<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Port looks to hire site consultant for hotel, mixed-use plan

Board on Tuesday to consider contract for outside input

By , Columbian Port & Economy Reporter
Published:

The Port of Vancouver is expected Tuesday to hire a consultant to help it develop a mixed-use building at its Terminal 1 waterfront property. The new structure would include space for Red Lion Hotels Corp., which now operates the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay at the port-owned site.

The port’s Board of Commissioners will consider a proposal to employ Portland-based Leland Consulting Group during its regular public meeting, to be held at 9:30 a.m. at the port’s administrative office, 3103 N.W. Lower River Road in Vancouver.

Under the deal, the port’s CEO, Todd Coleman, would sign a contract with Leland for up to $250,000 to provide services, including financial and market analyses, on an “as needed basis,” according to the proposal.

The company has “expertise in these types of projects that we don’t,” Abbi Russell, a spokeswoman for the port, said Monday. According to its website, the company has conducted redevelopment work and economic and housing analyses for projects in Oregon, Washington, Colorado and New Mexico.

Port managers are asking commissioners to approve the contract with Leland after deciding the company was the most capable consultant out of four finalists for the job. Bringing in a consultant is part of the port’s larger effort to redevelop Terminal 1, where it owns more than 10 acres including the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay, a public dock and a waterfront amphitheater.

The port is talking to Red Lion about “potential hotel services” on several floors of the planned mixed-use building, according to the port’s proposal, “with retail, parking and office space occupying the remaining floors.” Previously, the port had suggested it would build a new hotel for Red Lion, in addition to constructing a separate mixed-use building. But Russell said Monday that the mixed-use building would include space for a Red Lion hotel.

The port has said the goal would be to keep the existing Red Lion hotel operating while the new mixed-use structure is being built. It’s not clear what will happen to the existing hotel site, but Russell said the port is interested in preserving at least some of its historic elements.

In addition to the mixed-use building, the port wants to redevelop additional waterfront lots at Terminal 1. To that end, the port, with help from Leland, is expected to launch a public planning process early next year. The port has said that a farmers market is one of many different ideas to draw the public to the waterfront site.

The port also has said it wants its waterfront project to complement a plan by Barry Cain, president of Tualatin, Ore.-based Gramor Development, to conduct a $1.3 billion commercial/residential redevelopment of Vancouver’s 32-acre waterfront. The 32-acre site adjoins the port’s Terminal 1 property.

In a move related to the port’s plan to reconfigure Terminal 1, commissioners Tuesday also will consider reducing Red Lion’s lease rate to soften the impacts to its business of work to demolish the Centennial Center. The Centennial building, part of the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay, is being removed to make way for the extension of Columbia Way, which will serve as the east-west arterial to Cain’s planned waterfront project.

Loading...
Tags
 
Columbian Port & Economy Reporter