Thursday, September 18, 2008
Breakfast 7:15am
Presentation 7:45-9:00am
Multnomah Athletic Club

Portland State University
School of Business Administration
Business Briefing Breakfast Series

"Redevelopment of Portland's US Post Office Site"
A presentation by PSU's BOMA Real Estate Development Workshop Students

Followed by commnets from a panel, including:

Mark Edlen - Gerding Edlen Development
Greg Baldwin - Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects
Lew Bowers - Portland Development Commission

$15 fee (includes breakfast - free for PSU students) - register online at www.foundation.pdx.edu/busbriefings , or call 503.745.4763.

Sponsored by A-dec, Black helterline LLP, ESCO, Moss Adams LLP, NW Natural, The Standard, and Weyerhaeuser.

My assumption is that they will mention a baseball stadium in passing. I'm 99% sure that the USPS site will officially disappear as a potential future stadium site within the next few years. Nonetheless the presentation and discussion should be fascinating since this is such a prime location and prime opportunity to do something great at that site.

Thank You CL for letting us know about this here. We might have see it somewhere else but getting it here makes sure that we who have looked at the site in the past are interested in its future.

This site was destined for employment/commercial/residential development in nature for the get go. If the site is a MLB Stadium focused development I would be totally, totally shocked and happy, happy, happy.

The locals and the location don't point to this though.
As I have stated, one vision, one location is needed for MLB to locate in PDX ever.

BB

The fat lady is warming up over at Broadway & Hoyt...(Oh, and Merry Christmas to those who still stop in to visit -TCL)

Link to Portland Tribune Article - please use link, thanks

City closing in on deal for Post Office site
PDC, Postal Service finding common ground on purchase price
By Steve Law
The Portland Tribune, Dec 25, 2008

Nobody ever accused the Postal Service of being speedy, especially during the holidays.

But talks are getting down to the nitty-gritty in the city of Portland’s 20-year pursuit of the postal distribution center southwest of the Broadway Bridge.

Redeveloping the 13-acre site at 715 N.W. Hoyt St. presents a rare opportunity to expand Portland’s central business district. The property has been touted as ideal for a major employment center, a university or a Major League Baseball stadium, though the stadium idea is out of favor among city officials.

With a nudge from Oregon’s Congressional delegation, the Postal Service agreed two years ago to part with the site if a suitable price can be fetched.

That may be in the cards.Both sides commissioned recent appraisals to determine a purchase price for the complex, and the two figures turned out “very, very close — shockingly close,” said Steven Shain, Portland Development Commission manager for the River District Urban Renewal Area.

The city is “very confident of proceeding forward and making this happen,” Shain said.

A Postal Service spokesman was more tightlipped.“Finally, we’re at a point where I would call this serious negotiations,” said Ron Anderson, customer relations coordinator in Portland.

More than 800 people work at the complex, a hub for distributing mail from all of Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Under terms of the Portland Development Commission’s letter of intent to buy the property, the purchase price will be set by averaging the two appraisals, then adding 50 percent. PDC has explained the 50 percent bonus as a way of reflecting future property value, since it will be several years before the Postal Service vacates the site. In addition, the city anticipates changing the streets and zoning, enabling more density as the site develops than the Postal Service’s sprawling 390,000-square-foot complex.

The bonus also serves another purpose.Because the Postal Service derives all its operating income from selling stamps and other services — rather than relying on federal income taxes — it has insisted on getting enough money from the deal to build a replacement facility.

The two appraisal prices, plus the 50 percent bonus, may be enough to meet the Postal Service requirements, Shain said.The cost of such a replacement facility is one of the issues still on the table, he said.

Shain said the property is worth it to the PDC because “this is a transformational site for the city of Portland. If we don’t do it now, we’re going to want to do it some other time.” He said the site could accommodate as many as 10,000 new jobs in the future.

‘An incredible opportunity’

The city has long made it known it wants to acquire and redevelop the site. But the Postal Service was a reluctant seller, until it was prodded by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and others. After high-level meetings with congressional staff, Postal Service leaders agreed to consider a deal and toured possible new locations, including Port of Portland property near the new Ikea department store near Portland International Airport.

City officials say the site would give the Postal Service better access to air freight, used to transport about half the state’s mail.

But the Postal Service wants to own its site, and the Port must retain ownership of its land, because it’s near an airport runway. To get around that issue, the Port offers other occupants, including Ikea, long-term land leases spanning several decades, said Keith Leavitt, corporate real estate manager.

The Postal Service also is weighing alternate sites in Woodburn and Vancouver, among others, Anderson said.

Though the Hoyt Street land could host far more than 800 workers, the city doesn’t want to lose those jobs, Shain said.

A PDC appraisal from nearly two years ago showed the distribution center was worth $45.5 million. That figure “might have been a little low,” Shain said, indicating the new appraisal is higher. That would suggest a final purchase price of perhaps $75 million or more. Shain and Anderson declined to cite the new appraisal figures.

Coming up with the steep price won’t be easy. However, the city expanded the River District Urban Renewal Area earlier this year to include the Postal Service site, properties in Old Town/Chinatown and other parcels. In the same decision, the city extended the life of the urban renewal area an additional 11 years, giving the city an additional $344 million in urban renewal funds for projects in the area.

An appeal of the boundary expansion, now before the state Land Use Board of Appeals, could jeopardize the PDC’s ability to raise and spend money in the expanded area. However, the group of former PDC officials that filed the appeal likes the prospect of the Postal Service deal.

“It’s an incredible opportunity,” said Jeff Tashman, who helped write the original River District plan, but now thinks the city is being too loose with its urban renewal spending there.

Shain said he’s confident of reaching a binding agreement to buy the site by the March 31 deadline, which was initially Dec. 31 but extended last month.

Terms of the deal, as now structured, would give the Postal Service six years to vacate the site.

City officials no longer think a baseball stadium is a good use for the property, Shain said, because that would only bring activity to the area for about 81 home games a year.

stevelaw@portlandtribune.com

quote:

City officials no longer think a baseball stadium is a good use for the property, Shain said, because that would only bring activity to the area for about 81 home games a year.

Pretty hilarious how the city says this, but then they turn around and want to put the Beavers out at Lents and not the Rose Quarter.

Newsflash to city hall - Lents needs a year round type of development, not baseball! The Rose Quarter needs a summertime activity to the fill the gap between baseball and hockey seasons! Figure it out!!!!!!!

Here! Here!