AbSci, touted as the first of many tenants for the Port of Vancouver’s bioscience center on the waterfront, is backing out of plans to move to the former Red Lion hotel, though the company still hopes to relocate to Vancouver.
The Portland-based biotechnology firm announced last November it would be moving to the gutted hotel, renamed the Columbia River Life Sciences Building. The port appears ready to abandon that short-term bioscience initiative altogether.
At Tuesday’s port meeting, commissioners will vote on AbSci’s request to get out of its lease.
“They had been rapidly growing out of their space in Portland and kept growing,” said port spokeswoman Abbi Russell. “Looking at the timeline and the growth they’re expecting in the long-term, it doesn’t make sense for them in the short-term.”
The port has plans to at some point demolish the entire hotel complex as it develops its Terminal 1 property at Columbia Boulevard and Columbia Way, which would have made AbSci’s move a temporary one anyway.
“What initially seemed like a perfect proposition just ended up not meeting our long-term needs,” AbSci office manager Reid Van Atta said Friday. “What we need is something in Vancouver where we can plan to be for the next five years.”
Van Atta said the company, which grew from six to more than 14 employees in the past year, is close to a deal to move to a downtown Vancouver location and may have an announcement in a few weeks.
AbSci was greeted with great fanfare last fall as the port’s plans for Terminal 1 began to take shape. Without its first bioscience tenant or any others lined up, port commissioners will also vote Tuesday on moving away from attracting those businesses to the empty hotel it owns.
“Due to costs, evolving plans and flexibility needed for construction, staff has determined the most prudent course is to transition to a support role as the Columbia River Economic Development Council takes the lead in building the region’s biotechnology/life sciences sector,” reads Tuesday’s meeting agenda.
The port may also sell off about $113,000 worth of equipment it bought for a planned shared lab space, including a sterilizer and a venting hood.
AbSci was going to occupy about 8,000 square feet of office and lab space among the former hotel rooms of the old Red Lion. The original agreement with AbSci would have seen the port receive about $415,000 in revenue over three years.
While the port did invest more than $46,000 in the hotel to prepare for AbSci’s arrival, Russell said the company would reimburse those costs if commissioners approve the lease rescission.
Rather than find another short-term use for the hotel, what most likely comes next for the space is a wrecking ball.
“We are looking at a pretty aggressive schedule to permit, which would require at some point the demolition of the former hotel,” Russell said. “As the timeline shortens, further investment in that property may not be a wise move.”
WareHouse ‘23, the recently opened restaurant and banquet space at Terminal 1, in a few years will have to move out and back in as part of the port’s plans to re-invent its waterfront property.
