(TILLAMOOK, OR. September 18, 2025) – On September 24, 2025, the Tillamook Board of County Commissioners will consider entering into a purchase and sale agreement for the commercial property at 4610 Third Street in Tillamook, which formerly housed the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
This property offers the county a unique opportunity to solve its longstanding space and security needs for Tillamook County Circuit Court, a department of the state, and county departments housed in the courthouse.
Tillamook County is obligated by Oregon State law to provide suitable and sufficient court facilities (ORS 1.185). Many efforts have been made in the past 25 years to address the needs of circuit court, including plans for a new justice facility on Long Prairie Road, and building an annex on county property.
“The purchase and sale agreement will be posted on the county website tomorrow afternoon (Sept. 19th) with next week’s agenda, and will include the proposed price of $2.475 million,” said County Commissioner Mary Faith Bell. “The board will discuss financing options in our public meeting next Wednesday (Sept. 24.) If we move forward with the purchase and sale agreement, securing financing will be part of the county’s due diligence.”
Those concepts were scrapped or postponed for lack of funds. Other efforts have been successful, such as the courthouse remodel in 2022 which created a suitable and sufficient second courtroom for circuit court by converting the commissioners’ meeting room into courtroom 224. This was a good interim solution but did not address all of circuit court’s space needs.
In addition to unmet circuit court needs, some county departments are overcrowded, and their workspaces are inefficient. Earlier this year, the county engaged a contractor to do a courthouse needs assessment, the result of which identified a shortage of 13,000 square feet.
The property for sale at 4610 Third Street is 13,000 square feet. The building is ADA accessible, out of the flood hazard zone, adjacent to other county properties including the Tillamook County Fairgrounds, and close to other government and community services including Oregon Department of Human Services, Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Tillamook Bay Community College, 4-H OSU Extension Service and NorthWest Senior & Disability Services. The possible purchase represents a cost-effective investment compared to the price for building new office space of similar size.
Acquisition of the property will serve county employees, and citizens of Tillamook County for years to come, and will provide Tillamook County Circuit Court with the needed space for expansion in the courthouse.