Rashelle Chase-Miller, took their comment time to weigh in on the gravity of PPS’s decision to move forward with the CBSE, and wholly celebrated the moment.
“As I’ve been perusing the materials and reviewing the vision, I’m reminded of the words of Toni Morrison, who said, ‘As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.’ It is time to make due on the debt that is owed to Black students and families in this district,” she said. “That is generations long.”
