Auction date looming for museum

Sources close to the issue told the News-Register a foreclosure sale that had been scheduled for Dec. 21 for the Evergreen Space Museum and Wings & Waves Waterpark would likely be put off again as negotiations continue.

However, as of press time Dec. 17, the properties were still slated to be auctioned off at 10 a.m. Monday on the courthouse steps, according to the county sheriff’s office.

The auction was ordered at the behest of Hoffman Construction, which erected all of the buildings on the museum’s Highway 18 campus. The company is seeking to recoup $1.9 million owed by the Michael King Smith Foundation, owner of the land and buildings occupied by the space museum and water park.

The sale was originally scheduled for late November, but was delayed to give the parties additional time to negotiate.

Hoffman won the judgment last year in Yamhill County Circuit Court, but held off initiating foreclosure action for several months while the parties conducted their initial round of negotiations. Frustrated at a perceived lack of progress, it finally filed notice that it planned to force sale of the properties to the highest bidder.

The foundation is governed by a three-member board consisting of Jay Goffman, head of corporate restructuring at New York’s Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, billed as the world’s largest law firm; certified public accountant Lisa Anderson, president of Evergreen Vintage Aircraft, which once held title to many of the planes displayed at the space museum’s aviation museum twin; and Jimmy Ray, personal representative of the estate of late Evergreen corporate and museum founder Del E. Smith.

Ownership of the museum’s land and buildings has historically been divided between the Evergreen Vintage Aircraft — the aviation museum and theater — and the Michael King Smith Foundation — the space museum and water park. But Evergreen Vintage is currently undergoing divestiture and dissolution in bankruptcy court in Portland.