Vancouver and Clark County

[CouvScott]

http://www.amaa.com/portfolio/?categ...858bd170da2162

[CouvScott]

Wednesday, September 05, 2007
BY CAMI JONER, Columbian staff writer

Developer Elie Kassab says he will break ground this fall on a $17 million six-floor building overlooking Interstate 5, to be gradually sold off as the first office-condo project in the downtown core.

Called The Luxe, the 52,000-square-foot building, planned at 412 E. 13th St., just west of I-5, will include ground floor retail space for a medical office or bank branch and space for eight office-condo units. That's two units per floor on four floors, said Kassab, president of Prestige Development in Vancouver.

He said the building's top floor would become offices for Prestige Development as well as additional space for his personal residence. Kassab expects site work to begin in October to make room for The Luxe, about one block east of the site of the former Vancouver police station, which Kassab also owns. On that site at 300 E. 13th St., Kassab plans to build a six-story building called Prestige Plaza.

"We won't start on that until after The Luxe opens," in early 2009, Kassab said.

He said he expects to sell 75 percent to 80 percent of the office condos in The Luxe before the building is finished, with units priced from $1.75 million to $2.25 million.

Condo sizes will range from 4,500 square feet to 5,000 square feet.

Popular in larger metropolitan areas, office condos provide businesses with an option to invest in real estate, said Kassab, who has studied similar projects in other markets such as Atlanta and Chicago.

"We've done our homework and believe the markets in Vancouver and Portland are ready for this," he said.

Vancouver-based Eric Fuller and Associates, a commercial real estate firm, will market the space. The company has not yet confirmed any buyers. There is some speculation that the Bank of Clark County would occupy space, a rumor denied Tuesday by Kassab and Mike Worthy, the bank's executive officer.

Planned for a sector that is just outside of downtown Vancouver's core redevelopment area, The Luxe and Prestige Plaza top a list of projects that will bring new capital investment to an area south of Mill Plain Boulevard and east of Broadway.

Projects include:

- A proposal to remove the existing Black Angus restaurant on the south side of East 13th and construct a three-story office building with 53 parking stalls.

- A plan to build a campus of two office towers straddling D Street between East 15th Street and East Mill Plain Boulevard.

- And iQ Credit Union's plans to redevelop, as a headquarters, the former Citizens Service Center at 1313 Main St.

The projects are near the important exits into downtown from Interstate 5.

"This is the gateway to the city," said Kassab, who expects his project and others to bring change to a landscape that has seen few modifications since the 1970s.

"It's definitely going to change the whole corner," Kassab said.



Update


Previously: Vancouver developer Elie Kassab announced plans to redevelop the two-story former city police headquarters at 300 E. 13th Street.

What's new: Kassab submitted plans this week for another project, a six-story office-retail building at 412 E. 13th.

What's next: The latest project calls for four stories of office-condominiums in The Luxe, a Class A building with ground-floor retail space. Site work is to begin in October.

[PuyoPiyo]

^^^Thanks!

[PuyoPiyo]

Visions of a New Mall

Saturday, September 15, 2007



Westfield Group, the world's largest retail property holder, unveiled plans Friday for a multimillion dollar expansion and renovation of its Vancouver mall. The company will demolish the existing Mervyn's building and rebuild that space as part of a new lifestyle inspired component on the mall's south side. The added stores would be built to give an urban feel to the 833,000 square-foot center. Other additions could include two restaurants that would serve as an entrance on the mall's west side and a new cinema near the former Mervyn's site. Westfield officials hope to start work in fall 2008.

http://www.thecolumbian.com/

[CouvScott]

Tuesday, September 25, 2007
BY CAMI JONER, Columbian staff writer

A project to replace the old Denny's restaurant with a $57 million office complex was given the green light Monday by the Vancouver City Council.

"We have a developer stepping up to build a very significant project," said Councilman Larry Smith, despite nearby property owners' concerns about closing a one-block section of D Street. The two-block project is being developed by The Al Angelo Co.

"The crews are ready" to demolish the long-vacant Denny's, said Al "Corky" Angelo Jr., after the seven-member council gave a unanimous nod to the project. The new building is seen as a key to redevelopment near the Interstate 5 entrance downtown.

"That's really the focus" of the agreement, said Pat McDonnell, city manager. "The replacement value of (the Denny's) with something of higher value."

In addition to providing a cosmetic benefit, the city stands to gain financially, too, according to a staff report prepared for the council.

The first 56,000-square-foot phase of the project would generate an estimated $800,000 in fiscal benefits to the city, according to the report. At full build-out, the benefit would be more than $2 million. The analysis includes property taxes to be paid by the Angelo Co. and also increased property taxes from nearby development, which would rise in value.

The biggest controversy over the project concerned the vacation of one block of D Street, between Mill Plain Boulevard and 15th Street.

Neighbors had complained the closure of the one-block street, which is necessary to build the campus of buildings envisioned, would cause hardship for southbound motorists. They were later appeased by a promise that the city will reopen C Street to two-way traffic.

Other nearby property owners, who may want to redevelop their properties in the future, were also concerned about access to their land.

The deal approved Monday calls for Vancouver-based Angelo Co. to pay $240,000 to the city in exchange for the street vacation.

The city plans to use the money to reconfigure C Street for two-way traffic, which should accommodate southbound traffic now on D Street, said Thayer Rorabaugh, city transportation manager. An attorney representing nearby property owners disagreed, calling the C Street conversion "inconclusive."

"We're just not there yet," said Steve Horenstein, the Vancouver attorney of "Friends of D Street," a group of property owners with parcels south of Mill Plain and east of C Street.

The group includes Christensen Yacht founder and owner Dave Christensen, owner of the Black Angus restaurant property.

Angelo's 400 Mill Plain Center project will be built in two phases. The first phase, $17 million, will be on the old Denny's site. Work on the five-story office building could start next spring, Angelo said.

The second phase, a $40 million, six-story office project, will begin construction within five years, according to the development agreement. It will occupy a block now home to a FedEx Kinko's and other businesses.

[360Rich]

Here's a bigger picture of the building (from the Wilson Architects site)

[tefen]

Originally Posted by CouvScott

I'm sure you've found that it's actually two planned buildings. The first to be on just the Denny's property. But also, the pointy end of the triangle is owned by WSDOT I believe. It's mostly for decoration, has a nice "Welcome to Vancouver" sign and some flags. I think that's to remain intact.




Sorry, this was meant to be in reply to PuyoPiyo.

[PuyoPiyo]

Originally Posted by tefen

I'm sure you've found that it's actually two planned buildings. The first to be on just the Denny's property. But also, the pointy end of the triangle is owned by WSDOT I believe. It's mostly for decoration, has a nice "Welcome to Vancouver" sign and some flags. I think that's to remain intact.




Sorry, this was meant to be in reply to PuyoPiyo.

Ahh dont' worry about it Everything makes sense, two buildings. That's why the red line seems too large. Yeah I agree with you, the edge of triangle is part of WSDOT for the warm Welcome to Vancouver sign. I am sure it will look alot better with the building behind that sign.

[PuyoPiyo]

Today I went some of trip in downtown Vancouver and captured this, Dennys Resturant look like it was complete wore out!

[PuyoPiyo]

Originally Posted by 360Rich

Tuesday, August 28, 2007
By JONATHAN NELSON, Columbian Staff Writer

IQ Credit Union expects to close Wednesday on its $3.2 million purchase of two buildings owned by the city of Vancouver that will become the company's new corporate headquarters.

The design phase of the new offices should take up to three months and construction would start by the end of this year, according to the company.

The credit union is buying the former Citizens Service Center at 1313 Main St. and the Eberle Building at 110 East 13th St. IQ's business lending, business services and the existing downtown branch will eventually be moved to the new location. The credit union has 40,335 members, eight branches and $374.2 million in assets.

http://www.columbian.com/business/bu...news189816.cfm

During my little trip around downtown Vancouver, I captured this and this must be where IQ is planning its development.



Also The Columbian's new building is close to its own completion.

[PuyoPiyo]

During my little trip around the downtown Vancouver, it appeared that the Boise Cascade area is blank, no more red barn there.

[PuyoPiyo]

Eatery may be replaced

Thursday, October 04, 2007
BY CAMI JONER, Columbian staff writer

A new office building for Clark County Title Co. could soon replace the downtown Black Angus, though it is not clear whether the steakhouse will reopen in another Vancouver location.

The Los Altos, Calif.-based restaurant chain's lease on its East 13th Street site doesn't end for approximately two years, said Dave Christensen, the property's owner. In the meantime, leaders of Clark County Title Co. are proposing to redevelop the three-block site with a three-story office building. The project's preliminary design was reviewed last week by the city's Design Review Committee.

"We have an option to buy the property," said Joe Schreiner, president of Clark County Title Co.

The 30,000-square-foot building would be developed by Pioneer Building Co. LLC, a real estate business operated by Schreiner and his family. The Schreiners are the majority investors in Clark County Title Co. and 13 other title companies in Washington and Oregon, including Vancouver-based Cascade Title Co.

Schreiner said plans to redevelop the Black Angus site "are preliminary, at this point. The application is to see what we're allowed to do."

In March, Randy Panek, Black Angus vice president of development, said his company was searching for a new Clark County location. Phone calls to Panek this week were not returned.

Employees of the downtown Black Angus have said the company will occupy a stand-alone restaurant in the $28 million Hazel Dell Square retail project off Interstate 5 and Northeast 78th Street.

Christensen built the East 13th Street restaurant building in 1974 for a chain launched by Washington rancher Stuart Anderson, who opened the first Black Angus Steakhouse in Seattle in 1964. The chain is now owned by American Restaurant Group Inc., which recently dropped the prefix Stuart Anderson from its brand. The chain operates in 10 states throughout the West and Midwest.

Update

Previously: In March, an official from the Black Angus restaurant chain said the company was looking for a new Vancouver location.

What's new: The city is reviewing a proposal to replace the downtown restaurant with an office project.

What's next: Black Angus has about two years remaining on its contract to lease the downtown site.

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

[360Rich]

Thanks for the pictures PuyoPiyo.

I'm very pleased with the way the Columbian building turned out. I think it's the most handsome building in downtown Vancouver, and props to them for making it green.

[Mike K.]

Please continue these discussions at SSP:Local Portland's "Portland Suburbs in Washington State" sub-forum.

Each project should have its own dedicated thread.

[360Rich]

Office building planned for last open real estate on Vancouver waterfront

Posted by The Oregonian October 04, 2007 18:21PM

The Kaiser Shipyards and surrounding industry once defined Vancouver's waterfront.

That changed in the mid-1990s. Developers built townhouses, condominiums, an office building, a hotel and restaurants. The area between the former World War II-era shipyards and the Interstate Bridge hasn't been the same since.

Today, one of the developers, C.E. John Co. Inc., announced plans for the last piece of open riverfront land: a 22,540-square-foot office condominium called Two-Thousand-One. The two-story building will nestle between Beaches Restaurant on the west and the Meriwether Condominiums on the east.

C.E. John built and owns the building containing Beaches, the McMenamins next-door and a nearby office building. The company also built and sold the Meriwether Condominiums.

The opening of Beaches and McMenamins altered Vancouver's attitude toward the Columbia River, said Gerald Baugh, the city's manager of business development.

Along with the city's construction of an oversized sidewalk next to the river, called the Renaissance Trail, "that really set the tone for doing something positive on the waterfront," Baugh said.

The office building will include four spaces, each with about 5,000 square feet, that will be sold for "in excess of" $550 a square foot, or more than $2.75 million each, said David Arredondo, vice president of development for C.E. John. He said one of the units has been presold.

Arredondo said the entire project is valued at $5 million, excluding land value.

Construction is expected to start later this month and take about a year.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingn...ed_for_va.html

[mcbaby]

wow. i used to go to that denny's. i wont miss it at all.

[PuyoPiyo]

Originally Posted by mcbaby

wow. i used to go to that denny's. i wont miss it at all.

Yeah I agree, I can't believe they would shut down that resturant. Oh well time goes by..

[PuyoPiyo]

Isn't that yellow grass area is it?

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sa...num=1&ct=image

[PacificNW]

Shouldn't this thread be in "Portland Suburbs in Washington"?

[PuyoPiyo]

I drew this map to know the proposed sites are located at, but I am not sure if I was correct on this, here it is.



Please correct me or even this map if you find any mistakes. Also if you know any more of the project proposed, let me know so that I can add to this map.