Read about the progress of remodeling of the Copeland Building for Stumptown Coffee’s new headquarters on the Central Eastside Industrial Council’s website.

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Portland’s Venerable Properties submits redevelopment proposal for former mill site

By Nick Bjork

After ending years of negotiations with Lab Holdings in late June, the Portland Development Commission has identified three other firms interested in potentially redeveloping the Centennial Mills site in Northwest Portland.

Renewable energy company Humboldt Bay Energy and developers Intrinsic Ventures and Venerable Properties all turned in proposals that focused on job creation, rather than food–as Lab Holdings had pitched.

The PDC had selected Lab Holdings after an extensive request for proposals process, but they reached an impasse over the type of development that should occur at Centennial Mills. Shaheen Sadeghi, Lab Holdings’ president, wasn’t willing to alter his firm’s proposal to accommodate PDC’s request that at least half of the development foster job creation.

A 16-page document submitted by Art DeMuro’s team from Portland-based Venerable Properties offered more detail than two-page proposals submitted by Humboldt Bay Energy and Intrinsic Ventures. Venerable Properties’ plan would preserve the central core of the Centennial Mills site and construct two new buildings around it. The building would hold a mix of employment, living, retail and restaurant space, according to the letter.

The letter of intent is extensive, DeMuro said, because he borrowed heavily from his Centennial Mills redevelopment proposal that he submitted in 2007, when the PDC handed development rights to Lab Holdings. According to DeMuro, this time the proposal includes less retail and no maritime museum component.

Venerable Properties plans to team with Harsch Investment Properties, a local firm with a portfolio of more than 130 million square feet of commercial space.

“Venerable is Portland’s only commercial development firm specializing in historic redevelopment, and we are drawn to the task of salvaging and rehabilitating Portland’s most valuable and threatened historic resources,”  Venerable Properties said in its proposal. “Centennial Mills is the finest vestige of Portland’s yesteryear of commercial milling and maritime commerce.”

Intrinsic Ventures, owned by Michael Tevis, is based in Northern California, but the firm has experience working in Portland. It owns and operates the 125,000-square-foot Ford Building at Southeast 11th Avenue and Division Street.

Int its Centennial Mills proposal, Intrinsic Ventures said it would pair up with Portland-based Works Partnership Architecture to create affordable work spaces designed to attract startup companies, artists and creative businesses — a mix similar to that in the Ford Building.

In its proposal, Eureka, California-based Humboldt Bay Energy — which focuses on solar energy, solar thermal energy systems, wind energy systems and energy storage systems — proposed using the Centennial Mills site as a showroom of sorts.

“We are interested in moving our global corporate headquarters to the World Trade Center in downtown Portland with the intent of potentially using the Centennial Mills site as a mass-production assembly and distribution center, business center and showroom center, said Garison Russo, founder of Humboldt Bay Energy.

Russo added that he would be working with his group of multi-billion-dollar private  equity investors to help a viable project pencil out.

The letter of intent express initial interest. PDC spokesman Shawn Uhlman said PDC staffers will bring the letters to the leadership team and determine the next steps. While there is no definitive timeline, Uhlman added that staffers expect to move the project forward quickly.

Check Daily Journal of Commerce website.

A redeveloper is working with Portland Schools to turn the long-vacant Washington High into housing and business space

By Matt Buxton

After nearly three decades gathering dust, Southeast Portland’s long-vacant Washington High School is a step closer to new life.

Portland Public Schools is working with Venerable Group, Inc. to redevelop the building into housing and business space.

Washington, built in 1924, operated as a high school until it was closed in 1981 and has seen only intermittent use since.

The school district, the city’s second-largest property owner, doesn’t often sell its properties, opting to keep them as a revenue-generating resource. But location and population trends put the building on the district’s surplus list, said Portland Public Schools spokesman Matt Shelby.

“We don’t have an inked deal with Venerable at this point,” Shelby said. “But I think we do feel confident. They have a good track record but also the desire to keep the building and use it for housing and other mixed used development.”

Venerable is known for historic preservation work in the Portland area, including the White Stag building and the nearby Fire Station No. 7.

The firm presented the school district a number of options, all of which included a focus on housing, with some affordable housing, along with restoring the building’s aesthetic appeal.

“First and foremost, we would like to do a historically accurate rehabilitation of the building,” said Art DeMuro, president of Venerable.

DeMuro said he would like to get the building placed on the National Register of Historic Places, which would require a thorough renovation and restoration of the building — from windows to the interior.

That jibes with stated interests of the school district and the Buckman Neighborhood Association, which want to preserve the building.

Susan Lindsay, chair of the Washington High School Project Advisory Committee, said Venerable has “done great with preservation and conscientious development.”

The negotiations are supposed to start this month, and any agreement will be subject to Board of Education review and approval. As part of a yearlong search for a developer, Venerable was selected from two firms that submitted proposals last year.

Shelby said the building and property were appraised at about $2 million, and that would likely be the asking price.

“We love the building and want to find the right use that it’s compatible with,” DeMuro said.

For more on Fire Station No. 7, please read the post at Portland Architecture by Brian Libby.

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