A Tacoma, Washington-based developer has agreed to buy a 415-acre former mill site in Gardiner, an unincorporated Douglas County area north of Reedsport.

The buyer is George Heidgerken, through Industrial Harbor USA LLC – an entity registered in Washington.

Heidgerken owns both the former Blue Heron mill site in Oregon City (home of the Willamette Falls Riverwalk project) and a retired Olympia brewery site in Tumwater, Washington, that is also targeted for development.

The seller is International Paper – a publicly traded, Fortune 500 company based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company closed the paper mill and sawmill in 1998 after decades of service.

“We can confirm that terms of an agreement have been reached and we hope to close on the deal within the next several months,” International Paper spokesman Tom Ryan said in an email Friday.

The sale is in escrow, and scheduled to close in the next “couple of weeks,” said Tom Vaughn, executive director of development for Industrial Harbor USA.

The sprawling property includes a campground, water rights to the Tahkenitch and Siltcoos lakes, power from Bonneville and Douglas Electric substations on site, a permitted landfill, a 3-mile short line railroad and 10 shop buildings comprising 150,000 square feet.

“The site is unique on the Oregon Coast and probably on the entire West Coast,” Vaughn said. “We just recognize a lot of opportunity to make a positive impact to the local economy.”

It’s not clear what Heidgerken and Vaughn intend to do with the site. Vaughn, an environmental scientist who works for Heidgerken, said he could not discuss plans in detail.

“Right now, I’m not comfortable saying, but it will definitely have an impact on the local economy,” he said. “It is jobs-focused. It will reflect the heritage of the area, and it will be environmentally friendly.”

Neither the buyer nor seller would disclose the sale price. But the site was most recently listed for $6 million, including water rights. It was first listed at $10 million for the real estate, and an additional $12 million for water rights.

The Gardiner mill site has been on the market since 2009, said John Brown, a Eugene broker who has represented the property since that time.

Over the years, prospective buyers including a barge builder, a beer distributor and an RV park entrepreneur expressed interest in the site, Brown said. Google seriously considered buying the site about four years ago, but declined because it was too remote to quickly get service technicians to the property, he said.

“It’s a unique property that has to draw a very unique category of buyer,” Brown said.

The southern Oregon coast has suffered economically from the decline in Oregon’s logging and fishing industries. In March, federal regulators rejected plans to open a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Coos Bay.

Jennifer Arnold, a Douglas County planner, said an electrical permit is in the works for the Gardiner mill site. Issuance of permits for the property has been on hold because it is located in a floodplain, she said.

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Metro has selected a team led by Portland-based landscape architecture firm Mayer/Reed to design a public path running through the former Blue Heron Paper Co. mill site in Oregon City.

Mayer/Reed is partnering with Norwegian firm Snohetta and Canadian firm DIALOG on the estimated $30 million project to build a riverfront path offering up-close views of Willamette Falls. The design process will kick off this summer and is expected to require 18 months, including a significant amount of time gathering public input.

The joint effort of Metro, the city of Oregon City, Clackamas County and the state of Oregon will provide public access to the falls for first time in more than 100 years via a pedestrian and bike path along the Willamette River through the ex-Blue Heron site and Portland General Electric property. The aim is catalyze redevelopment of the 23-acre industrial site that was abandoned when the Blue Heron paper mill closed in 2011.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown and other representatives of the project’s four government partners on Friday touted the effort during a reception to announce the chosen schematic design team. The event was held in a portion of the former industrial site that once served as a woolen mill.

“I think this is a great illustration of what I call, ‘the Oregon way,’ people of all walks of life coming together,” Brown told attendees. “When the Blue Heron paper mill went bankrupt it was certainly a blow to Oregon City. Four partners came together. Everyone worked together to recapture the value and the beauty of the falls. Today, we mark the next step forward for this project … It’s definitely the huge undertaking.”

Several top landscape architecture and urban design teams vied for the chance to design the Willamette Falls Riverwalk, but the one featuring Mayer/Reed, Snohetta and DIALOG stood out by bringing a unique perspective, Metro councilor Carlotta Collette said.

“From the beginning of this project, we were hoping to have an international design competition,” she said. “We kept using that word ‘world-class attraction.’ When this team came forward, the way they approached it collaboratively, they had the heart and spirit of the local love for the site, but the international cache as well.”

Mayer/Reed partner Carol Mayer-Reed said she’s long been captivated by Willamette Falls and was intrigued by the opportunity to make the natural wonder that has been obscured by decades of nearby industrial use more publicly accessible. She described the falls as “an incredible jewel that was buried in plain sight.”

“I always wondered whether there would be a time for me to play (a) role in changing its future,” Mayer-Reed said.

Mayer/Reed is collaborating with Snohetta on the James Beard Public Market project in Portland and Mayer-Reed said she’s pleased the firms will have a chance to partner again on the Willamette Falls Riverwalk. DIALOG has designed a number of waterfront redevelopment projects in Canada and will also bring great expertise to the team, she said.

Snohetta is partnering with the Canadian firm on the Calgary Central Library in Alberta, which is currently under construction.

Designers from all three teams are eager to get to work on the project and have plenty of ideas already, Mayer-Reed said.

“Our minds are on fire,” she said.

Although exactly how the design of the project will shake out hasn’t been determined and will take into account public input, it will certainly respect the long history of the site and its connection to Oregon City, Mayer-Reed said.

“I’m inspired by the layers of history,” she said. “The site is like an archaeological dig. It’s probably one of the most difficult projects any one of us will work on. There is just so much enthusiasm and support for it. It’s just great to be a part of it.”

Michelle Delk, Snohetta’s director of landscape architecture, said firm staffers found out about the project though Mayer/Reed and after a visit to the former industrial site were immediately hooked on the possibility of reimagining what it could be next.

“It’s just incredible,” she said. “It’s one of those projects that just moves you as a landscape architect.”

George Heidgerken, the Tacoma, Wash., developer who owns the ex-Blue Heron site, said he agreed to allow the path to go through the property and contributed $1 million to the effort because it will serve as a draw to the area. The public path will support his plans to potentially build a hotel and restaurants on the site and set the tone for those future developments, he said.

“Metro has to finish what they’re doing first,” Heidgerken said. “We’ve got to make it blend. We want a project that really, truly expresses the history of Oregon (and) that makes it a fun place to go to.”

Carol Pauli, city commissioner for Oregon City, said during Friday’s reception at the site that the Willamette Falls Riverwalk project is the first step to reintegrating the area back into downtown.

“Where we stand was once Main Street urban grid,” she said. “Downtown Oregon City was located here. There were barber shops, restaurants and an opera. It’s amazing to think of this once again becoming part of Main Street.”

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Three finalists are still in the running to design a public path through the former Blue Heron Paper Co. mill site in Oregon City.

The teams vying to design the riverfront path providing up-close views of Willamette Falls are: New York-based James Corner Field Operations with Portland-based PLACE and Seattle-based Miller Hull Partnership; Portland-based Mayer/Reed with Norwegian firm ����ø���ٳٲ� and Canadian firm DIALOG; and Portland-based Walker Macy with New York-based Thomas Balsley Associates.

Finalists will be interviewed next month, and a winning team should be selected by June, said Ellen Wyoming, natural resources engagement coordinator with project partner Metro. The design process is expected to kick off this summer and require 18 months, she said. This will include a significant amount of time gathering public input on the plans.

A path for pedestrians and bicyclists will be constructed along the Willamette River, adjacent to downtown Oregon City. The path will pass through the ex-Blue Heron site and Portland General Electric property to give the public access to nearby Willamette Falls for the first time in decades.

The project, estimated to cost $30 million, is a joint effort of Metro, the city of Oregon City, Clackamas County, the state of Oregon and site owner George Heidgerken. It has been hailed as the first step toward revitalization of the ex-industrial site; it has sat vacant since 2011, when the paper mill shut down.

About $10 million in funding has been secured from Metro and the state to complete the first phase of developing the path. The initial design phase budget is approximately $650,000.

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Metro is seeking a team to complete schematic design for a planned public path through the former Blue Heron Paper Co. site in Oregon City.

The regional government agency late last week issued a request for proposals from teams interested in completing schematic design and developing a phased plan for construction of the Willamette Falls Riverwalk. The estimated $30 million project involves construction of a path for pedestrians and bicyclists along the Willamette River, adjacent to downtown Oregon City. It will pass through the ex-Blue Heron site and Portland General Electric property to give the public access to nearby Willamette Falls for the first time in decades.

The project is a joint effort of Metro, the city of Oregon City, Clackamas County, the state of Oregon and site owner George Heidgerken. It has been hailed as the first step toward revitalization of the ex-industrial site; it has sat vacant since 2011, when the paper mill shut down.

The schematic design team will work closely with a consultant that Oregon City is seeking to research the cultural history of the site and compile a report.

The schematic design RFP is available on the Oregon Procurement Information Network and through on the Metro website. Proposals are due by 2 p.m. on March 11.

Metro officials plan to hire a design team in June.

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Oregon City officials are seeking a consultant to research the cultural history of the former Blue Heron Paper Co. site and compile a report that will assist the team designing a public path through the property.

A request for proposals has been issued for a consultant to complete a “cultural resource/cultural landscape” report for the estimated $30 million Willamette Falls riverwalk project. The path for pedestrians and bicyclists along the Willamette River, adjacent to downtown Oregon City, will pass through the Blue Heron site and Portland General Electric property to give the public access to nearby Willamette Falls for the first time in decades.

The project has been hailed by Oregon City officials as the first step toward revitalization of the ex-industrial site, which has sat vacant since 2011, when the paper mill shut down.

The consultant’s report will assist Oregon City and other project partners, including developer George Heidgerken, Metro, Clackamas County and the state of Oregon, to ensure the riverwalk design expresses the cultural history of the site and nearby Willamette Falls. The draft report is scheduled to be completed as project design begins so that the design team will have access to information on historic resources, according to a summary of the RFP on the Oregon City website.

Proposals are due by Feb. 4 at 4 p.m. More information is available at .

Qualifications include academic degrees and professional experience in history, archaeology, architectural history, architecture or historic architecture.

Metro officials plan to later this week issue a separate RFP for a team to provide schematic design for the project. The chosen cultural resources consultant will be integrated into this schematic design process.

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The owner of the former Blue Heron Paper Co. site in Oregon City and Portland General Electric officials have signed agreements with Metro that will allow the construction of a public path through their adjoining properties.

Metro is partnering with the city of Oregon City, Clackamas County and the state of Oregon to build the estimated $30 million riverwalk. The path for pedestrians and bicyclists along the Willamette River through PGE property and the Blue Heron site, will give the public access to nearby Willamette Falls for the first time in decades.

The project has been hailed by Oregon City officials as the first step toward revitalization of the Blue Heron site, which has been vacant since 2011, when the paper mill shut down.

The Metro Council on Thursday unanimously approved entering into agreements signed by Blue Heron site owner George Heidgerken, a Tacoma, Wash.-based developer, and PGE officials so the riverwalk project can move forward, Metro spokeswoman Yuxing Zheng said. The agreements will be signed by Metro officials on Monday once all portions of the documents have been finalized, she said.

The agreement with Heidgerken secures a 120-foot riverfront easement for the path. He also committed to pay for 20 percent of the design and preliminary engineering expenses for the project, estimated at $900,000, and at least 20 percent of future maintenance and operations costs for the riverwalk.

PGE officials agreed to allow the path to be built across a portion of the utility company’s dam along Willamette Falls to an area with a prime view of the falls.

Metro officials are currently working on a request for proposals seeking design and engineering services for the project. The RFP is scheduled to be released early next year, Zheng said. A design and engineering team should be hired by late spring 2015 and are expected to take 18 months to develop project plans, she said.

About $10 million has been secured for the first phase of construction from Metro and other project partners, Zheng said.
Last year, the Oregon Legislature approved $5 million in lottery-backed bonds being spent on the path.

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University of Oregon graduate architecture student Jacob Simonson is fascinated by the challenge of bringing people back to the former Blue Heron Paper Co. site in Oregon City.

“It’s kind of an intriguing problem – more of a difficult problem – to address,” he said while peering over a large-scale model of the abandoned paper mill site.

Simonson and other students are building the model as they research the history, conflicts and redevelopment potential for the 23-acre industrial site. The dozen students are part of a yearlong studio class taught by John Yeon Center executive director Randy Gragg and THA Architecture principal Becca Cavell at the UO Department of Architecture in Portland.

The class examines ways to reuse the vacant industrial buildings that were abandoned when the Blue Heron paper mill closed in 2011, reconnect the site to downtown Oregon City and take advantage of the site’s proximity to Willamette Falls. At the conclusion of the studio next summer, each student will present their designs for redeveloping individual buildings on the site.

The course, one of the last the students will take before they graduate, is geared toward designing adaptive reuse projects, Gragg said.

“It’s the last opportunity for the students to be their own client,” he said. “It continues the imagining of the site. This is sort of an act of imagination for what can happen with the building stock.”

On Tuesday, the students marked the end of the studio’s first term with a presentation before the site’s new owner – Tacoma, Wash.-based developer George Heidgerken – and design professionals who created a master plan to encourage redevelopment.

The students shared what they’ve learned so far and sought professional feedback on their initial ideas for adaptive reuse projects. These include production facilities for bikes, food, canoes, outdoor shoes and other apparel. Students are also exploring design of fish and food markets, a mixed-use building, a brewery, an industrial design research institute, an outdoor camp and an interfaith institute.

One of the biggest appeals of the course was working with an actual site and reimagining existing buildings, Simonson said.

“This was just an intriguing site (with) a lot of potential,” he said. “I really enjoy and have done adaptive reuse projects.”

For the first term, the focus was on gathering as much background as possible to eventually inform students’ designs, class member Alex Brooks said. For inspiration, the class twice toured the site with Oregon City officials and traveled to Minneapolis, Minn. to see the Mill City Museum, which is built on the ruins of an abandoned flour mill.

“This studio was a major information download,” Brooks said. “It was about absorbing the site (and) the opportunities and the challenges.”

As a class, the students concluded that they would primarily seek to answer three questions over the course of the studio: What brought people to the site? Why did they leave? And finally, what will bring them back?

After hearing the students’ presentation, Walker Macy principal Mike Zilis praised their approach. The Portland-based landscape architecture and planning firm created for site redevelopment a master plan that recently was approved by the Oregon City Commission.

Zilis reminded the students to embrace what he believes is one of the site’s largest assets: a prime view of Willamette Falls. Any redevelopment should bring the falls back to prominence that was lost because of longtime industrial use on the site, he said.

“This place has been masked,” he said. “It’s been blown up and manipulated, and people can’t see it anymore. The way to build a market and bring people back (is) going to be about the draw of the site.”

Heidgerken said his team is exploring many redevelopment possibilities, such as a brewery or restaurant. Like the UO architecture students, team members have been careful to absorb the history of the site and consider which existing buildings should be preserved, he said.

“It’s not a matter of $5 million here, $30 million here,” he said. “It’s a matter of the site telling you what to do and the history of the site … What we want with this site is not something you see once. We want something that’s attractive to the general public. You come here once and you come back.”

At this point, plans to redevelop the Blue Heron site are open-ended. Heidgerken said he appreciates the architecture students’ visions.

“We don’t know (the plan) yet, but we will and meetings like this help,” he said.

Graduate architecture student Adrienne Fainman said class members are looking forward to sharing their final ideas with the developer.

“In June, we’re going to be presenting 12 projects,” she told Heidgerken. “We’re going to be pouring our hearts into this. We’re going to be able to hand that over to you – 12 fantasy projects.”

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The new owner of a former mill site in Oregon City has big dreams for its redevelopment. George Heidgerken, a Tacoma, Wash.-based developer who in May purchased the ex-Blue Heron Paper Co. property for $2.2 million, thinks its location on the banks of the Willamette River, slightly downstream from Willamette Falls, has great potential.

“That site has incredible opportunity for kayakers and riverboats of all kinds,” he said. “We’re willing to spend a lot of time and energy designing a really cool situation for the kayaks and the people watching them.”

Heidgerken said he and his sons are all avid kayakers, and he thinks Willamette Falls and the river below it could become a popular kayaking destination if there were direct access to the water and a way to navigate the 40-foot-tall falls.

“The problem now is we can’t get them over the falls, but we’re already in talks with people who are in charge of water to see how we can change that,” he said. “We want the kayakers not to be hidden, but to be a big part of the show for people who are sitting right there.”

Heidgerken envisions part of the 23-acre property becoming restaurant and pub space from which diners could watch kayakers running through courses. Those eateries would be as unique and historic as their location, he said.

“We want to create something substantial that may be (a throwback) from the past,” he said. “There are all kinds of special restaurants that were really good in their time and people wonder why they closed. If we could bring some of them back we’d like to do that.”

One example Heidgerken offered was the long-closed Pixie Kitchen in Lincoln City that touted serving “heavenly food on the Oregon Coast.”

“We’re not just looking at the site and the legacy of what occurred there; we’re looking all over the state,” he said. “This is a special place; that’s the reason you pick up a site like that is to figure it out and make something special out of it.”

Christina Robertson-Gardiner, a city planner in Oregon City, said the Community Development Department has been working closely with Heidgerken, but said he hasn’t informed the city of any specific plans. Officials are in the final stages of working out an easement plan with Heidgerken in order to move forward with the Willamette Falls Riverwalk project.

“He is free to go forth and figure out what he wants to do,” Robertson-Gardiner said. “He’s trying to find investors, and we’re excited to see if any of his ideas come to fruition.”

The Oregon City Commission on Nov. 5 approved the second reading of a zone change proposal from traditional industrial to a combination similar to what is used in Oregon City’s downtown.

“The big picture planning started before George came in, but now he’s obviously included,” Robertson-Gardiner said. “Developing the site would almost double our historic downtown area, so these are two parallel paths we’re going to be walking over the next few years.”

Heidgerken said his next step is to bring in a historian to assess the site and determine which buildings are historically significant and which should be razed. Oregon City did the same thing when creating a master plan for the site, but Heidgerken said he plans to do it anyway.

“We don’t intend to do anything without approval from the public because we want to stay out of trouble with everybody,” he said. “Metro has a head start on us with the vision, and we don’t want to throw a wrench into anything they want to do.”

The city identified five structures that must be preserved during any development. Heidgerken said his team has identified others that aren’t historically important. He said he’d like to demolish those and clean the place up.

Robertson-Gardiner said that the city and Heidgerken seem to be on the same page in regard to development and that, at this point, he can start applying for traditional land use permits when he’s ready to move forward.

“The reason this site sold is that we were looking for someone who had a high tolerance for risk and also had money, but those people are few and far between,” she said. “Finding someone who has both is difficult, but that is George.”

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Despite a bullish outlook earlier this year, The Shopoff Group has passed on its plans to purchase and redevelop the former Blue Heron mill site in Oregon City. But just as the company takes its leave, another is entering the scene.

Peter McKittrick, the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee for the 23-acre industrial property at the foot of Willamette Falls, said Tacoma, Wash.-based developer George Heidgerken has offered $2.2 million to purchase the site. That compares to the $2.8 million offer The Shopoff Group made in February, and a $4.9 million offer Langley Investment Properties made last Dec.

Langley, in a previous interview with the 91��Ƶ, said it dropped its plans because it lacked the necessary time to conduct due diligence on the site.

Bill Shopoff, The Shopoff Group’s president and CEO, said his company’s initial review of the site came with some unfortunate surprises. Particularly, the city’s own vision for the property, which Shopoff said envisions a smaller development footprint than his company had hoped.

Shopoff referred to a master-planning effort led by Walker Macy that aims to identify new commercial and pedestrian-oriented uses for the site. Shopoff said the plan as he understood it currently envisions just six acres of developable land, and he questioned whether income from such a small area could justify the cost of redevelopment. He said he had no doubt the city of Oregon City would eventually get there, but he just couldn’t justify it in the limited time available to him.

As such, Shopoff opted not to make a second, $50,000 nonrefundable payment on March 27. Meanwhile, Heidgerken’s group (Megarock LLC) has already made a $100,000, nonrefundable earnest money payment. Heidgerken could not be reached for comment, but Shopoff said he hopes the developer is successful.

“The right guy, with the right relationships could do something really spectacular with that site, and I hope that happens,” Shopoff said. “We were hoping it was us. We’re disappointed it isn’t but the risk for return curve was out of skew for us. (Heidgerken’s group is) betting twice as much as I bet, so I hope they’re twice as right – I’m guessing they are.”

Additional bids from competing buyers are due by April 28, at 5 p.m. A court hearing on whether or not to approve the sale is scheduled for May 1. If it is approved, the deal would need to close within three business days.

Heidergerken’s role as a developer is well-known in Washington state. Last year, Heidgerken (via various partnerships) acquired the former Olympia Brewing Co. brewhouse in Tumwater, Wash., as well as a post office building in downtown Tacoma, Wash., for mixed-use development, the Seattle Times reports.

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