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After issuing a request for qualifications earlier this spring, the city of Beaverton has selected a development team of Gerding Edlen Development and Rembold Properties for a six-month development agreement for the city-owned Westgate property site.

The four-acre property, named for a former movie theater at the site, is between Southwest Cedar Hills Boulevard and Southwest Rose Biggi Avenue, and is close to the Beaverton light-rail station next to Beaverton City Hall.

All of the RFQs the city received were solid, said Cadence Moylan, Beaverton’s development division manager.

鈥淎ll three proposals were provided by well-known, quality teams and any one would be a great addition to Beaverton,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut the Gerding-Rembold proposal really hit it out of the ball park in meeting the implementation of the Creekside District plan.鈥�

In particular, the Gerding-Rembold design featured a 140-room hotel, solutions to parking problems and inclusion of an arts and culture center.

鈥淭he city has been working toward 鈥� and talking about an arts and culture center 鈥� for a really long time,鈥� Moylan said. 鈥淚n the last couple of years this really good idea has gained momentum, but it needs a site and needs some more hard questions to be answered before the city council can determine if it’s a viable project for the city.鈥�

The city will have a chance to ask some hard questions following the city council’s approval this week of a six-month exclusive negotiation agreement between the city and the Gerding-Rembold team.

At this point, in addition to the arts and cultural center and hotel, the development plan also calls for a parking garage for the Westgate site and two adjoining lots, Lot 2 and Lot 3.

The city already has an agreement to purchase Lot 2 from Scanlan Kemper Bard Cos. sometime this year, Moylan said. However, in its proposal, the Gerding-Rembold team went a step further in their proposal by approaching SKD about also selling Lot 3 to the city, according to Moylan.

鈥淭here was no provision that they will sell Lot 2, but Gerding-Rembold approached them and they provided a letter of support,鈥� she said.

In April, the Beaverton City Council reallocated $110,000 of Metro Local Share funds to help pay for the first restoration project from the recently adopted Creekside Master Plan for a 50-acre area in downtown Beaverton.