The 2.5-acre property--home of the former Lincoln Steamplant-- is located on the southeast corner of Southwest River Parkway and Moody Avenue, just north of the Marquam Bridge. It was acquired from Pacific Power & Light in 1985. Environmental contaminants include petroleum by-products, asbestos-containing paint and other industrial contaminants.
In late 1999, the PDC and local developer Homer Williams inked a Disposition and Development Agreement for the parcel that called for a hotel tower and a condominium tower, but the hotel financier eventually walked away from the deal. In August 2001, Williams and Seattle-based Gordon Sondland (the new hotel partner, working with Inter-Continental Hotels) approved a new disposition and development agreement for the project. At that time, the plan was for a 110-room luxury hotel and two other buildings containing 170 condominiums.
According to the DDA, Williams was to pay $3.6 million for the property by the end of the year and then flip the hotel parcel to Sondland for $1.8 million, who would immediately begin a hotel feasibility study to satisfy Inter-Continental. The low purchase price for the property came with strings attached: if the condos cost less than $54.4 million to develop, the city's development commission was to get half of any savings. Also, if condominium sales revenue exceeds $64.1 million, the city was to get half of that excess sum as well. As for the hotel, the PDC was to get half of the estimated $250,000 "opportunity fee" that likely will be paid to Williams by Sondland.
However, by April 2002, plans changed again, with Williams and Sondland delaying the hotel project and bringing on local condo developer John Carroll to the begin gearing up to develop the condominiums. By mid-2003, the hotel portion of the project had been dropped altogether in favor of additional for-sale residential units and a destination restaurant, and Carroll and Sondland were no longer involved in the project. As well, the city's deal for kickbacks on development savings and unit sale profits was exorcised from the agreement.
At last check, Williams' new partner for the condominium development is local developer Jack Onder, and the actual sale of the land to Williams is supposed to take place sometime this year. The current DDA calls for 210 condominium units in three buildings, underground parking for 250 and a destination restaurant that will be located in the condominium building closest to the waterfront.
The demise of the hotel project is believed to be two-fold. First, the PDC in 2002 denied Williams' request to raise the height limit on the property to 200 feet from 150 feet. Second, another hotel is now planned a short ways down the river, adjacent to where an extension of the Oregon Health Sciences University is in the works. Williams also owns land there as well.
According to the contract agreement with URS Corp., the environmental cleanup of the property is expected to extend into the PDC's 2006-2007 fiscal year. After that, redevelopment of the site will finally get underway, assuming there's a market for the units at that time.
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