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Centennial Mills plan will be sought … again

By: Chuck Slothower//June 16, 2017//

Centennial Mills plan will be sought … again

Chuck Slothower//June 16, 2017//

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Prosper Portland plans to petition proposals for the redevelopment of the Centennial Mills property in the coming months. (Sam Tenney/91Ƶ file)
plans to soon petition offers for redevelopment of the property. (Sam Tenney/91Ƶ file)

Developers will be asked to submit offers for Centennial Mills this summer.

Prosper Portland, the agency formerly known as the Portland Development Commission, plans to market the property again in coming months, said Will Thier, senior project coordinator.

The move to solicit developers comes after the City Council in March endorsed a full-site redevelopment of the industrial riverfront property. The council directed Prosper Portland to include as much affordable housing on the site as possible.

The full-site redevelopment option also requires Portland Police Bureau’s mounted patrol unit to vacate the site permanently.

Prosper Portland has struggled to strike a workable deal with a developer for the site along Naito Parkway. The agency received bids for the property as far back as 2007, and let a memorandum of understanding with ‘ Jordan Schnitzer expire in November 2015.

The PDC acquired the property in 2000 from ADM Milling Co.

The property faces competing demands for affordable housing, open space and market-rate development.

In Centennial Mills’ current iteration, Prosper Portland envisions 425 total residential units, including 149 affordable units set aside for renters earning less than 60 percent of the Portland area’s median family income.

The property would also include 20,000 square feet of creative-office space and 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail or commercial space.

Despite a hot market for property in urban Portland, the site faces a number of encumbrances to development, including an existing historic flour mill and a low floodplain.

Some developers have expressed discomfort with Prosper Portland’s development and disposition agreements, which typically carry far stricter requirements than for a comparable privately owned property, and carry additional political risk.

Prosper Portland Chairman Tom Kelly said the property’s eventual use should be subject to public scrutiny.

“I just want to make sure we have as robust as possible public process,” he said at Wednesday’s meeting.

Board member Mark Edlen urged the agency to enlist an experienced broker to market the property.

“The brokerage community is going to drive the highest value for us,” he said.

A neighbor, Larry Mazer, spoke for residents of the nearby Waterfront Pearl condos. He said residents are OK with adding low-income units to the area – they just want to be consulted.

“We’re not here to say not in my backyard,” Mazer said.



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