Vancouver and Clark County

[PuyoPiyo]

Pressure mounts on Vancouvercenter developer


Update

• Previously: Vandevco completed three of four buildings for the $100 million Vancouvercenter, the biggest piece of downtown Vancouver’s revitalization.
• What’s new: Time is running out for Vandevco to break ground on its fourth building if it wants to avoid paying the city an $800,000 penalty.
• What’s next: Vandevco must have the south office tower completed by June 30, 2010, or pay the penalty to avoid defaulting on its pact with the city.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer

Developers of the biggest building project in downtown Vancouver in the past 10 years need to break ground on their fourth building by the middle of 2009 to avoid an $800,000 penalty.

Three of four buildings at the Vancouvercenter complex east of Esther Short Park were finished several years ago, but a squishy market repeatedly has delayed construction of an eight- or nine-story office tower on the northwest corner of Sixth and Washington streets.

Vandevco, under terms of its development agreement with the city, must have the final building completed no later than June 30, 2010. If that doesn’t happen, Vandevco would have to pay $800,000 to Vancouver to avoid defaulting on its agreement.

Nawzad Othman, Vandevco’s managing director on the Vancouvercenter project, said his company will begin construction as soon as it secures tenants for the south tower, which would have ground floor retail and offices on the other floors.

“Right now, without strong tenants, preleasing, you can’t get financing anywhere,” Othman said. “We have a couple of very strong prospects on that building. If they materialize, we may even begin construction this year.”
Othman is also president of Otak Inc., a Lake Oswego, Ore., architectural and engineering firm. The company also maintains an office at Vancouvercenter.

The city council approved the development agreement in 1999 that included selling land once used by the Lucky Lager brewery at a bargain price. The city also agreed to purchase an underground parking garage from the developer and operate it for at least 15 years.

The council subsequently approved four amendments to the 1999 deal. The latest, enacted in July 2006, specified a June 30, 2010, completion date for the project’s final structure.

Eric Holmes, Vancouver economic development director, said the $800,000 penalty is intended to offset the loss of tax revenues from the fourth tower.
“The city would much rather see it built,” he added.

Othman said his company could have the project built in as little as 12 months, which means it would need to have construction under way by next summer to avoid the penalty.

“That will never happen,” he said about the $800,000. “We will get this thing going.”

Vancouvercenter currently consists of two six-story condominium buildings and one 11-story office tower with condos on the top floors.

The north tower is more than 80 percent leased, Othman said.

“By now it should be 100 percent,” he said. “And I think that reflects what’s going on in the economy.”

[Civ E JB]

6th and Broadway? No, isn't it more like southeast corner of Evergreen and C St.?

I wish there were more details about the rest of the project.

[BrG]

The project is bound by Evergreen and C Street, as well as Reserve Street.

The timetable posted immediately above (clipped from an article?), to my knowledge, is not accurate. An earlier post is more accurate (assuming nothing changes within the project) with the "2009 start of the construction" timetable.

The library design is very much in progress, and I expect it to appear differently to some degree than the renderings you see there. (Those are Schematic Design phase renders, and a myriad of influences will likely alter the final product, not the least of which is $$$$$.)

[PuyoPiyo]

Maybe it was mistaken by that site where Killan Pacific plan to build the Frontier which are on the Evergreen and 6th st, but it says that it was northwest corner while that site is southern of that, hmm..

Someone need to correct this..

[CouvScott]

[QUOTE=BrG;3703853]The project is bound by Evergreen and C Street, as well as Reserve Street.

The timetable posted immediately above (clipped from an article?), to my knowledge, is not accurate. An earlier post is more accurate (assuming nothing changes within the project) with the "2009 start of the construction" timetable.

[QUOTE]

It was from an all encompasing construction article in the Columbian. I wonder if they posted a correction later.

[PuyoPiyo]

I was there and they are really under constructing right now, I will try to get there again with my camera.

[davehogan]

The downside is that the CRC is facing such pessimism from so many, when getting MAX to downtown Vancouver will probably help growth quite a bit.

I've heard some discussions of the Boise Cascade site include streetcar access across 6th and 8th to the potential MAX line near the new bridge. That could be a great start.

There's a lot of dense development happening in the Couv now. There's the The Sahalie at Tidewater Cove for example. Not the best use of the land, but the railroad tracks and SR-14 really cut off that part of the waterfront. A bunch of nice condos, office space with 80% occupancy in the Offices at Tidewater Cove, and the already completed Tidewater Cove Condos.

It's a reuse project. There are new warehouses going up along SE Columbia Ave also. The hotels and condo development down by the McMenamin's and Beaches is pretty good too, considering the limitations of the SR-14 interchange, the railroad berm, and Columbia Way.

Almost every project mentioned in this thread is actually a dense townhouse, condo, office, etc development. Not sprawling McMansions, but smart growth style "lifestyle centers."

Pearson Field will limit downtown Vancouver's heights in large part, as well as PDX. They still can go up 10-20 floors in about 150 blocks. That's a lot of density, and they're trying to make it happen.

Vancouver has it's faults, but it's not Hell in Washington.

[davehogan]

I haven't seen much activity, but I'm usually more focused on driving than construction when I'm nearby. I'll try to stop with my camera.

[360Rich]

State to give city millions for waterfront redevelopment

Vancouver will get $500,000 annually for next 25 years, board decides
September 18 | 8:21 p.m.

By JEFFREY MIZE
COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER

A state economic board decided Thursday that Vancouver should receive $500,000 in state dollars annually for 25 years, money that can be used for rail and road improvements to spur redevelopment of the former Boise Cascade industrial site.

Thursday’s decision takes Vancouver one step forward to build a dense community waterfront on the Columbia River with more than $1 billion of private investment.

Vancouver scored highest among nine projects that were competing for state funding, including a request submitted by Clark County to help pay for $41 million in road improvements on Northeast 179th Street near the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds.

The county’s project scored the lowest. Regardless, it was impossible for Vancouver and Clark County to both get funding because state law allows only one award per county, except for cities and towns that straddle county lines.

The Washington Community Economic Revitalization Board, meeting in SeaTac, selected Vancouver, Mount Vernon, Yakima and Whitman County to receive state revenue as a way to promote redevelopment and create jobs, thereby generating tax revenue for state and local governments.

“It’s a reflection of the quality of work this city does, and the state appreciates that,” Mayor Royce Pollard said about Thursday’s decision. “When the state gives us money, we put it to good use, and they can see the results.”

Kelly Sills, Clark County economic development manager, said the county intends to push ahead with the 179th Street project, which is designed to encourage construction of more than $200 million in stores, restaurants and hotels.

Vancouver has even bigger plans to redevelop the former Boise paper mill site west of the Interstate 5 Bridge. Gramor Development of Tualatin, Ore., has assembled a team of local investors to build 2,700 condominiums and apartments, 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 600,000 to 800,000 square feet of office space, two hotels and 10 acres of park and open space.

The city needs an estimated $38.6 million for transportation improvements to accommodate Gramor’s project, namely rebuilding the railroad berm that separates the waterfront from downtown and extending Esther and Grant streets to the former Boise site.

Eric Holmes, Vancouver economic development director, said with the state award, the city has only a $4 million funding gap, or about 10 percent of the transportation bill.

That presumes the city will get the $7 million it wants from the federal government, as well as $5 million direct appropriation from the state Legislature. Earlier this year, the Legislature agreed to provide an initial $910,000. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is trying to include $3 million for the project in the 2009 federal budget.

Holmes said he believes Vancouver’s project scored well because it provides a high tax return on the state’s contribution. It also involves redevelopment of a stretch of Columbia River waterfront, what he called “the south gateway to the state of Washington.” Plus the city’s proposal benefited from having a developer, Gramor, who already had purchased the land and made other investments.

The city of Mount Vernon, one of the other three projects selected Thursday, also is pursuing waterfront redevelopment but didn’t score as high as Vancouver.

“They didn’t have a developer in hand who was ready to invest a billion dollars over the next 14 years,” Holmes said. “I think that really is project readiness and project certainty, as certain as you can get.”

Sills said the city’s project scored higher than the county’s in three key areas:

-- The ability to promote transit-oriented development, which tends to favor an urban waterfront over retail-commercial development in a suburban unincorporated area.

-- The potential to generate taxes. Clark County’s project, with its retail emphasis, competed well when it came to sales tax. But Vancouver’s project, with its higher densities, would cause more property taxes to flow into state and local coffers.

-- The promise of wages and benefits for jobs created. Clark County’s project would create retail and other lower-paying jobs, while Vancouver’s waterfront project has more potential for higher-paying office jobs.

Thursday’s decision will let Vancouver use a limited form of tax increment financing, which allows the city to borrow money to pay for roads or other infrastructure to encourage private development. The city then uses the additional, or incremental, property and sales tax revenue generated by the development to gradually pay off the debt.

The state will provide a matching contribution, up to $500,000 annually for 25 years, with the provision that it will contribute no more than what it receives in incremental tax revenue.

http://www.columbian.com/article/200...WS02/809189929

[360Rich]

Backers seek new site for arts center

Tuesday, September 16 | 7:52 p.m.
By MARY ANN ALBRIGHT, COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER

Supporters of a proposed Clark County performing arts center have dropped plans to build on a downtown Vancouver site near Esther Short Park, citing mounting costs and a shaky economy that could hinder fundraising.

Instead the Southwest Washington Center for the Arts, the nonprofit group backing the project, is looking at sites on the Vancouver National Historic Reserve and on the former Boise Cascade industrial property that fronts the Columbia River.

“It just didn’t work out. It’s better to find out early, before we’re actually going out and raising money,” said Val Ogden of Vancouver, chairwoman of the board for Southwest Washington Center for the Arts.

The site the group had been working to secure is bordered by Washington, Columbia, Eighth and Ninth streets and overlooks Esther Short Park. Plans for a $60 million arts facility on that site included an auditorium, a black box theater, an art gallery and possibly an additional rehearsal hall. It was to be part of a larger mixed-use development that would have included condominiums and shops.

Southwest Washington Center for the Arts decided, however, that it could not afford the parking structure the city required. The city also mandated that at least three sides of the building have retail space, and center officials felt its budget would only allow for two.

Other parts of the deal also became questionable.

Realvest Corp., the development firm interested in building the commercial portions of the project, had offered to donate the profits from condominium sales to an endowment to help run the performing arts center. Those funds would be necessary to cover the arts center’s operating costs, but there was a risk the condominiums wouldn’t sell in today’s housing market, Ogden said.

The two alternative sites now under consideration won’t likely carry as high of a price tag.

The group is in preliminary discussions with the city about taking over the Vancouver Police Department headquarters site on the western edge of the Vancouver National Historic Reserve.

The site could eventually be available as operations at Vancouver Police Department headquarters are shifted to the west precinct on Fourth Plain Boulevard and Stapleton Road.

It was one of the sites the city manager encouraged Southwest Washington Center for the Arts to consider, said Jan Bader, Vancouver program and policy development director.

It’s a possibility the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Trust is interested in exploring as well. The reserve is in the process of developing an arts and entertainment complex in a vacant building near police headquarters, so “it would be a nice complement to have the two buildings next to each other,” said Elson Strahan, who is chief executive officer and president of the trust.

Southwest Washington Center for the Arts also is exploring potential options with Gramor Development, the Tualatin, Ore., commercial real estate developer behind a proposed riverfront revitalization effort.

Southwest Washington Center for the Arts invested a year and a half on plans for the downtown Vancouver site, spending $35,000 on a feasibility study and devoting many hours of volunteer work to the project.

“Much of it is information we can use on the new site. It’s not lost,” Ogden said.

http://www.columbian.com/article/200...WS02/809169905

[360Rich]

Commercial portion of library project put on hold
Friday, September 26 | 7:55 p.m.

By CAMI JONER, COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER

Construction of a key downtown redevelopment project will be delayed for at least a year due to the uncertain economy, its developers said Friday.

But work will move forward on the public library component of the $160 million Riverwest mixed-use project, according to Vancouver-based Killian Pacific.

The company had planned to break ground in early 2009 on its portion of the development, which included condominiums, offices, retail space and 200-room hotel on the southeast corner of East Evergreen Boulevard and C Street.

“Since the project was conceived in 2005, the national and local market conditions have deteriorated dramatically,” said Lance Killian, the company’s chief operating officer.

Officials close to the project say its new start date will depend on economic recovery with renewed consumer spending that will prompt national retailers to resume their expansion plans.

Construction costs have also risen, Killian said. His company has already invested more than $3.4 million on the Riverwest project, planned for a four-block site that was primarily occupied by the Carr Auto Group.

The dealership moved in April, relocating to a new facility on Fourth Plain Boulevard near Andresen Road.

The Riverwest site was cleared further in May, when workers moved the historic Kiggins House from its 101-year perch on Evergreen Boulevard overlooking Interstate 5. The home was moved north to 24th and H streets.

Site-clearing activities are expected to continue. Riverwest developers will have to move forward by 2014 if they are to leverage $13 million in state tax credit financing awarded to the project in 2006. The funding is to be used on the project’s underground parking structure, to include public parking.

Library moving forward

In the meantime, design plans are moving forward to break ground in 2009 on the $37 million public library portion of Riverwest, said Bruce Ziegman, executive director of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District.

“The final library design is quickly taking shape,” he said.

Voters passed a library facilities bond measure in 2006 to pay for the 83,000-square-foot library.

http://columbian.com/article/20080926/NEWS02/809269841

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by 360Rich

Construction of a key downtown redevelopment project will be delayed for at least a year due to the uncertain economy, its developers said Friday.

But work will move forward on the public library component of the $160 million Riverwest mixed-use project, according to Vancouver-based Killian Pacific.

The company had planned to break ground in early 2009 on its portion of the development, which included condominiums, offices, retail space and 200-room hotel on the southeast corner of East Evergreen Boulevard and C Street.

Why not try to see if Vancouver will help with the hotel and parking, in addition to the library? Vancouver needs something other than a Hilton, and should be trying to get something like a Hyatt Place, aloft, element, Courtyard or similar brand.

The Red Lion, Shilo Inn, and Econo Lodge don't really serve the same types of travelers, and the Homewood Suites is likely to attract the same people as the Hilton who are staying for a longer visit. Adding a 200+ room competitive higher-end chain should generate enough tourist taxes to be worth the incentives the city could offer.

Use the revenues from the hotel to spur the office, then the condo space, and you'll get the end results a little faster, I'd hope.

I know the credit market sucks, but Vancouver is growing rather fast. It has to make sure to stay competitive in the lodging market as well or it's job centers will start to stagnate.

Much like SoWa, only that's saved by proximity and easy transit to downtown PDX.

[360Rich]

Columbian plans return to former offices
Wednesday, October 8 | 5:07 p.m.

By JULIA ANDERSON

Swept by the double tsunami of a sour economy and rising new building costs, The Columbian Publishing Co. today announced plans to relocate its business and newsroom operations to former offices at 701 W. Eighth St. in downtown Vancouver.

The move, according to Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell, is out of the need to generate more revenue from a new six-story building constructed by Campbell and his wife, Jody, which opened south of Esther Short Park in January. The options, Campbell said, are to either lease all of the 118,000-square-foot $30 million structure or to sell it. At present, Columbian newsroom, advertising and circulation operations occupy four of the six floors in the building at 415 W. Sixth St.

In order to make the difficult financial transition, Campbell said the company is trying to negotiate a new loan with its lender or will seek temporary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors. Chapter 11 gives a business time to reorganize and return to financial health.

“Like many newspapers across the country, The Columbian is facing a difficult business situation given the economic environment, but we are fortunate to have the resources that allow us to respond with economical solutions,” Campbell said. “The Columbian is confident it has the ability to come out of this situation and continue to be the trusted news source for Clark county as it has been for more than 100 years.”

Campbell is the third generation of his family to operate the newspaper purchased by his grandfather, Herbert Campbell in 1921.

“We strongly believe that we will be successful through this transition,” Campbell said. “With the newspaper and our Web site, we continue to be market leaders for both advertisers and readers. We reach many more customers than either TV or radio in this market.”

The Columbian’s move is predicated on the two-pronged difficulty of very tight credit markets and a downturn in advertising revenue in the newspaper business, Campbell said.

The relocation to 701 Eighth St. will take time and is not expected until the first quarter of 2009. The Columbian, which has experienced two rounds of layoffs in the past 10 months, employs a total of 282 people including 12 employees of the Camas Post-Record, which it also owns.

http://www.columbian.com/article/200...0089971/-1/biz

A couple pics of the new building they are moving out of

[zilfondel]

^ thats really unfortunate. Build a nice shiny new building and not get to use it?

[Okstate]

^ I know, i'd be so pissed off driving past that (assuming the employees will be driving past it)

[Civ E JB]

Well this seems to be moving along quickly. Slab on grade has been poured and the crane on site has already put up steel for first and second floors. Even just the current skeleton structure gives a very different feel to driving into downtown on Mill Plain. Well, especially since Denny's didn't give off much of a "feel"....

[CouvScott]

[davehogan]

I'm glad someone got a picture for here, I've driven by about 10 times since the steel went up and forgotten my camera every single one of them. It really is going to change the feel of that part of the neighborhood, in my opinion, for the better. Other than City Hall there isn't much along Mill Plain but parking lots and old 1 story retail. It's got great access, it seems like it would be worth prodding along more mixed use projects.

I'll try to stop by this week with my camera, I go to the Muchas Gracias down the street for lunch quite a bit so it won't be much of a problem. (Yep, parking lots and 1 floor retail have tasty burritos sometimes.)

I'll see what I can do about getting pictures of the site behind the Burgerville also. I wonder if they are just getting it ready for the next building season? It seems late in the year to start a project.

Dave

[davehogan]

I just came across this site from the City of Vancouver's site:

http://www.cityofvancouver.us/econde...rojectID=18840

Check out the video, it could be pretty awesome.

[CouvScott]

With a $1 billion price tag, the development would be Vancouver’s most expensive private development
POSTED: 04:00 AM PST Thursday, December 11, 2008
BY TYLER GRAF

Vancouver’s catalytic mixed-use project encompassing 32 acres of Columbia River property officially entered the pre-application phase Tuesday, signaling a step forward for the $1 billion project.

Developers for the Columbia Waterfront development filed their pre-application materials after months of stakeholder input and planning, in addition to financial structuring.

But there’s still plenty of work ahead.

In an October letter to Vancouver Economic Development Director Eric Holmes, the vice president of Gramor Development, David Copenhaver, wrote that his company was still finalizing the scope and density of the project.

The development would conform to a typical mixed-use makeup of housing, retail and commercial office space, which developers have likened to an extended downtown. Vancouver officials compare it to Portland’s South Waterfront.

“Because the waterfront development is a long-term project which will be built over the next 10 to 15 years, we do not know precisely how much of each use will be built, but (we) have identified a range of mix which will include 400,000 to 1,000,000 square feet of office, 2,500 to 3,000 residential units, (and) 100,000 to 400,000 square feet of hotel(s),” Copenhaver wrote.

Stakeholders have also voiced their support for parks and ample open space within the development, which is being designed by David Hansen of TWIST Architecture & Design.

Outreach started in May as a team of residents was asked to look at open-space issues. As proposed, the development would include buildings along with congeries of parks, waterfront trails and plazas, networked together.

It would also be the costliest development in Vancouver’s history, at a time when a slow economy has forced many contractors and developers to shy away from high-impact, high-cost projects.

Copenhaver remains nonplussed by the state of the economy, saying this week’s pre-application is a testament to Gramor’s dedication to the project.

The city of Vancouver, too, is staying optimistic.

“Pretty consistently, (Gramor has) said their first day of occupancy will be 2012,” Holmes said, in reference to the first residential phase of the project.

The optimism comes despite the fact that the city learned it would not receive financial assistance on its end of the project – creating a connective arterial between the city and its downtown, using two underpasses – through a pilot program called the Local Infrastructure Finance Tool.

That program acts in a similar manner to tax increment financing, which Washington does not have.

“It was a bit of a bumpy road with that,” Holmes said.

To smooth out those bumps, Gov. Christine Gregoire announced that the state would appropriate $3.1 million from the state’s 2009 budget for the city’s $38 million portion of the project.

Still, that leaves a considerable funding gap. In late November, Vancouver announced it would anticipate filling a $7 million portion of that gap if no other revenue streams are accessible.

Gramor, meanwhile, plans to move past the pre-application process during the first quarter of 2009.