Emerging areas are more active than downtown
Testing the tepid waters of recovery, developers are concentrating on actively growing areas such as east Clark County, the Fourth Plain corridor, and Salmon Creek.
However, some more speculative downtown Vancouver projects are still on hold, pending an economic up tic and an influx of tenants.
"I believe in emerging markets and new markets more than established markets," said Elie Kassab, president of Prestige Development.
Red Light
Prestige Development's The Luxe, originally planned as a 56,000-square-foot mix of retail, office space and condos on 13th Street, has all its approvals in place.
"We're not going to let them lapse or expire," said Kassab.
However, said Kassab, development of the project is stalled until the economy turns. Once it does, Kassab is seriously considering focusing The Luxe on above-market-rate housing for baby boomers with no kids at home, who spend six months of the year in warmer climes. But until the housing market rebounds, Kassab continues to play the waiting game.
Killian Pacific, too, has put its downtown projects on ice. Although the Fort Vancouver Regional Library construction continues apace, the other aspects of the Library Square vision, such as office and retail space, residential units and a hotel, and the proposed Pacific 101 Building on the corner of 6th and Broadway, await better times.
These projects, said Lance Killian, chief operating officer for Killian Pacific, "are on hold pending increased market demand."
The Al Angelo Company had planned on adding an extension to their new office building at 400 Mill Plain Blvd., but, said Al Angelo Jr., this second phase "has yet to be exploited because of the nature of the economic downturn."
In fact, said Angelo, his firm is looking elsewhere on the West Coast for development opportunities.
"Economic development is not easy here," said Angelo. "It takes a long time to get ideas on paper, produce documents, wait a year for approval. … Life doesn't work that way – it's too fast."
Yellow Light
Not all is doom and gloom, however. Killian stated that they had "experienced positive movement in leasing activity and also in the availability of financing in the last 8 to 10 months."
And Prestige Development has two downtown projects that are moving head, if slowly.
Prestige Plaza, at 13th and C streets, is slated to be a five-story "market rate" apartment building with 120 to 150 units. Given results that a recently commissioned market study called extremely encouraging, "it has the best chance of happening," said Kassab.
"There's room for housing units in downtown Vancouver, especially in this location," Kassab added.
Another Prestige project, originally slated to be a drive-through bank building at 409 E. Mill Plain, has also made progress. Though the site has design-review approval, the banking customer is no longer interested. Kassab said there is a chance the site could end up featuring "the largest national fast-food chain."
Green Light
Dean Kirkland Development is wrapping up its Plaza 192nd project, which at $5.5 million was the fifth-largest commercial development project in Clark County in 2010. Located at 192nd Avenue and 20th Street, the project features a two-story 29,000-square-foot building and a 6,000-square-foot single-level building.
Tom Files and Dean Kirkland, principals of Dean Kirkland Development, said they planned to break ground on their next project – 192nd Station – by the end of the year. Located on six acres just north of Plaza 192nd between 15th and 20th streets, this phase with six or seven buildings will have a total of 120,000 square feet. Potential tenants could include medical, retail, food service and real estate.
"It's taken us five years to get to this point – this is huge!" said Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, which is part of the Columbia Waterfront LLC partnership, referring to the approval and full funding of the waterfront access project.
Burlington Northern (BNSF) will be doing the actual construction of the trestle rebuild, required to allow road access under the railroad berm in the northern edge of the development. Funds for the access project are coming from Columbia Waterfront LLC, the city of Vancouver, Washington state and federal dollars, as well as some from BNSF. Cain said the trestle portion of the project, estimated to be completed in about 18 months, will cost around $44 million. Then Columbia Waterfront LLC will be ready to start the first phase of the infrastructure, and some buildings, once the waterfront access project is completed.
MAJ Development Corp., owned by Mike Jenkins, is focusing on buying existing properties and retrofitting them.
"We can get them at 40 to 50 cents on the dollar," said Jenkins. "We couldn't build at the rate we're buying."
For example, their Springbrook Station on NE 112th Avenue converted an existing coffee establishment into an "inline retail" project with a 7-Eleven® as the anchor tenant. Jenkins also reported recently completing another conversion project – a yoga club on Fourth Plain and Main Street – into the first 7-Eleven in uptown Vancouver.
All these developers also have projects in the wings. Kassab said he had projects in "neighboring communities" to the north and east of Vancouver; Jenkins said his firm had eight new projects percolating, several of them in the Vancouver area.
Files and Kirkland indicated they hoped to begin a major project in Salmon Creek in the next 12 to 18 months located just behind Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, potentially featuring a multiple-story office building and perhaps a national hotel chain.
Kirkland also said they would start construction soon on a project in the industrial area of Vancouver, near lower Grand Avenue and the Columbia Business Park. They own property and already have 80 percent of the project leased.
"Developers are finding creative ways of getting financing," said Kassab. "There are some holes in the markets, and good developers will find those holes and fill them."
