Real estate developer John Russell won a battle over the fate of his downtown building known as the “Black Box” last week when a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge ruled that the lender on the property couldn’t appoint a receiver to take control of it.

The lender, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, sued for foreclosure on the building, called 200 Market, in June, arguing that Russell had failed to put money into an account reserved for improvements to attract new tenants. That requirement went into effect in 2023 when Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon, the building’s largest tenant, said it planned to occupy less space.

MetLife asked the court to appoint a receiver for the building, a 390,000-square-foot boxy tower with tinted windows at Southwest Market Street and First Ave

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