Centennial Mills Renovation | x | x | Unknown

[philopdx]

meh


I wonder though if Nitze-Stag knew about the floorplate size restrictions close to the waterfront when they drafted their proposals?

[Delaney]

The North Pearl Plan is going to rezone all the land there including the rest of Hoyt Street Properties blocks west of the Fields. The Nitze Stagen team was probably thinking they might have some influence with Planning on that process.

[MarkDaMan]

Lab Holding moves to front-runner spot for Centennial Mills project
A Portland Development Commission committee has recommended that the Costa Mesa, Calif., firm move ahead with its plans for the project
Daily Journal of Commerce
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Thursday, March 13, 2008
BY TYLER GRAF

The long proposal process for the Centennial Mills development has finally borne fruit, as the Portland Development Commission announced Tuesday that Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Lab Holding was recommended by a PDC committee to move forward on the waterfront project.

At the PDC’s next board meeting on March 26, PDC Executive Director Bruce Warner will present his and his committee’s recommendation to the commissioners. They will act on the recommendation by either accepting it, determining it’s not acceptable or asking for additional information.

“It’s important to point out that this is not a done deal,” said Shawn Uhlman, public affairs manager for the PDC.

But the consensus, from both the community and the committee charged with making a development-team recommendation, is that Lab Holding had the most feasible and streamlined development concept, and that it met or exceeded all of the site criteria outlined by PDC.

All three vying development teams, including Seattle-based Nitze Stagen and Baltimore-based Codish Group, were notified on Monday of the committee’s recommendation.

Lab Holding has developed projects primarily in California, working on retail centers like the eponymous The Lab in Orange County, built in 1993. But some city residents who’ve seen the firm’s proposal for the Centennial Mills site think Lab Holding understands the Portland way of doing projects.

“Lab Holding’s proposal is a very smooth, community-centered (design),” Uhlman said, adding that community feedback indicated that it was the clear favorite.

Pearl District resident Ben Andrews agrees, saying the Pearl District Neighborhood Association threw its full support behind Lab Holding’s proposal.

“Portland needs something different,” Andrews said, “and the Pearl District is one of the most unique places in Oregon, and this proposal suits it well.”

Shaheen Sadeghi, CEO of Lab Holding, said his company’s intention was to create a development that would put the proper pieces together to grow the waterfront organically in the future.

The vision is also directed toward the past. Sadeghi said his firm’s goal is to preserve as much of the original 108-year-old site as possible and to salvage for adaptive re-use what cannot be preserved. That poses problems, however, as the site’s historic building, an old flour mill, needs to undergo further seismic tests.

But neither the development team nor the PDC believe site conditions will significantly change the layout of the development, which rests on four distinct areas.

The Orchard portion of the site will act as the main pedestrian entryway into the development, moving past storefronts and down a promenade, ending at the Willamette River. The development team plans to include outdoor fireplaces and fountains, in addition to seating for café patrons.

The Water Theater area will center around an amphitheater built into the riverbank and is intended to be the place for community events and concerts. Another feature – the glass-roofed, open-air Rainwater Pavilion – would act as ad hoc performance space during Portland’s long rainy season.

The People’s Market, the third section, would be located under a green canopy of vegetation and would feature local food vendors and craftspeople. The development team plans to open up a large portion of the wharf to create a public meeting space.

The fourth area, The Farm, would highlight Oregon’s agricultural history, and Lab Holding intends this site to exhibit local crops. It would be both educational and functional, the development team says, with the surrounding restaurants and vendors able to harvest their own herbs or produce.

“When we start peeling the (development) onion, I think we’re going to end up finding more things to do, and we may have to make modifications,” Sadeghi said. “When you’re dealing with these older buildings, you don’t always know what’s inside.”
http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDeta...ent-Commission

[Okstate]

Bump. Almost been a year.

[tworivers]

I believe that this is one of the numerous projects currently stymied by the LUBA ruling against Portland's desire to expand the River District URA.

Bad news bears.

[smendesPDX]

Centennial Mills faces structural deficiencies
Lab Holdings expects construction budget to increase for redevelopment project
POSTED: 04:00 AM PDT Wednesday, March 11, 2009
BY TYLER GRAF

Last spring, California-based development firm Lab Holdings won the rights to redevelop the Centennial Mills property, bordering the Willamette River on the periphery of the Pearl District. Since then, developers have kept mum on the 35-acre commercial, mixed-use project.

That’s because the development firm has since learned that site engineering reports from the early 2000s didn’t detail the sturdiness and environmental quality of the property. Much of the property either directly abuts the riverfront or is located in the river proper, and water leaks have weakened parts of the property’s promenade and pilings. All of the site’s buildings were built between 1910 and 1940.

Although discussions within the company are ongoing, developers at Lab Holdings estimate that they will now need to add several million dollars to the project’s budget.

Shaheen Sadeghi, principal of Lab Holdings, said he doesn’t expect reconstructive work to set the project’s timeline back. Project construction is set to finish in 2011. But the additional money concerns Sadeghi, especially at a time when the economy is wavering. He said he may change the pro forma documents and drop the buildings’ rental rates, but that wouldn’t happen until engineering work is completed.

He said the engineering reports were never intended to be conclusive because the Portland Development Commission did not initially recommend rehabilitation of the property. The PDC purchased the property in the late 1990s with the plan to demolish the site’s 10 buildings and redevelop the area into a park. But public opposition to that plan persuaded the PDC to back off. It announced new plans to redevelop the property and build off of the Pearl District’s burgeoning success as a mixed-use neighborhood.

Lab Holdings’ development, as proposed, would demolish a number of the original buildings, keeping only the most recognizable structures. But the discovery of weathered and water-damaged structures could justify the demolition and reconstruction of certain elements of the old property, said Ryan Aeh, a project manager for the development firm.

Much of the early engineering work has been focused on burrowing through Centennial Mills’ guts and mapping its insides. This is intended to give the project’s architects a better working understanding of the site.

“The plans our architects originally used were based on the original drawings; some from the early 1900s and some from the 1940s,”Aeh said. They were too old, he added, to be of much use.

Engineering work that led to the new maps, which are now three-dimensional and digital, has made it easier to identify the development’s problem areas.

Nate Ingraffea, engineer at KPFF, said one of the main problems with the site is that its pilings have been eaten away by river water.

“A lot of those pilings will need to be replaced,” Ingraffea said. “They’ve been sitting in water for 100 years.”

Two additional subcontractors were hired to consult on engineering: Optira, located in Nebraska, used 3-D scanners to digitize the buildings; Geo Design provided geotechnical services.

In the next 30 to 60 days, the development team plans to go into deeper schematic design. Lab Holdings then hopes to execute its Development and Disposition Agreement with the PDC this summer.

[urbanlife]

I am not surprised, I figure something structural would come up sooner or later.

[Okstate]

I read recently that this is still on schedule sort of. Projected for a fall start.

[tworivers]

I thought it was tied up with the "Friends of Urban Renewal" and their River District appeal.

[Okstate]

I read about it in the Pearl's version of neighborhood notes then couldn't find it online so no article post. I do remember the article said Lab was in town sometime about a week or so ago really checking things out in the area.

[bvpcvm]

Here's a link to a design review notice, including very vague drawings, dated 11/16/2009. Looks like, despite the economy, this one isn't dead yet.

[tworivers]

Much as I like the idea of the adaptive re-use of Centennial Mills, I have a hard time imagining the food-centered program succeeding. I hope I am wrong, but it kind of smacks of the same sort of forced-ness of the "public market" efforts and that horrible "Little Italy" idea that floated around for awhile for the Skidmore Fountain area. Inorganic, no pun intended.

[PDX City-State]

Originally Posted by tworivers

Much as I like the idea of the adaptive re-use of Centennial Mills, I have a hard time imagining the food-centered program succeeding. I hope I am wrong, but it kind of smacks of the same sort of forced-ness of the "public market" efforts and that horrible "Little Italy" idea that floated around for awhile for the Skidmore Fountain area. Inorganic, no pun intended.

This is different for several reasons. First, these guys are very experienced developers, unlike the hapless team behind the Portland Public Market. Plus, there is a need for space that caters to the food-related industries. The only issue I see is that this puppy is a ways from downtown.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by PDX City-State

The only issue I see is that this puppy is a ways from downtown.

It'll be in the "urban outlands".

The streetcar will get people most of the way there. There will be a couple of nice stroll-there options, including the west-side riverwalk- one of downtown's nice little features.

Maybe even have a ferry service that operates during certain times/events that connects the food-oriented Centennial Mill project with the entertainment-oriented Rose Garden project.

[tworivers]

So is the Fields Park delay tied in with this because of the bridge?

‘Rotten’ pilings slow Centennial Mills
POSTED: Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 12:23 PM PT
BY: Eli Segall (DJC)

The Centennial Mills waterfront project in Portland could face delays over a damaged wharf, as the developer expects to spend a lot of time and money fixing “rotten” pilings.

Shaheen Sadeghi, principal with project developer LAB Holding LLC, said in an interview Thursday that project consultants have found the pier is more damaged than previously thought. The findings were completed in recent months, he said.

The 10 buildings at the site, located on the west bank of the Willamette River between the Fremont and Broadway bridges, are in “good shape,” Sadeghi said. But the pier needs “substantial work.”

He said the pilings are “rotten,” and the cost of repairs is “going to be a big number,” though he did not give a specific estimate. In addition, since the wharf dips into the Willamette, fixing them could require state and federal permits.

Sadeghi couldn’t immediately confirm who has jurisdiction over the river, but said any potential repairs would be covered by extensive government regulation, largely because of the need to protect the river’s natural habitat.

“It could take a while,” said Ryan Aeh, project manager with Costa Mesa, Calif.-based LAB Holding. He said the situation “adds to the uncertainty of when we could break ground.”

According to a Daily Journal of Commerce article in March, the sprawling commercial project was slated to be finished in 2011. It also said LAB hoped to execute its Development and Disposition Agreement with the site’s property owner, the Portland Development Commission, by this past summer.

Aeh said Thursday that the company hopes to finalize the agreement by the end of March 2010, to break ground in “early 2011,” and finish construction by 2012.

Nevertheless, LAB hopes to turn the former industrial site-comprised of warehouses, grain elevators and a seven-story flour mill, all built between 1910 and 1940-into a culinary attraction, with restaurants, a farmer’s market, wine shops and even light food manufacturing.

An open forum was held Dec. 2 to review and discuss project plans, and another, similar forum is scheduled for Jan. 19, at the Bridgeport Brewery.

Sadeghi and Aeh both declined to give an estimated project cost, though Sadeghi noted it’s been estimated at $55 million.

[tworivers]

Hey, can anyone commit to going to the forum on Tues the 19th and giving us a report-back? I'll be at work, unfortunately.

http://www.centennialmills.org/

[Eco_jt]

Hey, can anyone commit to going to the forum on Tues the 19th and giving us a report-back?

Wish I could go too, but unfortunately I have to work...maybe I'll try to be sick that day

[PacificNW]

Curious to how this project comes along considering the news concerning the Rose Quarter/Jumptown project..

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by tworivers

Hey, can anyone commit to going to the forum on Tues the 19th and giving us a report-back? I'll be at work, unfortunately.

http://www.centennialmills.org/

I'm going. It's my day off!

[mmeade]

I went already! That forum was last January...