The ambitious downtown waterfront expansion of Vancouver, Wash., 10 years after it was conceived, now has street access and its first tenant.

Developers and city officials announced the opening of Southeast Columbia Way at a dedication ceremony Thursday at that road’s new junction with Grant Street.

Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, announced that M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust had committed to occupy the top two floors of the waterfront’s first constructed building at 305 Columbia Way. The trust, which has given more than $800 million to nonprofits during its 40 years of existence, currently operates at 703 Broadway St. in downtown Vancouver.

In 2005, Gramor began working on the private portion of Vancouver’s $1.5 billion, 5-million-square-foot waterfront development project. Its 22-block master plan was approved five years later. The first on-site construction – a park – is scheduled to begin in November and finish by mid-2017.

The aim of an ongoing street extension project is to reconnect Vancouver with the industrial area formerly home to wood products manufacturer Boise Cascade. This hasn’t happened in more than 100 years, according to city spokeswoman Carol Bua.

The access project – complete reconstruction of a train trestle near the development – was completed at the end of 2014 for $45 million.

Designs for the development’s main road are being finalized. This $6.5 million project is being partially funded by a $2.7 million state transportation improvement grant. Construction will begin this fall and is scheduled to finish in spring 2016.

Also, Gramor says it’s in talks regarding a 180-room hotel and two restaurants.

The post Vancouver waterfront project gets road, tenant appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Growth drives development, and Happy Valley is cruising full-speed ahead.

Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, said 90 percent of unbuilt land in the Portland Metro urban growth boundary is in the Happy Valley area, and the strong housing market is the reason his company is building there.

Gramor announced last week that it plans to build an $80-million, mixed-use retail center called Happy Valley Crossroads that will include a 168-unit apartment complex, restaurants, shops and other retail outlets. A new 144,000-square-foot Fred Meyer store will serve as anchor tenant for the development.

Cain said construction will start this fall and should be complete in about a year on the project, which will be sited on 34 acres at Southeast 172^nd Avenue and Sunnyside Road.

“(Happy Valley) has seen a lot of growth and there are plenty of people to handle this shopping center,” Cain said. “What you have here is another 20 years of growth that’s going to keep happening. This is different. It will keep on growing, and there are not too many opportunities like that.”

It hasn’t always been that way. During the recent recession, the housing market in Happy Valley took a big hit, with foreclosures and unfinished projects, said Michael Walters, economic and community development director for the city of Happy Valley. But now the housing market there is going like “gangbusters,” he said.

“Our economic recovery began about three years ago,” Walters said. “But those foreclosed homes are long gone and, for the most part, what has happened is that the market recovered.”

The Happy Valley housing market includes both new and used homes, according to Walters

“There is more inventory coming in and the market is responding to a lack of supply,” he said.

Pam Yancoskie, a broker with RE/MAX Equity Group in Clackamas, agreed the Happy Valley housing market is booming now.

“In Happy Valley the market is fabulous, and we have really got a strong market all over Portland,” she said.

“Now I think the market is very normal, not with leaps and bounds,” she added. “We now have multiple offers due to pent up demands, and I think the (housing) market brings business.”

The Happy Valley Crossroads development will keep many existing of the existing trees on the site, and will include plazas and pedestrian access. Plans also call for improvements to local roads, new sidewalks and planter islands with road extensions, and lane enlargements at both Southeast Misty Drive and 169^th Avenue. A new traffic signal will also be added at Sunnyside Road and 169^th Avenue.

The project team for Happy Valley Crossroads includes Tiland/Schmidt Architects, Harper Houf Peterson Righellis and Christopher Freshley Landscape Architects. A general contractor has noty been selected yet.

Gramor sold the land for the apartment complex to Carla Properties Ltd., which will oversee design and construction of that project, Cain said.

Construction on the entire development will create about 150 industry jobs, according to Gramor.

The apartment complex, which will cover 14 acres, will be comprised of eight buildings of varying sizes, and will include car and bicycle stalls along with green space with trees.

The $30-million Fred Meyer store will sell clothing, furniture, garden supplies, housewares, home décor and will have a 16-car gas station, according to a statement by Lynn Gust, president of Fred Meyer Store Inc. The company estimates the new store will create 250 retail-related jobs once it opens.

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Barry Cain, president of Tualatin-based Gramor Development, has spent more than 30 years transforming Portland-area neighborhoods. But at a former mill site in Vancouver, Wash., he is preparing to transform a community.

The Waterfront, a $1.5 billion development planned on 32 acres fronting the Columbia River, is expected to include approximately 1 million square feet of office space, 250,000 square feet of retail space, 3,300 residential units, a 180-bed boutique-style hotel and 10 acres of parks and trails. Some buildings are expected to open in 2016, but the total build-out may require 10 years.

Cain is a partner in Columbia Waterfront LLC, which is nearly ready to kick off the giant effort.

“After almost nine years, we’re finally at a point where we can tell potential users” what is ahead, he said. “We can seriously start marketing it.”

Interest has been strong, said Cain, noting that Columbia Waterfront has been working on a purchase agreement that would create a block for a hotel. Also, negotiations with several potential restaurant tenants are under way. Meanwhile, investors are being sought.

“We’re not going to build all the buildings,” he said. “It’s really more of a subdivision deal for us. We bought the land and will build two or three of the first five buildings. After that, I don’t know. Other developers will probably pick up the rest.”

Some hurdles remain, including a proposal for an oil terminal that would bring through the vicinity up to four additional trains per day. The Tesoro-Savage Vancouver Energy Distribution Terminal, at the Port of Vancouver USA, would handle daily up to 360,000 barrels of crude oil, which would then be shipped to refineries mostly on the West Coast.

The Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council is reviewing the Tesoro-Savage proposal; Gov. Jay Inslee‘s approval also is required before the project can move ahead. Vancouver City Council opposes the project, and Cain says that approval could lead to the Waterfront development – at least its residential portion – being downscaled.

“We own the property; we’re all in on this deal,” he said. “It’s not so much a matter of would we go ahead, but would it still be possible to do the things we were going to do?”

Construction of the main road connecting the development site and Columbia Street is slated to start this fall. Site connections to Esther and Grant streets are expected to be made by spring 2015, Cain said.

A train trestle that improved access just to the north of the project, already has been reconstructed, Cain said. The city of Vancouver, the state and federal government and the developer collectively paid $45 million for it, he said.

Another major improvement, the $18 million Waterfront Park, is in the permitting process; construction is anticipated to begin in 2015. The half-mile-long park will give Vancouver residents access to that stretch of the Columbia River for the first time in more than a century, said Jane Jacobsen, a Jacobsen Works principal who is involved in the fundraising effort. She also is working with the city and Vancouver, B.C.-based landscape architect PWL Partnership to ensure that the park connects to others along 18 miles of the waterfront and the city.

Stabilization of the shoreline that fronts the property also is scheduled for next year, Jacobsen said. The improvements will give the property and the city more of a “river-town feel,” she said.

“This whole development … will really help turn people’s attention to the water,” she said. “We are a waterfront community. Vancouver is here because of the Columbia River.”

Two years from now, the Waterfront is expected to be up and running with at least a few buildings constructed and the park in place, said project team member George Diamond, a principal broker with Real Estate Investment Group. He is talking to prospective market-rate and affordable housing developers as well as several high-end retailers and restaurateurs. Columbia Waterfront also is looking to sell blocks to other interested developers, he said.

Prices would start at $100 per square foot. By comparison, property in Portland’s Pearl District sells for about $300 per square foot and property in downtown Portland sells for about $250 per square foot, he said.

Diamond compared the development to Portland’s South Waterfront District, which is on a riverfront with links to parks and trails. Similarly, the Vancouver project will essentially expand the downtown and open up the riverfront, he said.

“You just don’t find 30-plus acres on the river,” he said. “It just doesn’t exist.”

The project has the potential to be transformative for Vancouver in the way that the removal of Harbor Drive in favor of a waterfront park was for Portland 40 years ago, said Kelly Love-Parker, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce.

“This can become the signature feature for downtown Vancouver,” she said. “I would say that we are a modern-day, beautiful city with every amenity. It would bring bodies into the downtown core.”

The post Remaking a city’s waterfront appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

has been building projects in the area for nearly three decades. Employees say persistence is one of the main reasons the company has stayed busy throughout the recession.

Gramor is continuing to develop neighborhood, grocery-anchored projects in Portland-metro areas, and also work with the city of Vancouver, Wash., on the redevelopment of 21 waterfront blocks. Barry Cain, the company’s president, is hopeful that construction in Vancouver will begin in slightly more than two years.

In between searching for tenants, and eyeing new sites around the area, Cain took a few moments with the 91��Ƶ to talk about the Vancouver project and more.

91��Ƶ: Where are you at right now on the development of the former Boise Cascade site on the waterfront in Vancouver?

Barry Cain: As you know, the access project is under construction right now, which is a big part of making the waterfront redevelopment a reality. We’ve been working on the project for five years and that was the first big hurdle, to get the rail trestle that runs through the middle of town rebuilt with nice big access points going into the waterfront property, making it a part of the downtown and making it flow into it naturally.

91��Ƶ: The access to the site is going to run under the rail track?

Cain: Yes, the rail track is already elevated and there will be a slight dip going under the rail track just to make sure that there’s enough coverage so large trucks can go in and that sort of thing.

91��Ƶ: Who is this in conjunction with?

Cain: Washington (State) Department of Transportation rail, city of Vancouver, BNSF (Railway Co.) and the Port (of Vancouver USA). Everyone is involved because it’s all a part of a group of projects made into one. When we first became involved the port was already working on a new project that would provide for better rail access to its west-side property and (WSDOT), BNSF and the city of Vancouver were heavily involved with a $150 million bypass project to allow for more frequent passenger train traffic and eventually high-speed rail. Everyone agreed that access to the waterfront was important enough that it should be brought into the fold and that the three projects should be one.

91��Ƶ: So this is like the stepping-stone?

Cain: Yes, a big one. Along with that we now have a full master plan approval and a development agreement signed with the city that vests the project for 20 years. And we have 21 city blocks that are approved and ready to be built on.

91��Ƶ: When do you hope to get a shovel in the ground and actually working on a building?

Cain: The access project is going to be complete in mid-2013 and we would like to start right about then on the initial site work and buildings could start shortly after that.

91��Ƶ: Tell me what you envision for this site ultimately and in what time frame.

Cain: It’s probably a 10-year time frame after we start construction. Our master plan approval is for a maximum of 3,500 residential units, which is a mix between all kinds of residential: rental, affordable and condos, a million square feet of office space, 250,000 square feet of retail with various restaurants and a hotel.

91��Ƶ: Where are you at with lining up tenants? Do you have anything set in stone yet?

Cain: Up until just recently we’ve been fully involved with the land-use issues, but now we’re done with that and the economy is picking up and we’re ready to go. We have an amazing situation with 21 city blocks right on the Columbia River attached to downtown Vancouver in the fastest growing part of the Portland-Vancouver market that has no state income tax. We think we have the best spot for the next Fisher Investment or Peace Health. We’ve got great locations for all kinds of housing, hotels and restaurants. And we’re very encouraged by the people who are showing interest. George Diamond of Real Estate Investment Group is representing the development, by the way.

91��Ƶ: Is there anything else you want to add about the waterfront?

Cain: I think you have to understand that the waterfront is not just another project for us. We and our partners, who are well known citizens of Vancouver, got involved with it because we wanted to see the right thing done with it. We’ve taken the long approach, we’ve bought the property and we’re designing it so it will be something the city and the area can be proud of for years to come. Right now, our plan is to start in 2013, and we are encouraged it will be able to; but whenever it happens, it will be the right thing.

91��Ƶ: You aren’t going to make a move to just make a move?

Cain: Right.

91��Ƶ: You were out there working these last few years when others weren’t. How did you stay active?

Cain: We’ve been developing in this market for 26 years now and we’ve always tried to pick the best sites, sites that were going to be good no matter what the economy. And I think we’ve been conservative on our financing structure. We have a group of people that work together here that have been together a long time and like each other and like what we do. I think the combination of that has helped us to be one of the first ones out of the gate.

91��Ƶ: Have you had to adjust how you approach financing over the last few years?

Cain: Not really. The lending is more conservative – that’s for sure – but financing is generally the same. The biggest challenge was the delay of projects that were ready to start a few years ago but for all the right reasons were delayed ’til now. It’s certainly hard when you spend a lot of money and time on a project and then put it on hold. But we were fortunate that they were good projects with great tenants that were willing to wait.

91��Ƶ: Your bread and butter has been these grocery-anchored developments. Is that something you plan on sticking to? Are you going to try anything else?

Cain: No, we are happy to continue to do that. I think that our forte is building neighborhood centers that can become the focal point and gathering center for a neighborhood. Plus, we all live in the Portland area and don’t have any desire to go traveling around the country.

91��Ƶ: Moving forward, are there any markets that you see having a fast recovery? Anything you see as remaining stagnant?

Cain: Obviously, there was some pent-up demand for retail, which we’re trying to do our part to help. And the rental apartment market is in full swing. But I think we’ll see everything return to a more normal state in a short period time.

91��Ƶ: What other projects do you have going on?

Cain: We’ve got Lacamas Crossing that has the (new) Costco in Vancouver. A couple of our tenants just opened up and their business has been really strong. Qdoba had one of (its) strongest openings ever nationwide. We have the Old Town Square in Wilsonville that’s under construction and Fred Meyer is going to open in mid-July. Shortly after that Oswego Grill and McMenamins will open with about 20 other businesses. Of course, Progress Ridge Town Square, which is unlike anything that’s been built in this town or the Northwest. It’s a neighborhood entertainment center and it will appeal to the whole west side of Portland. Just the three (anchor) tenants – Big Al’s, New Seasons and Cinetopia – will bring 40,000 customers a week to that site. I think when people see the buildings and pedestrian amenities they might be reminded of the type of quality of Lake View Village in downtown Lake Oswego.

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“It just wasn’t fun anymore.”

Barry Cain, president of Tualatin-based Gramor Development and one of the many eternal optimists in the industry, lost enthusiasm for his work in the past three years.

It’s a clear indication that business in Portland was as bad as it ever had been … or maybe worse. Even some of the area’s most notable developers were conspicuously absent from the public eye during the recession.

Now, however, many say they’re ready to return to the business of building Portland – although it won’t be business as usual. While most would welcome the return of high rental rates and low vacancies of 2006, they agree that the most recent downturn has taught them the importance of conservativeness and thorough planning.

“It’s a lot easier to juggle the balls and get caught up in the fast pace of the industry when you are going up,” Cain said. “But when things head down it doesn’t take long to remember how important being cautious is.”

A lot of what Gramor did in its first 25 years helped the company navigate this recession, Cain said. But he still gleaned some lessons from this downturn.

“I’ve had it reaffirmed that a good rule to live by is don’t buy the land before you know what you’re going to do with it and you’re ready to use it,” he said.

Cain’s company is beginning work on its biggest project since the recession hit, Progress Ridge TownSquare in Beaverton. In the past, Cain would have moved forward with a project before any anchor tenants were secured. But this time, he decided to wait until he had agreements signed by three anchor tenants and nine additional tenants.

“This industry lost some good developers, and frankly, good people, because they bought land on speculation before the recession,” Cain said.

Art DeMuro, president of Venerable Properties, said he was a fairly conservative borrower even before the financial markets collapsed in the past couple of years.

“The ones that stayed liquid and didn’t over-leverage are the developers that are still here to talk about,” he said. “We compete in a free enterprise system and there is going to be cycles in both directions, so we just don’t want to over-commit to anything.”

DeMuro said he has learned that he has a stake in the success of all of his tenants. Instead of focusing on locking tenants into long-term leases simply to fill spaces, DeMuro plans to conduct his own research to make sure he has the right tenant for the right space in the right part of town.

Developers are generally optimistic that the market is experiencing a turnaround, but they all believe that more job growth is needed before Portland can experience a full recovery.

“The office market and retail market both rely heavily on job growth,” said Mark Edlen, managing principal of Gerding Edlen Development. “So we are going to be really cautious before going ahead with any of those types of projects.”

Instead, Edlen’s company is looking at apartments as a good investment in Portland nowadays. Over the past nine months, the company has leased 265 apartments at the Indigo, where only seven units are still vacant. Another downtown Portland complex, the Cyan, hit 85 percent occupancy during the same time period.

Beam Development Principal Brad Malsin, meanwhile, is looking at building more office space. He thinks projects such as the Convention Plaza Building, part of the Burnside Bridgehead redevelopment site, can convince new businesses to locate in Portland and spur job creation.

“To improve employment in Portland we don’t need more class-A office space; we need as many creative, flexible and cost-effective spaces as possible,” Malsin said. “We need to create employment districts and business districts that bring the creative population in Portland together and let them collaborate.

“This is what we’ve always tried to do, but now we want to be even more selective on what we do. We want everything to fit our brand and fit our strategy.”

Developers said they were glad to still be in business.

“These cycles are part of the industry, but they are still tough to go through,” DeMuro said. “But I think I can speak for most developers in town when I say that just because things are tough, I haven’t lost my faith in the industry, in Portland or the tenants we build for.”

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After five years of planning, Tualatin-based Gramor Development is finally making progress on the long awaited in Beaverton.

Gramor has secured a $45 million loan from U.S. Bank to start work on the $60 million, 325,000-square-foot Progress Ridge TownSquare project that has been in the works since 2005. Gramor will be contributing $15 million toward the development, which is set to open in September 2011.

Gramor’s announcement comes a month after the company sold the Albertsons-anchored Vancouver Market Center for $11.2 million to the New York-based Retail Opportunity Investments.

Progress Ridge, located on Southwest Barrows Road near the unincorporated neighborhood of Bull Mountain, is a 20-acre development that will be anchored by a 41,000-square-foot New Seasons Market to the east and a 50,000-square-foot luxury theater called Cinetopia to the north. Ground was broken last year on a Big Al’s Family Bowling and Entertainment Center, which will anchor the south side of the property after it opens – perhaps next month. Nine other leases have been signed by people representing a credit union, restaurants and a host of nail and hair salons.

According to Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, 408,000 people – with an average household income of $108,000 – reside within a 15-minute drive of the site.

“We think this development isn’t only going to be a boom for the area, but a boom for the entire retail community in the Portland area,” Cain said. “Getting this financing lined up shows that money is available for good retail in a good location.”

The project is a big boost for the market. At the end of the second quarter this year, CoStar, a commercial real estate database, reported only 29,099 square feet of retail space under construction.

The loan, which is the largest retail construction loan to be processed in the Portland area since the beginning of the recession, is a clear indicator that Portland is moving through the recession, Cain said.

Gramor has overcome several bumps to reach this point.

In 2005, Gramor proposed building a two-story Fred Meyer on the Progress Ridge site, but the plan fell through because the proposed size exceeded Beaverton’s grocery outlet size limit for the area.

Then, in 2007, both Cinetopia and New Seasons approached Cain about the property, but the recession stalled any deals before they could be finalized. When both tenants finally committed last year, Big Al’s happened to be looking for a location in the Portland area, Cain said.

“We think this is going to be much better than the original 2005 proposal,” he said. “Here we have three anchor tenants that haven’t only held on, but excelled during the recession.”

In the space of 15 minutes at the construction site on Thursday, two nearby residents and an employee with Stanley Security asked Cain about the development and what kind of work will be available.

Cain believes the development will attract tenants that will create 800 to 1,000 permanent retail and office jobs to the area. The project also is expected to support as many as 2,000 construction jobs over the next year.

There is still room for about 30 more tenants. Cain is looking specifically for two restaurants to occupy the development’s west side, where there will be a pond, a fountain for children and a small vineyard.

Cain added that Gramor is moving construction equipment out to the site this week and will be breaking ground officially on the road work next week.

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