Centennial Mills Renovation | x | x | Unknown - Page 10

NJD · #**181** Posted: **Jun 10, 2012, 6:09 PM**

Here we go again...

PDC hopes to identify Centennial Mills developer in July
DJC

A Portland Development Commission committee is now prepared to choose between two proposals to redevelop the property: one from the team of Venerable Properties and Harsch Investment Properties, and one from Seattle-based Daniels Real Estate.

more...

Shilo Rune 96 · #**182** Posted: **Jun 10, 2012, 11:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJD

Here we go again...

Seriously. Although without the pedestrian bridge via the Fields Park, I don't see this being as convenient as most Pearl residents are used to. It's a bit awkward getting over there on foot.

2oh1 · #**183** Posted: **Jun 12, 2012, 1:30 PM**

And for anyone who isn't a Pearl resident, I don't see this being a draw at all.

tworivers · #**184** Posted: **Jun 13, 2012, 3:52 AM**

Anyone have an idea of what the 2 current plans are? I remember Venerable's proposal years ago as being mixed-use focused, though I wonder about the potential for any sort of architectural dynamism if Art Demuro (wonderful preservationist/not-so-wonderful faux-historic fetishist) is involved.

tworivers · #**185** Posted: **Jul 12, 2012, 6:36 PM**

Lawsuit claims Portland Development Commission killed Centennial Mills proposal to benefit agency's board chairman
Published: Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 8:00 PM Updated: Thursday, July 12, 2012, 6:06 AM
Brad Schmidt, The Oregonian

Officials at Portland's urban renewal agency are considering two proposals for their off-track Centennial Mills project while fighting a related lawsuit accusing them of killing the original plan to benefit the agency's board chairman.

A Multnomah County judge is expected to decide this month whether to dismiss the $1.7 million lawsuit, filed against the Portland Development Commission by a spurned California developer.

Shaheen Sadeghi has accused the PDC of breach of contract and claims that PDC officials sandbagged his proposal -- to redevelop the mill site into a food hub -- to eliminate competition with a similar, nearby project, the James Beard Public Market.

Sadeghi claims agency officials reversed course in 2011, after three years of negotiations, to benefit PDC board Chairman Scott Andrews. Andrews is president of Melvin Mark Properties, and his father-in-law is the chairman of the Melvin Mark Cos.

A Melvin Mark division separate from Andrews' is behind a deal for the public market and an office tower that Multnomah County approved last month for the west side of the Morrison Bridge.

Sadeghi alleges that PDC officials killed his proposal "to eliminate competition with the Morrison Bridgehead project in which Chairman Andrews has a significant and personal economic interest," according to his March 26 amended lawsuit.

Andrews declined to comment. An attorney representing the PDC said in court documents that the accusation is "irresponsible and completely without merit."

The lawsuit complicates efforts to move forward on a new concept for Centennial Mills, a site along the Willamette River in Northwest Portland. City leaders want the property to provide office space for industries such as software or sports apparel companies, not the food concept they embraced back in 2008.

But under any scenario, renovations will take years and require taxpayer money beyond the $13 million already spent since the city acquired the site in 2000. And with a new mayor taking office in January, the PDC could get new marching orders.

Negotiations for Centennial Mills fell apart in spring 2011, when city officials told Sadeghi that he had about three months to revise his proposal to include vast amounts of office space. Both sides had been operating under a nonbinding memorandum of understanding, not a formal development agreement.

Sadeghi first sued in November but a judge dismissed his breach-of-contract claims. Sadeghi told The Oregonian this week that he plans to keep fighting, even if his amended lawsuit is kicked out.

"If you change your mind, you pay for it," Sadeghi said of the PDC. "You don't burn the developer who came in and invested in the community's dream."

Sadeghi said his initial lawsuit didn't make accusations against Andrews because he simply hoped to recoup expenses without "getting into a huge can of worms."

But Sadeghi said he decided to exercise "all of the legal rights that are available to us" after the PDC hired Portland's Ball Janik law firm to fight the lawsuit.

Sadeghi called Melvin Mark "the chairman's company," referring to Andrews, and asked rhetorically, "You're telling me you wouldn't be concerned?"

In court documents, the PDC's attorney wrote that Sadeghi has "attempted to fabricate some supposed connection" between the projects "based simply on the coincidental fact that certain events had overlapping dates."

City officials hope to move forward on Centennial Mills despite the lawsuit.

An evaluation committee is privately weighing two proposals, one from the Portland team of Venerable Development and Harsch Investment Properties, the other from Seattle-based Daniels Real Estate. Agency spokesman Shawn Uhlman declined to say whether a recommendation has been made.

Daniels Real Estate has pitched a scaled-back version of its 2008 proposal, which included about 400,000 square feet of housing and 169,000 square feet featuring retail, office and a hotel.

Venerable and Harsch recommended 80,000 square feet for employment, 71,000 square feet for retail and 42,000 square feet for apartments. Venerable, which also competed in 2008, also called for 36,000 square feet of a use that PDC redacted from records obtained by The Oregonian through the state's public records law.

"Bluntly stated," Venerable Development wrote in a presentation to the PDC, "this is a high risk project that as currently planned, may be far from financial viability and will require substantial redesign and value engineering in order to viable."

-- Brad Schmidt

Eco_jt · #**186** Posted: **Jul 12, 2012, 10:10 PM**

I do feel bad for Sadeghi because everything seemed that the foodie hub was on track...or so we were all told. The neighborhood association was very much in support of the food hub project and the bridge.

The way this whole story un-folded from all the articles that came out did sort of seem like PDC was snuffing Sadeghi for the James Beard Market...but who really knows?

I am glad for the James Beard Market, but what PDC did to the Centennial project was uncalled for in my opinion. A lot of people were looking forward to that project including me =/

Oh well.

bvpcvm · #**187** Posted: **Jul 13, 2012, 12:22 AM**

I think the James Beard Market is in a far better location; Centennial Mills is just too far out (for the next ten years or so). But it really does feel like PDC just made up a reason to get rid of Sadeghi.

2oh1 · #**188** Posted: **Jul 13, 2012, 1:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

I think the James Beard Market is in a far better location; Centennial Mills is just too far out (for the next ten years or so).

THIS. THIS. THIS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

But it really does feel like PDC just made up a reason to get rid of Sadeghi.

Aaaaaaaaaaand, sadly, this too.

I've never been in favor of the Centennial Mills project. The location, the railroad tracks, the parking... the whole thing... to me, it looks like a black hole for money and resources. I could easily picture a grand project there being a complete flop. And if the way PDC has managed it thus far is any indicator... yikes.

MarkDaMan · #**189** Posted: **Sep 20, 2012, 12:30 AM**

Developer Art DeMuro’s death delays Centennial Mills redevelopment plans
Premium content from Portland Business Journal by Wendy Culverwell , Business Journal staff writer
Date: Friday, September 14, 2012, 3:00am PDT

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...th-delays.html

Quote:

The death of a key partner in the long-awaited redevelopment of Centennial Mills is clouding the project’s future.

Art DeMuro, president of Venerable Group Inc., died Saturday.

Craig Kelly, vice president of Venerable, said it was notified by the Portland Development Commission that its joint venture with Harsch Investment Properties would advance, though no timeline is in place.

PDC officials this week confirmed the city’s economic development arm intended to negotiate a development agreement with the Venerable-Harsch team.

A Harsch spokeswoman said Harsch President Jordan Schnitzer called an emergency meeting Saturday after learning of DeMuro’s death to discuss Centennial Mills. The project is on hold, she said.

Patrick Quinton, the PDC’s executive director, was expected to reaffirm its commitment to pressing ahead with Centennial Mills when the commission met this week, but no other reports were expected.

Venerable and Harsch submitted the apparently winning proposal to PDC after the agency advertised to potential investors more than a year ago. PDC wants to redevelop the 4.75-acre site near the Broadway Bridge. PDC bought the mill for $7.7 million in 2000 and immediately shuttered it, anticipating turning the site into a public space.

Its vision for the property has changed with time.

After initially envisioning a public space, it inked a deal with LAB Holding LLC of Costa Mesa, Calif. to create an entertainment-themed district at Centennial Mills. That agreement expired in 2010 and the city’s goals shifted toward a more commercial vision.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams and PDC officials want the site to include office space catering to traded-sector companies in the software, apparel, clean technology and manufacturing sectors.

The mill opened in 1910 as Crown Mills and served foreign markets for U.S. grain markets.

It was renamed Centennial Mills in 1955 and underwent a major modernization in the 1960s. It operated until PDC acquired and closed it.

The standalone flour mill remains vacant, but the property serves as home to the Portland Police Department’s Mounted Patrol Unit offices, stables and paddock.

A buried pipe carrying Tanner Creek bisects the property.

Fast Fact

The Harsch-Venerable team unites one of Portland’s largest real estate operators, Harsch, with one of its best-known historic preservation firms, Venerable.

Wendy Culverwell covers real estate, retail and hospitality.

tworivers · #**190** Posted: **Oct 5, 2012, 5:46 PM**

Can anyone unlock this DJC story?

Centennial Mills team reconvenes after developer’s passing (access required)
POSTED: Friday, October 5, 2012 at 07:26 AM PT
BY: Lee Fehrenbacher

The evaluation committee tasked with choosing a development team for the Centennial Mills redevelopment reconvened on Thursday to review a revised proposal from Harsch Investment Properties and Venerable Properties.

New Madrid · #**191** Posted: **Oct 5, 2012, 6:13 PM**

I'm no help with that article, but I will say it would be a shame if Venerable's role was diminished/complicated by DeMuro's passing.

Especially considering that his death was not out of the blue (he'd be battling cancer for awhile, no?) I would hope that allowances/plans had been made for this eventuality.

pdxdave · #**192** Posted: **Apr 9, 2013, 6:15 PM**

Apr 9, 2013, 10:46am PDT
Suzanne Stevens
Web editor
Portland Business Journal

Harsch gets PDC assist on Centennial Mills development

The Portland Development Commission has approved a predevelopment loan of $350,000 for Harsch Investment Properties to conduct due diligence and design for redevelopment of Centennial Mills.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...medium=twitter

MarkDaMan · #**193** Posted: **Apr 9, 2013, 6:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Portland Business Journal

According to the PDC project report, Harsch's preliminary plan for the site includes 80,000 square feet for industry and traded-sector employment uses, 71,000 square feet of retail space, 36,000 square feet for the arts, 42,000 square feet for residential and 295 parking spaces.

WTF??? When did all this get decided? 295 parking spaces?

cab · #**194** Posted: **Apr 9, 2013, 7:11 PM**

PDC forget the 90's lets go back to the 70's!

tworivers · #**195** Posted: **Apr 9, 2013, 8:12 PM**

The dream of the 70's is alive.

Also, it seems unlikely that this project will be moving forward. The document says so itself -- premium costs, less-than-premium location, especially for office. I get the feeling that the PDC doesn't really want to even deal with C Mills at this point and would rather just demolish and go with the original "open space" plan.