City makes deal for stretch of street
Grant Street will become part of waterfront access
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Map
Update
■ Previously: The city of Vancouver plans to create access to the planned waterfront development via Grant Street, a portion of which was owned by The Columbian. Work that the city had hoped to begin at the start of the summer was delayed as the two sides negotiated over the land.
■ What’s new: The city and The Columbian reached a $4.38 million deal for the paper to sell the city a previously vacated portion of Grant Street.
■ What’s next: A ground-breaking ceremony is Wednesday, and limited construction may begin by mid-October.
The city of Vancouver closed a deal Friday with The Columbian to buy a vacated portion of Grant Street, clearing the way for work to begin on a $40 million waterfront access project.
The $4.38 million deal included a portion of Grant Street and a building at 615 W. Sixth St., Vancouver Transportation Manager Thayer Rorabaugh said.
“We’re excited to finally get this behind us and move toward the next step to improve access to the waterfront,” he said.
Vancouver had hoped to begin work this summer, but the negotiations delayed the start.
Vancouver planned to move BNSF Railway trains onto temporary tracks before Oct. 15, when heavy Christmas commerce and grain transport from the Midwest kicks off and the railroad can’t risk an interruption, Rorabaugh said.
BNSF may move the deadline back a little bit, he said, and construction contractors will look at what can be done immediately.
“I’m not sure how much work we’re going to be able to accomplish,” he said.
A ground-breaking ceremony will be held Wednesday afternoon, with U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, Congressman Brian Baird and Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt set to speak.
The road project is part of Vancouver’s deal with waterfront project developer Gramor Development of Tualatin, Ore. Investors expect to build mid-rise condominiums, offices, boutiques and restaurants worth an estimated $900 million on the 32-acre former industrial site.
Part of the development deal requires the city to have the road work “substantially complete” by the end of 2011, Rorabaugh said.
Plans call for re-opening Grant Street, which lies along the east side of the The Columbian’s press and offices at 701 W. Eighth St. and is currently closed to through traffic. The city vacated the street in the 1950s.
Crews must lower the intersection at Sixth and Grant streets to create a new 16.5 foot clearance underneath two existing railroad bridges. Two crossings where trains must now blow their horns — at Eighth and at Jefferson streets — will go quiet as the project is completed.
Dropping the grade on Sixth Street will make the building at 615 W. Sixth St. — now leased by Petlock Inc. — inaccessible, so the city bought it, Rorabaugh said. The city paid $2.315 million for Grant Street and $2.065 million for the Petlock building.
Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell said the change to Grant Street will pose new challenges for his company.
Improving Grant Street will cut the property in half, with employee parking across the street, and the company will also lose parking, he said. A loading dock will be “pinched,” and trucks will have to be rerouted, he said.
“It’s the right thing for the city in terms of waterfront development,” Columbian Chief Financial Officer Doug Ness said.
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