It's been five months since Portland officials agreed to pay $34.7 million to secure a piece of property near the airport needed to redevelop the Pearl District post office.

Officials still don't know what that airport property is worth.

That's because officials for the Portland Development Commission delayed ordering an appraisal despite the high-profile and unusual nature of the proposed purchase.

As reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive in March, city officials agreed to dramatically overpay for airport property that has an estimated fair market value of just $17 million to $20 million.

The 47-acre parcel is owned by Trammell Crow, which paid just $6 million for the land in 2014.

Portland leaders agreed to pay a huge premium because they desperately want the land so the U.S. Postal Service can move there, allowing Portland to take control of the existing Pearl District post office site.

But city officials didn't initially disclose the huge premium being paid to Trammell Crow when they approved a complicated real estate deal in January. It wasn't until The Oregonian/OregonLive began reporting its story - and reviewing city requirements for appraisals - that officials said they would order one.

"We're paying a premium on it," Patrick Quinton, the development commission's executive director, said at the time. "But we want to be able to quantify, for everybody involved, here's what the premium is and here's our basis for it."

At the time, city officials said they would order an appraisal of the airport property by March 4 and expected to receive it back within a month.

The appraisal wasn't going to track the fair market value but instead would estimate the investment value of the land - which might more closely resemble the price Portland agreed to pay to secure it from Trammell Crow.

But city officials didn't follow through. The appraisal wasn't ordered until April 15, six weeks later than expected.

"I think it was simply a matter of many items on the list of things to do during this timeframe," Shawn Uhlman, a development commission spokesman, said in an email.

Uhlman said the appraisal might not be available for another two weeks - pushing the appraisal's completion 2 1/2 months longer than originally expected.

The U.S. Postal Service also ordered an appraisal of the property. A spokeswoman refused to disclose it.

-- Brad Schmidt

503-294-7628

@cityhallwatch