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A year ago, when 200 citizens packed a Northwest Portland brewpub to hear an update on the Centennial Mills redevelopment project, expectations were for work to start soon.

But the project hasn’t inched forward since.

LAB Holding, the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based firm selected by the Portland Development Commission in 2008, wants to transform the former mill into a culinary hot spot, a public gathering space and a gateway to the Willamette River. But LAB is encountering opposition to a similar West Coast project, and that could affect the fate of the project in Portland.

“We should have the (disposition and development agreement) wrapped up in the next 30 days,” developer Shaheen Sadeghi said last month.

While Sadeghi emphasized in January 2010 that the project would go through a rigorous regulatory process because of the building’s historic nature and its proximity to water, he also said in both June and November 2010 that the DDA was 30 days out.

The project is similar to another LAB Holding project, the Playa del Norte development in San Clemente, Calif. LAB was selected by San Clemente’s city council in 2008 after the firm pitched turning a city-owned parking lot at the foot of the city’s North Beach into 65,000 square feet of mixed-use space with a focus on food.

As part of the agreement, much like the one being worked out in Portland, LAB will purchase the lot from the city and carry out the predetermined development produced by a visioning process. Basically, LAB receives financial and technical support from the city for carrying out a private development that meets the development vision.

But the project has been fraught with opposition from the onset.

Tom Barnes, a writer in San Clemente, helped form a group – North Beach Green Alternative – to fight the project.

“If they want to put the LAB project on private property we are fine with it,” Barnes said. “But they are selling public property that we all use at a discounted rate so a private developer can profit.”

In a 2008 ballot measure, voters expressed support for the project by a 6 percent margin. Undeterred, the group generated another ballot measure, at a public cost of $200,000, that in March will ask citizens whether they want to move forward with the LAB project or throw it out entirely.

“They keep telling us that the project is just complicated, but it’s not; it just has a lot of problems,” Barnes said. “The council has a pro-business and pro-development majority and is going ahead without consulting the public.”

The group dislikes the deal between the city and LAB Holding. The developer will receive a $4.6 million subsidy, and will pay between $1 million and $1.8 million for the property. According to Barnes, an independent appraisal valued the property at more than $6 million.

While the Centennial Mills project has moved slowly, it hasn’t drawn significant opposition.

“We have definitely received suggestions and opinions along the way, but we haven’t had anyone opposing the project,” said Sarah Harpole, a project manager with the PDC. “The initial vision was supported, and so far, the public has maintained that support.”

Possible project conflicts would be its effects on the Willamette River and the proposed Greenway trail; however, Harpole noted that review of such issues is not finalized yet.

Harpole expects the DDA, which sets the property acquisition plan, to be ready within the next 60 days, and signed by the PDC within five weeks thereafter. Both the in-water work permits and the greenway review documents are expected to be submitted in the next 30 days, she said.

Sadeghi acknowledged that the San Clemente project has moved slowly, and that unforeseen issues have arose; however, he is confident the project will resume following the March vote.

“I’m a patient person and I believe the people will approve the project when it goes up for vote,” he said. “Just like with Centennial Mills, Playa Del Norte will be an excellent project in a historic area along the water that brings the community together.”