Chief
12-26-2006, 04:54 PM
http://www.columbian.com/business/businessNews/12212006news86252.cfm
Thursday, December 21, 2006
JONATHAN NELSON
Questions about adequate access to Boise Cascade’s waterfront property have delayed sale of the land viewed by many as key to making downtown Vancouver an urban hub.
A local consortium of investors led by Gramor Development of Tualatin, Ore., was to take ownership of the 29-acre site this month. That won’t happen as the group and five additional parties continue to work to design rail and vehicle access into the property and, most importantly, determine how much each entity shares in those transportation development costs.
The city of Vancouver, the Port of Vancouver and the BNSF railroad company, which operates a regional switching yard in west Vancouver, all have an interest.
Steve Burdick, Vancouver’s economic development manager, doesn’t think the access issue is a deal breaker, but then conceded, “I can’t say specifically.”
Mike Moser, a Boise spokesman, said the sale is still expected to close in early 2007.
David Copenhaver, Gramor vice president of development and spokesman for the investor group, conceded that the access issue is “critically important” but said it was not directly tied to the extension of a closing date.
“We’ve just not exhausted the time frame granted us,” Copenhaver said. “But having said that, the access issue is important because right now access to the site is very limited. There’s a design proposal before us, but it needs some modification to meet the need of all the partners,” he said.
The issue is a complex one. BNSF’s major east-west rail line creates a berm that forms the northern border of the Boise property. At least one vehicle underpass, at Esther Street, is planned.
Developers envision the Boise site becoming dense urban neighborhoods of condominiums, offices and retail space. That transformation is expected to generate an estimated 20,000 vehicle trips a day, said Burdick. The goal is to direct that traffic onto Mill Plain Boulevard without it spilling into the city’s street grid.
The twist is that vehicles need to interact with major rail lines that serve the port and BNSF.
The port and city are readying simultaneous engineering studies that will tackle this problem.
The cost?
“It’s going to be a big number,” Burdick said.
And that’s where the investors, city, port, BNSF and other parties are wondering who is going to pay how much.
Political uncertainty
The recent political shift in Washington D.C., which puts Democrats in control of Congress, has also muddled the funding issue. Burdick said nobody knows if the change could jeopardize federal dollars. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said during last week’s visit to Vancouver that all “pet project” earmarks would be stripped from the federal budget to pay for the Iraq war. Burdick wonders what that means to the Boise project.
“There’s lots of uncertainty, which is not good,” he said.
**SCHNIPP**
Posted late, because this was not available online when I first commented on it. Provided as a public service for Vanncouver City Council Members enrolled in remedial reading.
Developing...
Thursday, December 21, 2006
JONATHAN NELSON
Questions about adequate access to Boise Cascade’s waterfront property have delayed sale of the land viewed by many as key to making downtown Vancouver an urban hub.
A local consortium of investors led by Gramor Development of Tualatin, Ore., was to take ownership of the 29-acre site this month. That won’t happen as the group and five additional parties continue to work to design rail and vehicle access into the property and, most importantly, determine how much each entity shares in those transportation development costs.
The city of Vancouver, the Port of Vancouver and the BNSF railroad company, which operates a regional switching yard in west Vancouver, all have an interest.
Steve Burdick, Vancouver’s economic development manager, doesn’t think the access issue is a deal breaker, but then conceded, “I can’t say specifically.”
Mike Moser, a Boise spokesman, said the sale is still expected to close in early 2007.
David Copenhaver, Gramor vice president of development and spokesman for the investor group, conceded that the access issue is “critically important” but said it was not directly tied to the extension of a closing date.
“We’ve just not exhausted the time frame granted us,” Copenhaver said. “But having said that, the access issue is important because right now access to the site is very limited. There’s a design proposal before us, but it needs some modification to meet the need of all the partners,” he said.
The issue is a complex one. BNSF’s major east-west rail line creates a berm that forms the northern border of the Boise property. At least one vehicle underpass, at Esther Street, is planned.
Developers envision the Boise site becoming dense urban neighborhoods of condominiums, offices and retail space. That transformation is expected to generate an estimated 20,000 vehicle trips a day, said Burdick. The goal is to direct that traffic onto Mill Plain Boulevard without it spilling into the city’s street grid.
The twist is that vehicles need to interact with major rail lines that serve the port and BNSF.
The port and city are readying simultaneous engineering studies that will tackle this problem.
The cost?
“It’s going to be a big number,” Burdick said.
And that’s where the investors, city, port, BNSF and other parties are wondering who is going to pay how much.
Political uncertainty
The recent political shift in Washington D.C., which puts Democrats in control of Congress, has also muddled the funding issue. Burdick said nobody knows if the change could jeopardize federal dollars. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said during last week’s visit to Vancouver that all “pet project” earmarks would be stripped from the federal budget to pay for the Iraq war. Burdick wonders what that means to the Boise project.
“There’s lots of uncertainty, which is not good,” he said.
**SCHNIPP**
Posted late, because this was not available online when I first commented on it. Provided as a public service for Vanncouver City Council Members enrolled in remedial reading.
Developing...