Any development at the former Denny’s site in downtown Vancouver is good development as far as some downtown business owners are concerned.
Others don’t agree.
The city is currently renegotiating a development agreement with The Al Angelo Co., which has proposed a five-story, 60,000-square-foot office building with 80 surface parking spaces at the long-vacant site of 15th Street and Mill Plain Boulevard at “D” Street.
The developer also has plans to build a companion 90,000-square-foot office and retail building with more than 300 parking spaces directly west of “D” Street, currently occupied by a commercial complex that includes FedEx Kinko’s.
Part of the agreement is that the city vacate “D” Street between Mill Plain and 15th for parking and landscaping, and the original development agreement asked the city for a deferment or waiver of compensation for the street vacation.
Without the vacation, the project – to be called 400 Mill Plain Center – is not feasible, the developers have said.
That could be a loss for the city of $480,000 – the full market value for the 16,000-square-foot street – but in most cases, the city charges half of the fair market value of a street for vacation, said City Manager Pat McDonnell.
The city could choose to charge the full market value because the street has been open for more than 25 years, but McDonnell said it’s the city’s standard practice to charge half as an incentive and said it’s highly unlikely the city would stray from that policy.
Originally, the city proposed waiving the vacation fee if the developers built the second phase of the project within 10 years, McDonald said.
McDonnell didn’t discuss what aspects of the development agreement are being renegotiated, but said the city’s biggest goal is to convert “C” Street to two ways to mitigate the traffic impact of closing D Street.
Whose job it will be to pay for the conversion is in discussion, he said.
The Vancouver City Council met on the issue last month and will take it up again Sept. 24.
The meeting was lively, and concerns were raised by numerous stakeholders.
The city sees potential for the project to be the signature gateway into downtown and there was discussion as to what is the best way to welcome folks into the city.
Tim Erickson of Block & Olson Glass Service, 205 E. 15th St., said that subject is a double-edged sword for the city.
“Is it the right welcoming to have all of that heavy truck traffic mixed with commuter traffic on the main route into downtown?” he said. “To me, that’s always been a poor – and dangerous – mix.”
But Erickson likes the proposed project, and said any sort of development at the long-vacant site is a good thing.
“If you have a viable downtown, you have high-rise offices,” said Bob Bernhardt, broker and owner of Coldwell Banker Commercial Jenkins-Bernhardt Assoc, 1500 “D” St. “What better way to welcome people.”
Bernhardt is a strong proponent of the Angelo project.
“I love it,” he said. “Anything new looking downtown is exciting, and it is without a question the right use of that space.”
From a business standpoint, it puts the commercial real estate office in the heart of the activity, Bernhardt said.
“It’s an excellent thing to happen to us,” he said.
Sharon Geivett, owner of G&G Property Management at 314 E. 16th St., doubted the closure would be a deterrent to her business and said customers would just need to be reeducated about how to get around any affected areas.
Erickson and Bernhardt agreed.
But Vancouver land use attorney James Howsley is representing a group of at least four local business and property owners calling themselves the Friends of “D” Street, who have serious concerns about the development agreement.
The group engaged a traffic consultant to study the implications of closing “D” Street on traffic and on business and property owners that have a vested stake in seeing downtown develop.
The Al Angelo Co. has indicated it has enough tentative tenants to fill the majority of the project’s first phase.
“Yes there is a need for office,” Bernhardt said. “The better question may be whether there is a need for four brand new office buildings at one time.”
If that many office buildings hit the market within 18 months of each other, it could take several years for the market to absorb the space.
Bernhardt said the location is ripe for activity and has good ingress and egress, but said the current traffic situation is deplorable. Making “C” Street two ways is a wonderful idea, he added.
As for the potential privatization of “D” Street, Erickson said he does not believe in public concessions for private development.
“I don’t think developers should get any more free things than they already do,” he said.
Geivett agreed.
“It doesn’t seem like a developer should be able to (privatize a city street), but the Angelos have so much money they can pretty much do what they want, right?” she said.
