Thursday,
January 26, 2006
Plan envisions UO in Old Town
By Su-Jin Yim
Satellite campus | The project rests on securing public money and could help revitalize the area.
The University of Oregon may move its Portland programs to Old Town if a $30 million project that supporters say would help revitalize the area can win public money.
Venerable Properties of Portland plans to buy three of the four buildings on the White Stag block and redevelop them into a single complex to house the university's architecture satellite program, which has outgrown its downtown space, and classes in journalism, law and more.
UO hopes to sign a 20-year lease for a 60,000-square-foot space, making it the major tenant.
On Wednesday, the Portland Development Commission signed off on a key stage. It voted to recommend that the Portland Family of Funds, a private company that manages federal tax credits for low-income areas, allocate $19 million to the project.
if the historic buildings are sold and redeveloped, it would bring a major new tenant to an important part of Old Town that once housed the Naito family real estate and retail empire. The properties stagnated during a family dispute.
The university center also would be one of a handful of projects proposed to revitalize the downtown waterfront. Others include relocating the downtown fire station and Saturday Market as well as redeveloping the Skidmore Fountain building.
Anne Naito-Campbell said it would be hard for the family to give up the building, but they recognized the value the university could bring to the neighborhood.
"If UO does not come into the neighborhood to that building, we're not selling the building," she said. "The deal is off."
The White Stag project would bring 500 students to the area every year as well as about 50 university jobs, said John Moseley, UO senior vice president and provost.
Venerable faces some pressure in securing the university as a tenant.
UO, which has been looking for a place to expand its Portland programs for more than two years, also is considering the 511 NW Broadway building, which the federal government wants to give away. The university must decide by Feb. 1 whether to pursue the Broadway building, Moseley said.
"We are on a very tight timetable," Moseley said. "We want to make sure we know where we are before we commit to one location when we have another very viable alternative." The university will not receive state funding for its Portland expansion, he said.
The Portland Family of Funds board isn't schedule to meet until Feb. 17, but early signs indicate the project will ge the requested amount, said executive chairman Carl Talton.
Wherever it lands, the university's new home will expand its Portland presence, now at about 40,000 square feet. The school expects to continue to grow in Portland during the next 10 years and may sign an agreement to buy the White Stag building down the line, Moseley said.
Under the White Stag plan, the UO would sign the lease this spring and start construction in August. The new building would be open for school in September 2007.
The three buildings would be developed into a single complex but retain each building's character, said Art DeMuro, principal broker for Venerable Properties.
The university, which also plans to move its study abroad program to the new location, would occupy the entire ground floor and some of the upper floors of two buildings.
Venerable, a veteran Portland development firm also is seeking $2.5 million form the PDC for a seismic upgrade and $125,000 to improve the storefront.
David Austin: 503-294-7611; suyim@news.oregonian.com