Vancouver and Clark County

[bvpcvm]

i'd love to see denser development around the max stations.

in fact, metro has been trying to encourage denser development around what it calls 'town centers' or 'regional centers' or something. see www.metro-region.org. unfortunately, not much has come of it so far. i'm not sure if that's simply because real estate prices here are (compared, say, to the bay area) so low or what. i know that metro did some kind of study a couple years back where they looked at gateway and tried to figure out why nothing multi-story had gone in (this was before the oregon clinic and the tri-met parking garage).

as i recall, the consensus was that the structured parking that denser building would require made dense projects fail to pencil out without a subsidy (in fact, the one place in the suburbs - the round - which has been built up more densely, required a subsidy and even then it's been a disaster).

still, some places are picking up - hollywood, for instance hasn't added any high rises, but several 3-4 story apt buildings went up over the past few years as well as that office/parking garage next to the station. and retail there (last time i was there, anyway) has picked up, so, if/when we ever recover from this sub-prime mortgage mess, maybe something will start to happen there. (oh yeah, there's that 5-story whole foods project in hollywood - has that broken ground?)

[PuyoPiyo]

Road projects

Build tunnels for Esther and Grant streets through the BNSF Railway berm.

Realign Jefferson Street to the southeast so it parallels the berm.

Improve Sixth Street and connect it to a realigned Jefferson Street.

Build T intersections at Jefferson and Eighth streets and at Esther and Grant streets.

Close at-grade rail crossings at Jefferson and Eighth streets.



STEVEN LANE/The Columbian

Boise Cascade's former industrial site has tremendous redevelopment potential, but it is cut off from the rest of downtown by a railroad berm and trestle. Several road projects are needed to provide adequate access to the area.

Putting money down on the waterfront

Saturday, December 29, 2007

BY JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer

2008 likely will be pivotal for the Boise Cascade project, the year the city of Vancouver must come up with road dollars to support its waterfront vision.


The former industrial site along the Columbia River south of downtown could be a redevelopment bonanza.

Mid-range projections depict a bustling waterfront community packed with 2,300 residences, 814,000 square feet of office space, 299,000 square feet of hotel space and 193,000 square feet of retail space.

All of which comes at a price to the city: $9.5 million for the city's share of road improvements opening up the waterfront area and maybe a portion of an additional $13.8 million funding gap.

An initial round of road and rail improvements is expected to cost $38 million. A variety of sources will be used to pay the bill, including city, developer and BNSF Railway contributions.

Then there's an additional $24 million needed to improve Jefferson Street and Kauffman Avenue between Eighth Street and Mill Plain Boulevard and to extend the popular waterfront trail west past the Interstate 5 Bridge through the Boise site.

All those figures are little more than educated guesses and could fluctuate by millions. Firmer estimates should be available next spring, at which time the city wants to nail down a strategy for plugging the $13.8 million funding hole.
It's a challenge that city officials ­believe they must meet. Mayor Royce Pollard said the Boise project, upon completion, could total a $1.5 billion private investment in Vancouver's future.

"I think we have to figure out how to make it work," he said. "There aren't many pieces of the river like this one left around, and we have the key."
Councilman Tim Leavitt agreed the promise of waterfront redevelopment is too great to let slip by.

"There is no other piece of waterfront property that I'm aware, and certainly not in the city of Vancouver, that has more value to the community, he said.

Lingering problem

The need to craft a waterf ront funding plan likely will reignite the debate over city finances and how to address a chronic shortage of transportation dollars, a problem that has flummoxed city officials for much of this decade.
A number of proposals have been floated, including doubling the city's water and sewer tax and reinstating a local business and occupation tax, but none of those ideas received city council approval.

The council added two-tenths of 1 percent to the local sales tax in August 2005 to raise money for roads. One year later, the council decided it had more pressing needs in police and fire and redirected that money to public safety.

In November 2006, the council approved a $50 per employee surcharge on local businesses, capped at $20,000 per company. That was projected to raise $2.4 million a year, but actual receipts for 2007 have been only $1.9 million, almost 20 percent below projections.

All of which leaves Vancouver facing an expensive bill to support waterfront redevelopment without a clear idea how to pay for it.

$3 million budgeted

So far, Vancouver has budgeted only $3 million to pay for design of the needed transportation improvements, not the $9.5 million the city tentatively agreed to contribute toward construction or an unspecified piece of the $13.8 million funding gap.

Gramor Development, the Tualatin, Ore.-based company that has pieced together a consortium of investors to purchase the Boise property and redevelop the site, is expected to contribute $8 million.

The city is looking at a variety of options, including seeking more money from BNSF Railway, lobbying for state or federal appropriations and forming a local improvement district, which could mean higher property taxes for nearby owners.

The ultimate solution likely will be cobbled together from a number of different sources. Pollard will be heading to Washington, D.C., in February to lobby for the city.

One possibility is to build the transportation improvements in phases, starting with punching Esther and Grant streets through to the waterfront as part of realigning the BNSF Railway tracks.

"Maybe our participation is spread out three to four years," Leavitt said. "I've got to believe a phased approach by the city will help to move the project forward and will be an easier pill to swallow."

Making the public case

Another part of the strategy w ill be persuading city residents that money spent near the waterfront is a prudent investment in the city's future.
The city doesn't have a large revenue stream for road projects needed to ease worsening traffic congestion in east Vancouver. At the same time, it wants to invest millions in downtown, a place with little traffic congestion, to support a posh waterfront development loaded with condos and upscale shopping for wealthy residents.

Pollard disputes any suggestion the waterfront will be an exclusive community for the rich, with little to offer the common person.

"That's not true," he said. "There will be waterfront access, shopping, restaurants for the whole community."

And Pollard said he is confident the city will be able to demonstrate a sizable return on investment through higher tax revenues generated by the project, justifying its financial participation.

"Right now, we've got nothing," the mayor said. "There's a fence. You can't go there."

[PuyoPiyo]

An upscale retail development will be the centerpiece of The Village at Evergreen, planned by new developers who recently purchased the Evergreen Airport site, shown here looking east. (FILES/The Columbian)

New developer takes over project

Thursday, January 10, 2008
BY CAMI JONER, Columbian staff writer
The names have changed but the plans remain much the same for the site of the former Evergreen Airport in east Vancouver.

Its rusty metal outbuildings will soon be demolished to make way for The Village at Evergreen, a 59-acre "lifestyle" development of stores, offices, a hotel and homes to be built on the north side of Mill Plain Boulevard between 136th Avenue and Hearthwood Boulevard. The mixed-use project is now in the hands of ELD Development LLC, a Portland group that includes Thomas Kemper, Ronald Skov and Bruce Wood, a former manager for Opus Northwest.

The $215 million development was originally called The Landing at Evergreen. It was proposed by Seattle-based Opus, which announced in July it was backing out of those plans after losing anchor retailer Whole Foods. Slumping home sales also stalled the project when residential developer Matrix Development pulled out of its agreement to purchase the tract's western parcel for 221 townhouses.

ELD bought the site in December for $14.5 million from the heirs of Wally Olsen.
"We hope to break ground by late summer," said Kemper, a developer who has Clark County experience. Kemper partnered with the Vancouver Housing Authority in 2003 to develop Esther Short Commons, a four-story complex with street-level retail space and 160 apartments in downtown Vancouver.

Kemper said his group will focus on the project's $130 million retail development with financial backing from BlackRock Retail Opportunity Fund LLC, a New York-based investment service company, which he said has a strong financial portfolio. That should attract retailers to the project, Kemper said. "Because it has the backing of a major financial company."

He would not reveal tenants lined up for the project, which had originally included a major bookseller, a major health club and Whole Foods.

"We're planning on three anchors," Kemper said, calling the development a "power lifestyle center" similar to Bridgeport Village in Tigard, Ore. The upscale complex is filled with popular boutiques such as Mario's, Chico's and Crate & Barrel.

Kemper said his group will sell off the eastern portion of the tract set aside for a hotel and offices, as well as the housing component, which likely won't develop until the housing market recovers.

Attracting interest

The hotel and office portion of the site has already attracted the attention of major hoteliers, said Roger Qualman, executive vice president of NAI Norris Beggs & Simpson in Vancouver.

"Several hospitality groups are interested," Qualman said. He predicted the three- and four-story office buildings planned for the site would also be attractive, with views of Mount Hood.

ELD will be allowed to pick up on the same project master plan that Opus Northwest and the city spent more than two years revising, said Gerald Baugh, Vancouver's business development director.

"If they do something else, it could mean they'll have to go back through and revisit the planning commission," Baugh said.

In the meantime, the city is gearing up to start work this summer on a $4 million project to widen 136th Avenue at Mill Plain to accommodate the area's additional traffic.

Update
Previously: In July, Seattle-based Opus Northwest canceled plans for a $215 million mixed-use project at the former Evergreen Airport site.

What's new: Portland-based ELD Development LLC has purchased the 59-acre site and plans to develop The Village at Evergreen, a similar retail, housing, office and hotel project.

What's next: Demolition work on the airport's buildings will begin early this year, with work expected to start on the retail portion of the project this summer.

Cami Joner covers real estate for The Columbian. She can be reached at 360-759-8018 or via e-mail at cami.joner@columbian.com.

[PuyoPiyo]

I wonder if this is Couve's other "10,000K Resident Waterfront Envision" at downtown?

[PuyoPiyo]

Slocum House, at 605 Esther St. in Vancouver, houses Clark County's oldest theater troupe. (The Columbian files)

Curtain falls on theater plans
Thursday, January 10, 2008
BY BRETT OPPEGAARD for The Columbian

While advocates for a long-awaited Southwest Washington Center for the Arts push to build on a vacant block at one corner of Esther Short Park, on the opposite corner, a much smaller cultural proposal has gone fallow.


The Slocum House Theatre Company and the city of Vancouver, which owns the historic home at Esther and Sixth streets, announced ambitious plans to renovate and expand the artistic venue three years ago. But Mike Heywood, the troupe's president, acknowledged that the all-volunteer group has been able to raise only a couple thousand dollars for the project since.

The company intended to start a Friends of Slocum House fundraising arm to get the project going, but that, too, has sputtered. Heywood said only two or three people have shown interest in participating.

Heywood called the goal of raising $2 million "a daunting barrier."

"People want to go to the theater and be in the theater and work backstage," he said. "But it's harder to get them to consider themselves as the foundation for fundraisers with a project that doesn't have a driving force behind it."

Slocum's stalled plans call for tearing down the dilapidated hodgepodge of construction
on of the historic home, building a bigger theater (increasing from 61 seats to 100), expanding the lobby, adding meeting rooms and improving public access.

Heywood said the expansion idea "was kind of a flash of enthusiasm in the city government. And people move on, and budgets of the departments that hatched the concept were cut, so there's not any real momentum."
Unless the troupe can mobilize and generate the millions needed to make this happen, he said, "those plans are going to sit on the shelf."

Heywood said no one on the company's current board of directors, including him, is pushing the idea anymore.

He blamed neither the artscenter effort nor the Hilton Vancouver Washington, which offers meeting space, for sapping Slocum's effort.
"When you look at it as a realistic proposition, there's just not the demand for it," Heywood said. "I'm really not interested in building another community theater. What I'm interested in is keeping this one lively and active. We're doing well with what we have."

The company will open its 2008 season Friday with a production of Robert Fulghum's "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," a five-person piece of storytelling theater with minimal props.

The oldest troupe in Clark County, founded in 1966, nearly went broke a few years ago. It has rebounded, in part by selecting such economically sensible shows, Heywood said. The company has put together a string of several financially solid seasons.

In 2002, the group's savings had dwindled to $2,000. The company responded by increasing the number of shows per year, extending runs and keeping tight controls of budgets to quickly build that nest egg back up to about $20,000.

In 2006, the latest annual figures available, the group raised about $17,000 more than it spent. It also set a new attendance record for a production run, with "The Odd Couple" filling 95 percent of its seats.

For the past three years, the group has been averaging about 75 percent occupancy, up from the 60 percent valley of 2003, said Rebecca Kramer, the troupe's vice president.

Heywood said Slocum has "turned it around."
"We're doing more shows. We're better financial managers," he said. "We're out of that sinkhole for another decade at least."

If you go

What: The Slocum House Theatre Company presents "All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten," based on the book by Robert Fulghum.

When: Opens Friday and continues through Feb. 3, with performances at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays plus Jan. 24 and Jan. 31, and 2 p.m. Sundays.

Where: Slocum House, 605 Esther St., Vancouver, in Esther Short Park.

Cost: $10, $8 for ages 60 and older and 11 and younger.

Information: 360-696-2427.
On the Web: www. slocumhouse.com

[360Rich]

Old thread is here http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=135309

Dougall, can they be merged together, please?

[Dougall5505]

yep!

[360Rich]

You're a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks!

[PuyoPiyo]

Carr Vancouver to temporarily use Block 10 for car sales
Friday, January 11, 2008
Contact: Eric Holmes, Economic Development Director, 360-735-8872
To support the Riverwest development proposed for C Street in downtown Vancouver, Carr Vancouver, the site’s current tenant, will temporarily use the vacant lot at 8th & Columbia, known as Block 10, for car sales. The move will take place in mid-January until the end of May 2008 when their new location at Fourth Plain Boulevard and 63rd Avenue is completed.
The State of Washington selected the Riverwest project to demonstrate their new tax increment financing program. One element related to tax increment financing makes it advantageous to move sales taxes off the redevelopment site in 2008, so the City of Vancouver, the developer, Killian-Pacific, and Carr are cooperating to maximize the funding available from this program.
“While it may surprise people at first, we anticipate little to no inconvenience for nearby residents or businesses,” said Eric Holmes, City of Vancouver Economic Development Director.
The proposed Riverwest development includes a 90,000 square foot new main library branch, a 100,000 square foot office building, 200 condominiums/townhouses, a 65-room boutique hotel, 17,500 square feet of retail, a public plaza and a 350-400 space underground public parking garage. The project is set to be completed by 2010 at an estimated cost of $160 million.

http://www.cityofvancouver.us

[PuyoPiyo]

Columbian begins new era

Monday, January 14, 2008
Columbian Staff Reports
The Columbian newspaper and columbian.com began operations from a new building over the weekend, with Monday as the first day of business in the building for the full staff. Watch the 6:30 p.m. Channel 8 news tonight when a piece on The Columbian's new building is expected to air.



The Columbian's new building opened on Monday. (JANET L. MATHEWS/The Columbian)

http://www.columbian.com/news/localN...ns-new-era.cfm

[CouvScott]

Thanks for all of the Vancouver buildings in the diagram section. They look great!

[PuyoPiyo]

Originally Posted by CouvScott

Thanks for all of the Vancouver buildings in the diagram section. They look great!

No problemo! I am just trying to do my best

[PuyoPiyo]

Since there's many news about the Cowlitz Indian Tribe Casino/Resorts, so I thought I should check it out and found out that they could have building that are probably over 10 floors. Also the news about that proposed project was kinda interesting due to its much of arguements. So I thought why not give it a thread, this do deserve a thread.

s a preliminary step in the process, the Cowlitz Tribe has asked the BIA to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement that will address project impacts. The study will explore what we feel could be the maximum possible build-out of the property, although we may build something smaller. The project may be phased over several years and could include:

• A casino of up to 134,150 square feet
• Restaurant and retail stores totaling up to 260,225 square feet
• Convention and entertainment facilities of up to 147,500 square feet
• A 250-room hotel
• Tribal government offices, a tribal cultural center, and approximately 16 Tribal elder housing units.
• Parking structures for about 7,250 vehicles and an RV park for 200 recreational vehicles.
• When fully developed, the entire facility will create thousands of jobs.
• Once built, the resort will draw thousands of people over the course of a 24-hour day.

http://www.cowlitzcasino.com/project_details.htm

Their lastest news..

Indian gambling law stacks deck against communities, Baird says
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
BY JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer

Congressman Brian Baird sees need for significant reform of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the 1988 federal law that has spawned an explosion in Indian casinos.

"I think there's room for a lot of improvement, frankly," the ­Vancouver Democrat told The Columbian's editorial board Monday. "The deck is so stacked right now, in terms of process, against the ­local community."

Baird, however, continues to remain neutral on the big casino proposal inside his own congressional district: the Cowlitz Tribe's plan to build a $510 million ­gambling, shopping and entertainment complex on 152 acres west of La Center.

Instead of taking a yes-no position, Baird has pushed for an open federal process, even though he sees deficiencies in that process.

"It's too complicated; it's not transparent," he said. "I think it's biased in terms of the agencies making the decisions in a quasi-advocacy role.
"I don't have an easy solution," he added, "but those are the general issues I would look at."

Tribal casinos brought in $25.1 billion in 2006, and their revenue growth is outpacing Las Vegas. In just five years, revenues from Indian gambling have almost doubled from $12.8 billion in 2001.

That has occurred during a time when, according to Baird, the Bush administration has been reluctant to approve new tribal gambling.

"I have no idea how that would change under a new administration because we have no idea if that would be a D or an R (Democrat or Republican)," he said.

Although Baird refuses to take a position opposing the Cowlitz casino, he made several comments that should be welcomed by opponents:

The footprint of the project, approximately 877,000 square feet, is huge, bigger than Westfield Vancouver mall.

Gambling is addictive and not a desirable way to raise money or to boost the economy.

The local economy would be better served to have the casino site used for industrial purposes.

The casino could have a profound negative effect on north Clark County.

Baird, in an interview, said he doesn't serve on any committees with jurisdiction over Indian gambling and hasn't seen a groundswell for reform.

"For most members, it's not a pressing local issue," he said.

ON THE WEB: Cowlitz casino information columbian.com/news/casino

[PuyoPiyo]

Downtown and City Center Redevelopment Authority meetings rescheduled
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Contact: Jill Bingham, City of Vancouver Economic Development Services, (360) 696-8048

The Downtown Redevelopment Authority and City Center Redevelopment Authority meetings previously scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 17 have been rescheduled for Thursday, Jan. 24. The DRA meetings are typically held the third Thursday of the month at 11:30 a.m. in City Hall Council Chambers, 210 E. 13th St. The CCRA meetings are typically held at noon, immediately after the DRA meetings.

For more information, contact the City of Vancouver Economic Development Services at (360) 696-8048.

What does Downtown and City Center Redevelopment Authority do?

[pdxf]

The problem I see with Beaverton, is that I can't figure out why anyone would want to live there. There isn't much to do because for there to be something to do, there needs to be density (I guess a catch-22). If I want to live in a dense environment, I want to live in downtown Portland where the advantages of living densely are already in place. There needs to be a draw that downtown Portland doesn't have. I could see incredible, dense communities at Lake Oswego, Vancouver, Milwaukie, and Jantzen beach (mainly because of their waterside locations). I could even see a high density neighborhood out near Troutdale, close to the mountains, gorge and river. Beaverton doesn't really seem to have anything that would make me choose it over downtown Portland. With the Round in Beaverton, it seems as though I am pyaing a downtown bill, without the downtown.

[MarkDaMan]

They have the best farmers market in the valley...in fact, I absolutely love their market so much more than Portland, and there is no excuse why Portland's isn't bigger like the Beavertowns...

but other than that...yeah, I agree!

[CouvScott]

Thursday, January 17, 2008
BY MICHAEL ANDERSEN, Columbian staff writer

As architects begin to sketch designs for a new $37 million main library in downtown Vancouver, the library district's leaders are raising their sights.

They're now looking to make the building taller and skinnier than previously thought - four floors plus a mezzanine - and to raise an extra $3 million for a "cutting-edge" early learning center that the county's top librarian says would resemble a small children's museum.

"Libraries are no longer book warehouses," Fort Vancouver Regional Library Executive Director Bruce Ziegman said Wednesday. "The public expects far more from us than that."

Ziegman said the 90,000-square-foot library will cost about the same whether it's three or four stories high.

It's expected to open in 2011 on the southeast corner of East Evergreen Boulevard and C Street, part of the four-block Riverwest project by Killian Pacific of Vancouver.

With $3 million from private donations, the new early learning center for children younger than 5 could be "something very special, perhaps unique in this country," Ziegman told county commissioners Wednesday.

It would broaden the library's appeal, he added.

"We want people to want to come back, not because they want to check out a book but because it's a fun, engaging experience for them and their kids," he said.

The 15,000 square-foot center would have books. But it would offer more - hands-on exhibits and teachers, maybe.

"We're considering one of the areas to be called a 'discovery area,'" Ziegman said. "One month the theme might be the farm. And there would be different (toy) animals for them to play with. ? There would be books and storytimes and other things relating to that theme."

Clark College, Washington State University Vancouver and local public schools might offer programs at the center, Ziegman said.

Next week, he said, a committee starts brainstorming how to raise the $3 million.

If you want to help, contact the library foundation at 360-906-2323 or visit its Web site at www.fvrlf.org .

"It's always more economical to build out the space all at once than to add on later," Ziegman said. "That's not to say it couldn't be done, but it's always better to have your financing up front."

Killian Pacific LLC

Update

Previously:

In 2006, $32 million from a bond issue and a $5 million anonymous donation provided money for a new main library in downtown Vancouver.

What's new:

The library district hopes to include four stories, a mezzanine and a "world-class" early learning center for kids younger than 5.

What's next:

Construction is expected to begin next year, with the library opening in 2011.

[PuyoPiyo]

Clark College at Columbia Tech Center



Vancouver Clinic 87th St.

Year's Top Projects

Sunday, January 20, 2008

1. The Village at Evergreen

Location: Former Evergreen Airport site on Mill Plain Boulevard east of 136th Ave.

Developer: ELD Development LLC, Portland.

Scope: Mixed-use development of retail, dining, hotel, office space and housing on 59 acres.

Cost: $215 million.

Timeline: Late-summer groundbreaking on $130 million retail complex.

2. Battle Ground Center

Location: 108-acres southeast of Battle Ground city center.

Developer: The Gold Medal Group, Vancouver.

Residential developers: New Tradition Homes, Vancouver; The Gold Medal Group, Vancouver.

Scope: Mixed-use project to include a $7 million public library; 18 retail buildings; a 40-unit live-work townhouse complex; a 375,000-square-foot medical-office corporate center; and Sixth Street Station, a 169-unit project with single-family and duplex housing.

Cost: $200 million.

Timeline: Two retail buildings and some housing completed, with six retail buildings to open next month, followed by a groundbreaking on the library and townhouses.

3. Riverwest

Location: Four downtown Vancouver city blocks on the west side of Interstate 5 at Evergreen Boulevard.

Developer: Killian Pacific, Vancouver.

Scope: Mixed-use project with a public library, office, retail and parking, a 65-room hotel and 200 condo units.

Cost: $160 million.

Timeline: Midyear groundbreaking with completion in late 2010.

4. Eastgate Plaza

Location: 47-acres on the south side of Fourth Plain Boulevard between Northeast 140th and 147th avenues in Orchards.

Developer: Alexandria Investment Co., Bellevue.

Scope: 452,000 square feet of retail, service and restaurant space, including a 209,000-square-foot Wal-Mart.

Cost: $80 million.

Timeline: Breaking ground early this year.

5. 400 Mill Plain Center

Location: West of Interstate 5 on two blocks between Mill Plain Boulevard and West 15th Street

Commercial developer: The Al Angelo Co., Vancouver.

Scope: A campus of two multistory office buildings with ground-floor retail and parking garage.

Cost: $57 million, including $17 million for five-story building and $40 million for six-story project.

Timeline: First building construction to start this year with second building planned for 2010.

6. Hazel Dell Square/Hazel Dell Crossing

Location: A four-block site west of Interstate 5 at Northeast 78th Street and Hazel Dell Avenue; and a 9-acre site on the northwest corner of the intersection’s northwest corner.

Developer: Gramor Development, Tualatin, Ore.; C.E. John Co., Vancouver.
Scope: A redevelopment project to replace the 78th Street Marketplace with an LA Fitness, a free-standing restaurant and several multitenant retail buildings.

Cost: $42 million

Timeline: Work on Hazel Dell Square is nearly completed, with work to begin this spring on Hazel Dell Crossing on the north side of Northeast 78th Street.

7. Grand Central

Location: A 14.5-acre site at Grand and Columbia House boulevards, off state Highway 14.

Developer: Killian Pacific, Vancouver.

Scope: A community shopping center, anchored by a 139,000-square-foot Fred Meyer.

Cost: $40 million.

Timeline: Opening this year.

8. Clark College at Columbia Tech Center

Location: A 9.5-acre site at 18700 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd.

Developer: Clark College, Vancouver.

Scope: A four-story building to serve as an east Vancouver satellite campus for general education, professional and technical training, work force development and basic and adult education courses.

Cost: $30 million.

Timeline: Opening for 2009 fall quarter.

9. The Vancouver Clinic main campus

Location: 700 N.E. 87th Ave.

Developer: The Vancouver Clinic.

Scope: The 138,000-square-foot building to replace the existing facility near Southwest Washington Medical Center.

Cost: $28 million.

Timeline: Opening late this year.

10. Washington State University Vancouver Undergraduate
Classroom Building

Location: 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave., Vancouver.

Developer: Washington State University.

Scope: The 60,000-square-foot building is expected to open in 2009 and will house classes for freshman and sophomores.

Cost: $28 million.

Timeline: Opening for 2009 fall semester.

Other noteworthy 2008 projects:

• The Home Depot: A $20 million home improvement store planned for the south side of Northeast 219th
  Street at 102nd Avenue in Battle Ground.
• The Luxe: A $17 million mixed-use office, retail and residential tower planned at 412 E. 13th St. in downtown Vancouver.
• Lowe’s at Lacamas: A
  $14 million project with standalone Lowe’s and J.C. Penney stores set to break ground this summer at Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard and Southeast 192nd Avenue.
• Washington State School for the Blind physical education building: This $9 million project
  will replace an outdated school facility with a new gymnasium and swimming pool.

[360Rich]

Boise Cascade project draws a step closer

The Port of Vancouver, Boise Cascade Corp. and BNSF Railway are expected to finalize a three-way land swap by Tuesday that will remove a rail spur from Boise's vacated waterfront site and clear the way for redevelopment of the 29-acre parcel.

Boise has a deal to sell the land just west of the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay to a group of local investors led by Gramor Development of Tualatin, Ore. The sale was expected to close by December but can't take place until the land switch is completed. A closing date for the total Boise sale is still uncertain.

Gramor envisions transforming the Boise land into an urban neighborhood of condominiums, waterfront retail and restaurants, office space and possibly a new hotel.

http://columbian.com/business/busine...ly-roundup.cfm

[PuyoPiyo]

Camas-Washougal port seeks direction

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
BY CAMI JONER, Columbian staff writer

Efforts to develop more eastern industrial property at the Port of Camas-Washougal were off to a fresh start Monday.

In response to criticism that they were too secretive about plans for the recently shelved RiverWalk project, port officials had an open house to launch a two-month-long public discussion on whether to change the zoning of the port's undeveloped East Industrial Park from heavy- to light-industrial use.

Monday's meeting drew about 25 people to the first of several public discussions on the best use for the 127-acre site on the Columbia River, said David Ripp, the port's executive director. The port has received at least two proposals to develop the site for office and light-industrial use, although it has long been earmarked as an extension of the port's existing industrial park.
"If we're going in a new direction, we have to get the public involved, especially after the outcry over RiverWalk," Ripp said.

The eastern industrial tract borders the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and lies east of the existing industrial site, which is on the south side of state Highway 14 and runs east from South 28th Street to just beyond South 37th.

The existing park is home to businesses such as plastic pipe manufacturer ADS Manufacturing and Saint-Gobain Crystals & Detectors, a silicon industry manufacturer. The park employs more than 1,100 people and generates an annual payroll of more than $30 million, said Scot Walstra, the port's planning and development director.

The port's three-member commission expects to reach a decision about the undeveloped site's zoning in April.

RiverWalk update

Private developers of the $350 million mixed-use RiverWalk project sent an arbitration request to the port earlier this month, stating they want to move forward with the proposed project.

The development group wants to lease and develop at least 40 acres of port-owned property. Port officials want to downsize the project to about 14 acres.

Update

? Previously: The Port of Camas-Washougal has owned its undeveloped East Industrial Park since the mid-1980s.

? What's new: At least two development proposals call for changing the zoning on the 127-acre site from heavy- to light-industrial use.

What's next: A workshop discussion at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at port
headquarters, 24 South A St., Washougal.

Cami Joner covers the Port of Camas-Washougal for The Columbian. She can be reached at 360-735-4532 or via e-mail at cami.joner@columbian.com.