Multnomah Publishing Company has made a three-year lease-option agreement with the City of Sisters to purchase the bowling alley building that once was to become a new city hall.

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According to a city memo detailing the agreement, the Sisters publisher of Christian books (formerly known as Questar) will pay $4,500 per month during the lease period, with an option to purchase the building for $375,000 any time during the first two years of the agreement. If they purchase the building during the last year of the lease, Multnomah will pay $400,000.

If the company opts not to purchase the building, it would revert to the city, with improvements, unless another agreement is reached.

The former Memory Lanes Bowling Alley building is located on Adams Street, next to Multnomah's current office building. Multnomah will remodel the bowling alley to use as office and direct mail shipping space for their rapidly growing enterprise.

"We're just overflowing like crazy," said Multnomah CEO Don Jacobson.

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Jacobson said the location and condition of the building made it a perfect place to accommodate the company's growth.

"Location is probably the big factor," Jacobson said. "The building seems made to order for us."

The former bowling alley is now an empty shell, which will allow Multnomah to remodel it to suit their needs. Close proximity makes for an easy electronic connection between the new space and Multnomah's current offices, Jacobson said.

The bowling alley was donated to the city by industrialist Joe Fought in April of 1994. The city had planned to remodel it for a new city hall, but ultimately decided - after three years and $12,228 in planning costs - that Sisters couldn't afford the $498,762 bid on the project.

The building was appraised at $530,000, but the city administration and at least two Sisters Realtors believe it could not command such a high price on the market.

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The sale of the bowling alley doesn't solve the city's problems with the current city hall, though funds from the sale will be used to either remodel the current building or to buy or build a new one.

City staff have complained for years that there is not enough work space and not enough room for storage in the existing city hall. The building has no air conditioning and is often sweltering during the summer.

City officials have discussed adding a modular unit to the back of the city hall to add more space. The city had also planned to explore the possibility of remodeling the current building to add a second floor.