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KOGAP buys office buildings By DAVID PRESZLER Medford's KOGAP Enterprises has made a significant real estate investment in Eugene. The company, owned by the Lausmann family, paid $16 million for four office buildings near the Valley River Center shopping center in a deal that closed last month. The buildings comprise the Valley River Office Park and have about 152,000 square feet of space. They house offices for well-known companies that include MCI, IBM and GMAC Financial Services, according to KOGAP Vice President Mike Montero. "It's a fairly substantial park," said Montero. The purchase is the company's first outside the Rogue Valley. KOGAP, founded as a timber company, has diversified into real estate development in recent years. Its local holdings include Harry and David's Country Village in the South Gateway Center, Stewart Meadows Golf Course and Lausmann Business Park. Montero said the company was searching for a place to invest money generated by the sale of some of the company's timberlands; he declined to say how many acres were sold. The sale and purchase was done as a like-kind, tax-exempt exchange, which allows capital gains liability on the timberlands to be transferred into the office park. "We've been looking all over the state of Oregon for property," he said. "It gives us some regional diversity." KOGAP's main focus is developing the roughly 100-acre parcel on South Pacific Highway that was home to its mill. Montero said the company would have liked to have invested in that now but is delaying its plans to build a mixed-use business park until traffic issues related to the South Medford interchange are resolved. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA