From the backyard of Preston Alexander’s home, tucked in a rural, southwest corner of Forest Grove, stretches a lush, green expanse of rolling hills: 105 acres of farm and forest that have been in his family for more than a century.

It’s where Alexander’s great-grandfather, George, settled after 1868 when he moved from Scotland, determined to buy and cultivate his own farmland. It’s where his son first learned about climbing trees; where his daughter once discovered a rough-skin newt near Alexander Creek.

But because of a series of financial mishaps, Alexander is scrambling to come up with the funds on a ballooning loan. He used as collateral his family’s property, which is now scheduled for repossession by the bank.

Now, Alexander is working to turn roughly 17 wooded acres of his property into a wildlife sanctuary, complete with hiking trails and footbridges. His hope: that outdoor enthusiasts who come to hike his backyard will donate to keep the land in the family.

Since his daughter

it hasn’t generated much in donations. Yet, last weekend, Alexander was still out in his tractor, clearing blackberry brush for trail-ways.

“I want to honor the spirit and intention of this fundraiser,” Alexander said. “Whether or not I keep the property.”

Alexander knows he’s not blameless. After all, it was his decision to put his land up for collateral when he took out a five-year loan from Columbia Community Bank. And it was of his own volition that he assumed the financial risk for helping to build the city’s first charter school.

The saga began in 2006, when Alexander was in the market for a new laboratory space for his company,

which produces antibody kits for medical researchers. He bought three industrial lots in downtown Forest Grove along Pacific Avenue, with cash in hand, when he was approached by a handful of educators with an idea.

We want to build the

they said. And we want to do it on your property.

He liked the idea, agreed to make some improvements to the property (home, at the time, to an abandoned mortuary), and took out a five-year business loan from Columbia Community Bank. The assumption was he’d sell the lots to the school and pay off the principal long before the $250,000 loan had to be repaid.

“He was very generous in his willingness to even be involved,” said Karen Torrey, FGCS director. “It wasn’t something a lot of property owners would have been interested in.”

What Alexander soon realized was that some of the retrofitting he’d have to do — replacing whole electrical systems, hiring airflow engineers, installing alarm systems, etc. — was going to be much more expensive than he’d originally thought.

He went to the bank and took out additional funds, eventually increasing his principal up to $800,000. Best case scenario, Alexander would have still sold the property at a slight profit, considering the improvements made to bring the building up to code.

But it was not to be. In 2008, the market crashed, and FGCS administration kept on renting Alexander’s property because, as a new non-profit business entity, the school couldn’t get a large enough loan. This year,

— a net loss for Alexander, who said he paid more than $2 million for both the property and its improvements.

Soon after, Alexander defaulted on his loan, causing his interest rate to balloon from 8.5 percent to roughly 25 percent, and his payments to skyrocket. “It’s an uphill battle,” he said.

Though the bank’s Chief Credit Officer, Fred Johnson, declined to discuss specifics, he said such an interest rate hike for someone who defaults on their loan is “not very uncommon.”

“This bank, in its five-year history, has always made every attempt to work with borrowers to try to find mutually acceptable resolutions,” he said.

With the July 20 foreclosure deadline looming, Alexander said he’s grateful the bank has, as of late, seemed more willing to work with him. He’s also looking to possibly sell a large portion of the land to his neighbor.

He said he’s no longer accepting donations, since he might ultimately lose his property. But he’s still working on his nature park, on what he hopes will eventually be a new hiking destination. Then, at least others might be able to enjoy it the same way his family has for so many generations.

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