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Developer purchases historic USFS property in Grants Pass Tuesday Sep 6, 2016 at 3:18 PM Sep 6, 2016 at 3:18 PM By Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier A Portland developer who purchased the historic U.S. Forest Service property on L Street in southwest Grants Pass may turn it into housing or retain some of the historic flavor as something else. It's too early to tell yet. Robert Burt, speaking on behalf of developer Kurt Redd, said the property could be redeveloped as "a lot of different things." "It's perfectly suited for residential development, but it also has the historical interest," said Burt, who is legal counsel for Redd's company Lorelei Development II, LLC. Redd, he added, "wants to do something that doesn't go contrary to the opinions in the community." Lorelei was the highest of eight bidders for the 2.66-acre property, paying $319,000, after the Forest Service put it up for auction in May. "Its location, only a half-mile from downtown, already reveals that it is an ideal candidate for a unique single- or multi-user campus, or for residential development," the company said in a statement. The compound, formerly the maintenance campus for the Siskiyou National Forest, sat idle for a decade after the Rogue River and Siskiyou national forests merged. All seven buildings are on the National Register of Historic Buildings, including a 5,250-square-foot warehouse shop that is the centerpiece of the property. In 2011, the city of Grants Pass had first rights to buy the property for $245,000. Negotiations were derailed by complications that included concerns about cleanup costs related to potential contamination from oil and gasoline. Another offer of $244,000 was made later the same year by Sand Mountain Society, a Portland-based organization noted for restoring historic fire lookouts and conservation work around the Pacific Northwest. It, too, fell through. The buildings were built by Civilian Conservation Corps workers beginning in 1933, guided by prominent local contractor Gust Lium. Lium was also known for his work with the historical buildings at the Oregon Caves National Monument. The classic "Cascadian Rustic" architecture, familiar all over Oregon, is characterized by wrought iron, ample stonework, gables, dormers, exposed eaves, prominent chimneys and lots of multi-pane windows. The CCC's trademark pine tree logo is cut into at least one spot on all seven buildings. Virginia Gibbons, spokesperson for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, said in April that the buyer of the property will be encouraged to work with the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office when any changes are proposed. Should the purchaser have no interest in that, they will be encouraged to sell to someone who might move the buildings to another site with the intent of preservation. Redd also owns Diversified Marine of Portland, which builds tugboats. In 2014, he was the highest bidder for a 1-acre former Humane Society of Southwest Washington property, which was swapped to the city of Vancouver. That bid was $464,210.