Lincoln center of builders' dreams
High school - An unofficial plan would build a new school farther north, opening up its present site
Friday, November 09, 2007
RYAN FRANK
The Oregonian Staff
A small group of Portland politicians and business leaders have started private talks about building a new campus in Northwest Portland for Lincoln High School.
John von Schlegell, a Portland investor and Lincoln parent, and developers Homer Williams and Mark Edlen suggested moving the school to mostly vacant land owned by freight company Con-way.
The proposal is still in the back-of-the-envelope stage. Portland Public School leaders aren't part of the discussion so far, and no one knows what it would cost or who would pay.
But city Commissioner Erik Sten, who met with the group Thursday, says the idea could work if Lincoln's move is part of the school district's broader plan to renovate all of the city's aging schools.
"It is potentially a very good building block to that strategy," Sten said. "If it's a stand-alone play, it doesn't work."
If it does work, Lincoln's move would be a blockbuster public-private deal. It would provide a massive overhaul for two swaths of downtown.
The behind-the-scenes talks provide a window into how Portland's major real estate deals get started. It's not clear who would buy the Lincoln site or build on the Con-way land. Yet Edlen and Williams, two of the city's most prolific and politically connected developers, are already involved.
Williams, backed by investors, was the man behind the Pearl District, the South Waterfront and the tram. Edlen's firm, Gerding Edlen Development, renovated the former Blitz-Weinhard brewery on West Burnside Street.
Lincoln's current campus is prime for redevelopment. The 11-acre property is between the West Hills and Interstate 405 and could support new office or housing towers with sweeping views.
Farther north, a new Lincoln would have to fit into Con-way's existing redevelopment plans for its vast parking lots that border the tony Northwest 23rd Avenue shopping area.
Craig Boretz, Con-way's vice president of corporate development, says the company has made no commitments but is willing to listen to the group's proposals.
Drug vials and trailers
Von Schlegell's idea started with a drug vial.
This fall, von Schlegell and his wife helped out on parent clean-up day on Lincoln High's campus. He was on his hands and knees cleaning garbage out of the bushes when he came across needles and vials within earshot of Interstate 405's traffic. He looked up to see trailers serving as classrooms.
"I hate those trailers," he recalls his wife saying.
Lincoln is the city's most affluent school. But it's overcrowded and, like all the city's schools, outdated. The average age for Portland Public Schools is 60 years. The national average is 45, says Cathy Mincberg, the school's chief operating officer. Lincoln opened at its present location in 1952.
Von Schlegell, who's on the state Board of Higher Education, started thinking of places in Northwest where Lincoln could build a green, high-tech school. He isn't the first to talk about it. But when he picked up the phone, the idea took off.
"I called the two smartest real estate guys I know in town," said von Schlegell, managing director at Endeavour Capital.
He outlined the idea to Williams and Edlen. They immediately thought of Con-way's property. "It's the obvious place you would go," Williams said. Con-way's 20 acres is one of the largest undeveloped properties in the central city and still within a short drive of the West Hills neighborhoods that produce Lincoln's student body.
Plus, Williams thought the city might be willing to provide urban-renewal money to make the deal work. Portland has two urban renewal districts set to expire, which could free urban renewal money for the Con-way site's redevelopment.
This wouldn't be Williams first urban renewal deal. He helped convince city leaders to come up with more than $130 million in taxpayer money for the streetcar, parks, and roads. Those improvements helped make the Pearl and South Waterfront districts happen.
After he met with von Schlegell, Williams ran into Con-way's Boretz at a meeting of city business leaders. He grabbed a piece of scratch paper and sketched his plan. "What do you think of this idea?" Boretz says Williams asked.
Con-way, the former parent to Consolidated Freightways, has been planning to redevelop its land for about a year. It has now about 1,000 employees in two office buildings but most of its property remains empty, just blocks from the Pearl's towers. The company has a draft plan for offices, condos, affordable housing and maybe senior housing and a community center.
For now, the Lincoln move is just talk to Con-way. "Let's talk about it," Boretz said he told the group. "I'll listen. That's where it is."
While they've been talking with Boretz, Williams, Edlen and von Schlegell have another connection to Con-way. All three have done business with Peter W. Stott, a Con-way board member and real estate investor.
Williams and Edlen also joined von Schlegell in talking to Sten and Commissioner Sam Adams, the leading candidate in the 2008 mayor's race.
Sten says, and Williams and von Schlegell agree, Lincoln's future should be tied to the Portland Public School's work to renovate all its schools. The district is studying what work needs to be done across the city and may float a 2008 bond measure to pay for the improvements.
Sten knows the work can't focus on Lincoln while some poorer eastside schools go without.
But if Lincoln can sell off its existing property to pay for a new campus, some believe, money from a bond measure could be devoted to other schools.
For more on Portland real estate, visit The Oregonian's real estate blog at blog.oregonlive.com/frontporch. Ryan Frank: 503-221-8519;
ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com
map:
http://www.oregonlive.com/cgi-bin/pr...6906190290.pdf
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