Posted Mar 28, 2019, 6:30 PM
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Portland
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https://forum.skyscraperpage.com/new...reply&t=123828
Quote:
A Developer Promised Union Jobs in Exchange to Build Tall. The Construction Happened. The Jobs Didn’t.
Portland City Hall cut a lousy deal: “The rule and agreement were not written well.”
By Rachel Monahan | Published March 27 at 5:31 AM Updated March 27 at 5:31 AM
In 2014, real estate developer Vanessa Sturgeon inked a deal with City Hall to build a 30-story downtown residential and office tower, the fourth tallest on the Portland skyline.
That tower, Park Avenue West, was a win for city officials, who had watched the property sit fallow for so many years it had earned a nickname: "the Moyer Hole," after owner Tom Moyer, Sturgeon's grandfather. It was a win for Sturgeon, whose building would be allowed to soar 30 stories—because the city agreed to let her build higher than zoning codes would usually allow.
And it was supposed to be a win for organized labor: In exchange for permission to build higher, Sturgeon agreed to contract with a company that hired union cleaners and security guards in the commercial parts of the building. (She also paid the city $100,000.)
But Sturgeon hired no contractors for cleaning.
Instead, she found a way to wiggle out of the deal: Commercial tenants at Park Avenue West would hire their own non-union cleaners and the agreement did not explicitly prohibit that.
"The intent was to require cleaning staff to be represented [by a union]," says Marshall Runkel, chief of staff to City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly. "Everyone agrees that is not happening." Runkel concedes City Hall cut a lousy deal: "The rule and agreement were not written well."
Service Employees International Union Local 49 says the deal is clear enough—the city just isn't enforcing it. Sturgeon, through an assistant, declined to comment. Her attorney, in letters to the city, contends she is abiding by the agreement.
"I thought we agreed to fair treatment—and fair wages—for janitors providing services to Park Avenue West, and I'm disappointed we haven't had a better partner" in Sturgeon's company, TMT Development, says City Commissioner Nick Fish. "I certainly didn't expect we'd spin our wheels for this long arguing over the letter and spirit of the deal."
The case of Park Avenue West is important because it demonstrates how the city gives away millions of dollars worth of value to developers—without ensuring they keep their end of the deal.
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