View source for Sgt. Jerome F. Sears U.S. Army Reserve Center

The Sgt. Jerome F. Sears U.S. Army Reserve Center ("Sears Center") is a facility proposed to serve as a west-side auxiliary emergency operations center for PBEM, among other prospective uses. However, it has never been prepared for that purpose and the building is not accessible to the public at this time. It is included in the NETwiki because PBEM has used (and may again use) the facility for NET training.

== Background ==
[[File:SFC Jerome F. Sears.jpg|alt=Portrait of SFC Jerome F. Sears|thumb|202x202px|The man himself, SFC Jerome F. Sears.]]
[[File:2013.06.10.Sears Map.jpg|alt=Map of the Jerome Sears Center included in the 2013 Sears Master Plan document.|thumb|''This map was included in the 2013 Sears Master Plan document.'''<ref name=":0" />''' Click to enlarge.''|410x410px]]
'''''The following background is paraphrased from a master plan completed at the behest of the City of Portland.<ref name=":0">Carleton Hart Architecture PC. (2013). ''SFC Jerome F. Sears Operations Center Master Plan''. City of Portland.</ref>''''' 

The U.S. Army Reserve Center is located within the southwest Portland neighborhood of Multnomah. The site and buildings were developed by the U.S. Army Reserve at the end of the 1950s to serve as an operations and mobilization center for the south end of Portland. An almost identical facility was concurrently completed in North Portland, and named the 2nd Lt. Alfred Sharff Army Reserve Center. The South Portland facility was officially renamed the “Sergeant First Class Jerome F. Sears United States Army Reserve Center”. SFC Sears posthumously received the Distinguished Service Cross for acts of [https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/7306 extraordinary heroism] during the Korean War.

The site contains three principal buildings, along with one small outbuilding. The Reserve Center (constructed 1959) is the initial and principal building on the site, with its main entry facing Multnomah Blvd. This building was subsequently renamed the SFC Jerome F. Sears Hall. The Maintenance Shop (constructed 1959) sits near the north property line and within the fence enclosure. Adjacent to it is a three-sided cinderblock hazardous materials building. The Storage Building (constructed 2000) is located near the west properly line and adjacent to auditorium portion of Sears Hall.

In the mid-2000s, the [https://www.acq.osd.mil/brac/ Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC)] decided that activities within the USAR Center could be consolidated elsewhere, and the property was to be surplused. A plan was developed to relocate the Reserve in September 2011, upon completion of a new complex in Clackamas.

In 2006 the Portland Development Commission (now [https://prosperportland.us/ Prosper Portland]) put forth a call for proposals for redevelopment of the USAR Center site, opening the investigation of reuse opportunities. In 2008, Portland City Council proposed to convert the site into affordable housing. This use received uneven support from the Multnomah Neighborhood Association, and was ultimately rejected due to a lack of City funding.

In August of 2011, the City submitted an application proposal to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the organization responsible for the surplus process. The application authors were the Portland Bureau of Transportation, the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, and the Portland Water Bureau. This application was approved by FEMA as noted in a letter dated October 19, 2011, which recommended that the transfer language require the property to be used in perpetuity as an emergency management response facility, or revert back to the Federal government.

Ownership of the property was formally transferred in 2012. In August the City engaged Carlton Hart Architecture to create a Master Plan to determine actions needed to convert the property into an auxiliary emergency operations center.

=== Reports and communications timeline ===

* '''''Environmental Condition of Property Report''''' March 2007 Lawhon & Associates, Inc., in conjunction with Fuller, Mossbarger, Scott and May Engineers, Inc., authors

* '''''Sears Army Reserve Center – Preliminary Structural Review for Proposed Essential Facility Use''''' March 19, 2008 ABHT Structural Engineers, author

* '''''ADA Review Email to Robert Kieta''''' December 6, 2011 Danielle Brooks, OMF, author

* '''''Application for Surplus Federal Real Property Public Benefit Conveyance and BRAC Programs for Emergency Management Use''''' August 2011 PBOT, PBEM, PWB, authors

* '''''[https://efiles.portlandoregon.gov/Record/4259792/ City of Portland Resolution No. 36863] Adopted by City Council on May 25, 2011'''''Language prepared by Carmen Merlo, PBEM
* '''''FEMA Approval Letter to Scott McKean, Base Transition Coordinator – Big West Region''''' October 19, 2011 Tyrone Nunnally, Section Chief, Real Property Division, author

== Facility use since 2012 ==
The City has not approved the budget necessary to re-occupy the building and put it into the uses described in the 2013 Master Plan. According to an article in the ''Portland Tribune'', "A contract with MCA Architects to manage the project was signed in June 2016. But in March 2017, the council authorized a new contract to study adding a Portland Fire & Rescue training center to the facility. It would replace a fire bureau training center in the Clinton Triangle in Southeast Portland. That put the rest of the planning on hold until the study is completed."<ref>Redden, Jim (2019-01-22). [https://www.portlandtribune.com/news/sears-center-overhaul-stalls/article_6b9c5811-a4d0-5685-8257-2c2038770c7e.html "Sears center overhaul stalls"]. ''Portland Tribune.'' Retrieved 2023-10-30.</ref> It is unclear what happened after that study was made. 

=== Use as a temporary homeless shelter, 2015 ===
In November 2015, the City of Portland opened up the Jerome F. Sears building as a temporary homeless shelter, operated by [https://www.tprojects.org/ Transition Projects].<ref>Vanderhart, Dirk; Nov 25, 2015 at 3:30 pm. [https://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2015/11/25/17046621/its-cold-here-are-the-emergency-shelters-opening-up-tonight "It's Cold. Here Are the Emergency Shelters Opening Up Tonight"]. ''Portland Mercury''. Retrieved 2023-10-30</ref> Then mayor Charlie Hales committed to the shelter closing on May 31, 2016.<ref>Schmidt, Brad (2016-05-20). [https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2016/05/despite_6-month_promise_portla.html "With promise looming, Charlie Hales to close homeless shelter"]. ''oregonlive''. Retrieved 2020-08-19.</ref> In June 2016, the city asked to remain open for three additional months, however the neighbors demanded the shelter closed. Neighbors have commented that the Sears Center was deeded to the city for use as emergency management use only.<ref>[https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/neighbors-demand-city-leaders-close-sears-shelter/283-206828816 "Neighbors demand city leaders close Sears shelter"]. ''kgw.com''. Retrieved 2020-08-19.</ref>
[[File:Sears and PPB SERT Training.jpg|alt=Police officers in SERT training at the Jerome Sears Facility.|thumb|''Police officers in SERT training at the Jerome Sears Facility.<ref name=":1" />'']]

=== Use for police special ops training, 2019 ===
According to an August 14, 2019 article in the Portland Tribune, use of the Sears Center was opened to PPB as a [https://www.portland.gov/police/divisions/sert SERT] training facility for a period of several months. PPB built a series of mock residences inside the assembly area.<ref name=":1">Gallagher, Bill; 2019-05-31). [https://www.portlandtribune.com/news/sears-center-gets-busy-but-not-as-promised-emergency-response-center/article_2ae52809-ff0f-5212-a53f-9bc3808133bf.html "Sears Center gets busy, but not as promised emergency response center"]. ''Portland Tribune.'' Retrieved 2023-10-30.</ref> Jeremy got to see their setup, it was pretty rad. 🤘 🤘

=== Safe Rest Village, May 2022 - present ===
Portland city government declared that the Sears Center would be the site of a Safe Rest Village in November 2021.<ref>KGW (2021-11.22). [https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/city-announces-safe-rest-village-site/283-fdd74f70-c099-41e0-8d0d-248928838f25 "New Safe Rest Village site announced for west side"]. KGW8. Retrieved 2023-10-30. See also: https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/multnomah-safe-rest-village-could-be-first-in-portland/.</ref> Part of the Sears parking lot site into a Safe Rest Village to house homeless persons in May 2022; auxiliary uses by other bureaus continue. The federal government quickly determined that use as a Safe Rest Village violated the terms of the deed.<ref>KATU Staff (2022-06-29). [https://katu.com/news/local/fema-says-safe-rest-village-in-sw-portland-doesnt-meet-emergency-management-purpose "FEMA says Safe Rest Village in SW Portland doesn't meet 'emergency management purpose'"]. KATU2. Retrieved 2023-10-30. See also: https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/fema-says-safe-rest-village-southwest-portland-oregon-violated-sears-armory-restrictions/. See also: https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/12/23/another-federal-agency-rejects-portlands-application-for-change-of-use-at-multnomah-village-armory/.</ref> The issue was resolved in the summer of 2023 when Portland City Council approved $3 million to buy out the deed and keep it as a Safe Rest Village.<ref>Redden, Jim (2023-07-26). [https://www.portlandtribune.com/news/portland-buys-out-deed-restriction-of-sears-armory-to-solve-srv-controversy/article_c7ca95d8-27f6-11ee-b1ea-534c3e9d5252.html "Portland buys out deed restriction of Sears Armory to solve SRV controversy"]. The Portland Tribune. Retrieved 2023-10-30.</ref>

== Notes and References ==
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