A variety of build-to-suit projects keeping the Port of Ridgefield busy
From a distance, it’s got that geo-thermo feel, like hot springs at the base of a volcano. Steam curls up and out of vented holes, billowing over Miller’s Landing – a 40-acre environmental cleanup site on the edge of Lake River in Ridgefield.
Managed by the Port of Ridgefield, the steam is part of a soil-scrubbing process to remove toxins (creosote and others chemicals) that a wood-processing plant left behind. Now the Port is looking beyond the $70 million mop-up with an eye on the site’s f
uture.
If clean-up crews keep to their 12 to 15-month schedule, the $400,000-a-month natural gas bill, which heats 120,000 gallons of steaming water to cleanse the soil, will zero out, the steam will condense and construction will begin – starting with a riverside community trail.
“We’re looking at, always, keeping the waterfront in public, open space,” said Randy Mueller, director of business development for the Port of Ridgefield.
The port, about a mile upstream on the Lake River from the Columbia River, has big plans for the site, which is about 40 percent of the way through the cleaning process. As part of the cleanup, toxin-free earth is moved in place and leveled out, making it build-ready. It’s a “clean and develop” process that Brent Grening, the port’s executive director, has worked to streamline.
“Capping the site is the first step in redevelopment,” Grening said. “Let’s make it so it serves two purposes.”
As the cleanup moves through its final months, new projects are cropping up left and right. The port is pinning Ridgefield’s economic future on the site with a mixed-use waterfront, a railroad overpass on Pioneer Street, an office park on the corner of Pioneer and 45th street, a wine tie-in at the port and a project to dredge the mouth of Lake River.
Miller’s Landing waterfront
According to Mueller, the port has been in talks with potential tenants, but he’s not about to kiss and tell before contracts are signed. However, he said the overview includes a 40-acre mixed-use waterfront, which he envisions will include a retail village, a waterfront trail and businesses that include restaurants, light manufacturing, education and professional services.
Whatever form it takes, the port sees the development as an employment hub for Ridgefield.
On the “no-go” list for the waterfront: Heavy industry, wood treatment, warehousing, wastewater treatment and outdoor storage. Mueller won’t disclose leasing terms, other than to say they will be competitive. Meanwhile, he’s hoping that developers, shy of large-scale projects in a sagging economy, take notice and take on the project.
“If someone came to us today and said we want to be out here, we could make that happen,” Mueller said.
Pioneer Street Railroad overpass
Some 70 trains rumble through Ridgefield each day, chugging along between 40 and 70 mph. On average, one person dies at the Pioneer Street crossing each year. Making matters worse, stilled trains strangle and cut off traffic to the waterfront – a bad scenario for would-be businesses and emergency city services. The way port officials see it, an overpass is an economic must-have.
By February, 90 percent of the project’s design work will be complete, making it shovel-ready. The port now pins project hopes on legislative funding to build out the overpass, which will also serve the adjacent Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge via the waterfront development.
Discovery Ridge office park
Located at the corner of Pioneer and 45th avenue, are plans for a 30-acre office park called Discovery Ridge. Like the waterfront park, Discovery Ridge is slated to be built in phases and build-to-suit. Again, Mueller said the port is in talks with potential tenants, but would not comment on specifics.
Wine
In an effort to bring in high-end employers, the port is swirling around the thought of wine. However, this remains a courtship in the contemplative phase, because a legislative rule change is needed to allow the port to engage in wine-related activities. Mueller pointed to other Washington ports and their relationships with their local wine industry as possible examples.
A couple of ideas the port is mulling: Create a co-op for local growers – a place to press grapes and taste wine. Or create a new-winery incubator, with reduced rents in the beginning years until the business flourishes.
One idea serves existing wineries, the other helps to incubate future ones.
Dredging
Located just one mile from the Columbia River, Ridgefield could easily be a boating destination. One of the main reasons it’s not, he said, is a narrow channel that’s just two feet deep.
“The mouth [of Lake River] hasn’t been dredged in 30 years,” Mueller said.
Mueller believes it will take the Corp of Engineers no more than a day to dredge the channel, but figures that will be one expensive day. He estimates dredging costs would range from $250,000 to $500,000.
If the port has its way, it’ll get its dredging day some time within the next couple of years. And, if the economic winds lift its sails, Ridgefield, with its rehabbed port, is in a prime position to prosper.
