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For years, there’s been a buzz about a coming retail development off Interstate 5 at the Durham exit, but there hasn’t been much activity at the site. Despite appearances, the project called Bridgeport Village has been moving along behind the scenes, and the creators of this new project promise that it will be unlike any other retail development Oregon has seen.
Opus Northwest and Center Oak Properties created a joint venture to put the development together. According to Bruce Wood, senior director of real estate development at Opus, Bridgeport Village will be a “lifestyle center,” a concept that goes far beyond an assembly of retail shops.
“Bridgeport Village will be driven by synergies between high quality retailers and dominated by an entertainment theme with a state-of-the-art cinema,” said Wood. “This is also a mixed-use project, with restaurants and 50,000 square feet of allotted office space.”
Not an indoor mall, Bridgeport Village will situate the retail, restaurants and cinema in a meticulously planned outdoor environment, designed to invite people to stay beyond the shopping experience. Its developers’ intent is to create something that becomes an enhancement for the surrounding neighborhoods and draws people to the area for a variety of reasons.
But bringing many more people to an intersection already in need of congestion relief demanded solutions before the project could move forward. During the project’s first 18 months of development, Opus and Center Oak Properties worked with county, city and state officials to improve traffic patterns to and around the site.
The result is an $8.5 million private investment from Bridgeport Village developers that will minimize the impact of visitors to the center and alleviate traffic patterns for citizens who already use the Durham exit. This includes off-site road improvements and the addition of more than one mile of cycling and pedestrian sidewalks outside of the project.
The site is part of former Durham quarry, which was filled back in during the 1980s and, more recently, several parcels were sold to PacTrust. Washington County issued a Request for Proposals to developers to discover the highest and best use for the 30-acre site. Opus and Center Oak joint ventured to create their plan and were awarded the contract.
A project of this size and complexity, however, raised numerous questions and concerns and required countless discussions between stakeholders and the public. Although the county owns the land, the space has two-thirds of its surface area in Tualatin and one-third in Tigard. Given the impacts on the neighboring communities, the project has been a partnership between the county, developers and the cities of Tualatin, Tigard, Durham and Lake Oswego. The traffic issues included participation from other parties as well, such as the county’s road department and the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The developers are purchasing the site from the county and, as part of the purchase, there will be a revenue share with the county. According to Wood, this financial twist guarantees that the county will receive the highest dollar value for its land.
Now that the solutions to the traffic problems have been met and all land-use appeals resolved, Bridgeport Village is ready for construction. Roger Fricke and Mike Nichols from Opus Northwest Construction are leading the charge of site build out.
Bridgeport Village will be five main buildings on a grid located around a center gathering place with a hard landscape, with benches, water elements, a possible fireplace, and awnings and screenings for weather protection. Retail shops and restaurants will be at the ground level and offices will be on the second floor of some retail buildings. Some restaurants will have patio dining on the second floor overlooking the plaza.
The overall design promotes an urban feeling. Each building facade will be different and retail tenants can design their own storefronts.
“We want the center to look like it grew organically,” said Woods. “We looked at the architecture of downtown Portland and tried to replicate parts of it. Some buildings will be as tall as 40 feet to give it a sense of scale and place.”
Fred Bruning, president of Center Oak Properties, has worked on lifestyle centers elsewhere.
“It’s a style of shopping center designed to put people at ease the moment they enter the project, this will be an upscale, friendly environment where you will want to go just to hang out,” said Bruning.
Bruning described Bridgeport Village’s appearance like a charming European village and kiosks will be brought in from Europe that look like old European rail cars. Two-thirds of the parking will be in a structure, but some parking along the streets will be available as well.
The parking area will be leveraged by serving office tenants in the day and the theater patrons at night.
The theater marks the first opportunity that Regal Cinemas has had to design and build here. In its other metro-area locations, the company has acquired theaters or purchased something already designed. This new theater will have 20 screens and each cinema will have full stadium seating. A Presentation cinema will have a 70 mm screen and provide state-of-the-art movie technology. Patrons will even be able to get a glass of wine before going into the show.
One goal is to incorporate sustainable aspects into the project where feasible, and Green Building Services is assisting the team with the ideas for the overall project and green building measures individual retailers may choose to utilize.
With a very high-end mix of tenants such as Crate& Barrel, Wild Oats Market, Talbot’s, Hanna Anderssen, Coldwater Creek and PF Chang’s China Bistro, Wood said this will be a wonderful amenity for other area businesses.
Bruning said the project will bring in 1,500 contractor jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs to the area.
The Phase I construction is more than $100 million, plus $20 million that Regal Cinemas will put into its theater. PF Chang’s and other restaurants will be on ground leases, investing additional money as they create their own spaces. Wood said the first retail shops are slated to open in November 2004.
Phase II for the project consists of additional office and restaurant pads as future build out takes place.
“This was one of the most challenging sites in the metro area, but it’s now becoming one of the most upscale,” said Wood. “We are incredibly lucky to have such an amazing team of people working together to make this project a reality.”