City of Vancouver City Center Redevelopment Authority Meeting Summary/Meeting Minutes Richard Keller President Marc Fazio Secretary/Treasurer Christine Wamsley Jack Onder Deborah Ewing Dick Pokornowski Vacant Staff Chad Eiken Teresa Brum Brent Boger Tina Picchioni October 15, 2015 12:00 p.m. Council Chambers, City Hall Roll Call Board Members Present: Richard Keller, Jack Onder, Christine Wamsley, Deborah Ewing, David Copenhaver Board Members Absent: Dick Pokornowski, Marc Fazio Staff Present: Chad Eiken, Teresa Brum, Brent Boger, Lloyd Tyler, Peggy Sheehan, Tina Picchioni Approval of Minutes Motion made by Christine Wamsley, seconded by Deborah Ewing and passed unanimously to approve the minutes for September 17, 2015. Development Activity Updates Chad Eiken, Director, Community and Economic Development, reported on changes and updates on the Development Project List. Chad advised that he had added the Board members to the Pre- Application email distribution list. The one new development project is on 192 nd Avenue, from Hurley Development, north of Costco and east of 192 nd. It consists of 240 multi-family units, roughly 31,000sq commercial and 13,000sq office. Chad met with the sub-committee and brought in a guest from Portland Housing Bureau to talk about their multi-family tax abatement program, to learn how they apply it, and what sort of criteria they use in approving projects. Community and Economic Development Department 415 W. 6 th Street P.O. Box 1995 Vancouver, WA 98668 (360) 487-7813 TTY: (360) 487-8602 WA Relay: 711 Fax (360) 487-8651 www.cityofvancouver.us Richard addressed The Affordable Housing Task Force, which is composed of three City Council members, including the Mayor, Developers, Richard himself, Marc Fazio, and others interested in the subject. The group will be generating recommendations to City Council in what to do about the housing crises. They will be concentrating specifically on Central Downtown Vancouver, Fourth Plain and the Waterfront. Downtown Grocery Store Evaluation Leland Associates Teresa started with a quick introduction regarding the context for the presentation, which will be from Brian Vanneman of Leland Associates. Teresa presented the Downtown Asset Strategy from the summer of 2013, prepared by Leland Associates. Teresa stated this report is presently being updated. The report identified nine downtown properties; some are parking lots, fire stations, and Block 10. In addition, we have seen an interest in a downtown grocery store. Teresa presented some initial findings to the Board to get feedback about how we could position ourselves for a downtown grocery store and what kind of indicators a grocery might look at for Page 1 of 7
locating downtown. Teresa introduced Brian Vanneman, from Leland Associates, a company that has been around for 27 years. Brian Vanneman, Leland Associate, gave a brief background of the company. Brian explained the general trend towards urban grocery stores and the reasons why there is great interest from both cities and downtown residents in stores. The Urban Land Institute does a survey every couple of years about what Americans want in terms of their housing, and what attribute they want in their community after quality of environment, and access to healthy food was number 2. Brian s presentation showed various grocery store models, many of them in Portland, including the Brewery Blocks in the Pearl District and Whole Foods. There is a direct economic correlation between the desirability of rental or condo units and proximity to grocery stores. The developer of Oronco Station in Portland often cited the kind of central theme of the project as the ability to walk for a quart of milk, and includes a lot more single family housing. A number of grocery chains are now looking at how they can potentially build stores that are the size of a 711 from 10-20,000sq, which gives developers a lot of flexibility. One of the things heard over and over regarding south Waterfront in Portland was, what it really needs is a grocery store, and when you hear the converse you hear positive feedback when there is proximity to a grocery store, and frustration when there is not. Metro in Portland undertook a study a while back, where they looked at hundreds, if not thousands, of condo sales and looked at proximity to various amenities and how that influenced the value of the condos. One of the things they found was that a specialty grocery and the average value of a condo within a quarter of a mile was 17 percent higher. So having a grocery store can increase the desirability and feasibility of residential development right in downtown. In the Vancouver City Center Vision there are statements of a desire for a grocery store quite specifically. In summary, Leland Associates strongly believe that access to food, produce, and other daily goods will have a positive feedback for downtown where residents and businesses want to be. Brian stated he would talk a little bit about site selection criteria, looking at different brands and then comparing them to the attributes in downtown Vancouver. A general list for site selection criteria: Store size Visibility and access Arterial and collector visibility Drive by traffic Walk by visibility Demographics Population and households within a certain radius Locations with a 360 market Household incomes Educational levels Competition Development costs Parking Dick stated that the credibility for the Brewery Blocks in Portland was underground parking, and that underground parking was what enabled Whole Foods to come into the Pearl District. Brian stated that the PDC was able to give a very low interest loan for the Brewery Blocks. Dick commented that the parking issues were a deterrent for a grocery store at South Waterfront in Portland.
Brian stated he has had many conversations with Grocery Real Estate Managers over the years and they want to hear the story. Brian thinks that Vancouver s ability to tell the story about the increasing amount of rental apartments that are coming, the Columbia Waterfront, and other aspects of downtown revitalization will be very important. Brian stated that the City s 2013 Property Portfolio had changed at least somewhat, and gave brief comments on the changes. Richard asked if part of the assignment was to look at downtown Vancouver and the Waterfront in total and not just the City properties because a grocery could well want to locate in a different location. Brian stated that his assignment is not particularly site specific, but will give the attributes that downtown Vancouver has, such as population, households, income etc., and how that stacks up against expectations. Brian pointed out that there is no full service grocery within a mile of downtown Vancouver, the closest is either Fred Meyer or Safeway, and both are about a mile and a half away. The population within the mile radius is approximately 8,000 households. Groceries are also looking for visibility and access for traffic by the site. Typically when a grocery moves into an urban setting, they are generally going to balance the drive-by traffic with the walk-by visibility. Other factors are demographics, which is usually population and households within a certain radius, locations with a 360. Brian talked about retail leakage, which is a typical study that grocers and other retailers will go through, which basically is an algorithm that takes the population and area times the spending of each of those households and deducts the current retailers in the area. Brian highlighted the grocery stores where there is leakage, which is where there is spending availability in downtown but those dollars are leaking outside, for example to Safeway or Fred Meyer. This is roughly $9 million of grocery sales that are going elsewhere and this is just within a one mile radius. Brian concluded his presentation with a quote from a great urbanist if you want to seed a place with activity, put out food. Brian asked for any thoughts on his presentation. David Copenhaver commented that he was excited as he and his business partner have been involved with over 43 groceries and would love to be the developer that delivers one to downtown Vancouver. However, Vancouver has a stigma that he is trying to overcome. He had a development that he brought before the CCRA called The Uptown, for 167 premium apartments. It is a $15 million project and trying to get institutional money has been difficult, and has taken two and a half years to put the project together, so getting a grocery is problematic because of the river and lack of living downtown. David complimented Brian on doing a good job evaluating those obstacles and also addressing the users as to who might be here and who might not be. David also stated that there is a story to be told about downtown Vancouver. There has been a lot of low-income housing being constructed recently, but with the low vacancy rates downtown and the rising rents, we are going to see market rate apartments starting to go up. David stated that this is one of the obstacles he has had in talking to grocers, and maybe the City will have to come up with some incentives to get grocers to come downtown. Richard stated that clearly we need a grocery store and asked what the board can do to help along the process.
Brian stated that definitely incentives would be part of the conversation. Even just the market rate rental component before adding in the grocery store is challenging at the moment. A big part of the delta and the cost for a developer will be looking at the need for either an above ground or underground parking and how that could be paid for on the private side without any incentives will be difficult. Brian commented on Block 10, or the city properties, and stated there are some unique aspects of these properties that could really appeal to a grocery store; in particular Block 10 could appeal to them, being a full acre, potential access on all sides and under the city s control to offer some incentives. Richard asked if the city still had parking spots in Vancouver Center. Chad responded that it did. David stated it would be interesting to hear where the proper setting is, because obviously the closer one gets to the river the more you are slicing off your market and the more problematic it is for people in the Lincoln or Arnada neighborhoods to get down to shop. Dick stated there might be interim steps, for example what happened in the Pearl District is people started buying condos. They were willing to drive for their weekend shopping, but after the little specialty stores started to pop up, some were very successful. This filled the gap until Whole Foods and Safeway came along, so there are opportunities. Teresa thanked everyone for their feedback and questions, and stated staff would come back and address their questions and possible incentives or actions that the city could take. Port of Vancouver Master Plan Katy Brooks, Director of Economic Development, Port of Vancouver, presented her presentation on Port of Vancouver Waterfront Concept. Katy stated they were chugging along in the master planning process to prepare for a concept that goes through a robust city process, really defining and doing the preliminary work before the entitlements and actual developments. Katy stated that the Port of Vancouver Board of Commissioners had just voted on a general concept that gave staff the permission to move forward and prepare for the city application process. This is expected to start around the first of the year. Katy stated that to date she has been everywhere. There was a public open house where roughly 125 people showed up down on the waterfront from ages 1 to 101. They have had an on-line survey, web input, one-on-one meetings, a series of stock holder interviews, and on-going meetings with the city. The City of Vancouver has been an overall partner with the Port since the beginning, and plan to continue to work closely to forge something together that makes sense for the community. Suffice to say they have taken input from thousands of people to help and inform the Port as it goes from a broad concept or precept, into what the board will see today. Katy stated that as we look at the broader picture, it really is a 360 effort and when you look at things that way you can t look at what do you build today, you have to look at things with a 50 plus year lens, and this is what we are trying to do moving forward. Katy stated that one of the challenges we face is that the Port s Commission is not interested in selling the property and for those who have developed any building on somebody else s land, it is a little complicated, and has to work with a public development as a greater public asset and has to make sense to somebody who wants to lay their money down and actually put something
above the ground. There are a lot of moving pieces; there are deep discussions with the city, there are also discussions with Columbia Waterfront and others to make sure that at the end of the day makes it a stand-alone viable piece that can also serve as a hardy gateway entry to the entirety of not only downtown, but to really support the waterfront as a whole. Katy wrapped up her presentation commenting on the evolution of decision making. Katy stated that anytime a masterplan is put down, you put your aspirations down, you try to gain an understanding of what the market will bear so it can sustain itself, and also that there are other influences that happen. There is a full process to go through with the city, there are private developers involved to develop some of these lots, and dealing with agencies regarding shoreline and over water issues. Katy stated she will be happy to come back at any point and report progress and take the board s input. Richard thanked Katy for her presentation and stated he was happy that Katy was working handin-hand with the city and hoped that over time ways can be found to work effectively with The Columbia Waterfront LLC. Richard stated that one important element of what happens in port property is the evolution of any hotel, because our Hilton Hotel is publically owned by the citizens of Vancouver and would like to make sure that whatever hotel is developed, it is done in a way that is cooperative with the Hilton rather than completely competitive. We have given 100s of nights of business to the Red Lion over the years, and we would like to be able to continue that relationship and help out the port and help out any hotel developer that you would like to work with that overflow business and hoped to keep a constant and open dialogue with regard to that. Katy stated that Richard brought up a very important point, and it has been the overarching guideline they have been using, and after months and months of discussions with the Hilton, the intention is the hotel facility supports the convention facility. Richard asked Katy what her background was. Katy stated she has been at the Port of Vancouver for ten years, and has been in this capacity for about two years. Overall she has been in the port industry for about 25 years. Review of 13 West Design Skip Grodahl, Developer of 13 West Apartments. Grodahl stated that 13 West is 92 Affordable Work Force Housing Units at Mill Plain, Columbia, 13 th, and Daniels. Their targeted market is work force housing, which is for people who make anywhere from $31,000 to $46,000 a year, and use the low-income housing tax credit program. Grodahl stated that pretty much every community from the largest to the smallest have affordable housing issues today, which is one of the things that they focus on. Grodahl stated he feels fortunate that the land price that his company was able to pay works for his properties. Grodahl stated the project is 92 units, 5-storys high in part of the building. The other part is 4- storys as it sits over a parking structure, with parking and their leasing office on the ground floor. The rents will be anywhere from $700 to $900, the cheapest unit would be a studio at a little over $700, $775 for 1-bedroom, and a little over $900 for the 2-bedroom. 52 of the units are 1 bedroom with two of those as live-work units, where someone can actually work and live out of the same unit and pay the rent of $775. Richard asked what the square footage of the units was. Grodahl stated that the studios are 400-575sq, 624sq for the typical 1 bedroom, but 850sq for the live-work units, and the 2-bedrooms are anywhere from about 900sq to 1000sq. Grodahl stated
that he would like to think that his apartments will compete very well in the market place way down the road. Grodahl finished his presentation and introduced Ron Dean with Otak. Ron Dean, Otak Inc., presented his presentation of the 13 th West Design. Dean stated it s a very urban form building with three main components. They are taking ques from 15 th West with contrasting pieces, the light against the dark to create a really strong form. Richard asked if this had been through Design Review. Greg Turner, Land Use Manager, City, stated that it had. Richard asked Greg for his comments. Greg stated that there were some comments regarding the color to differentiate the pedestrian ground, and also some comments on the entrance to the residential units on 13 th Street. Dick asked why they chose other material rather than the brick. Dean stated it was to maintain a little bit of variety between the two projects. Chris Wamsley asked if the metal would be painted. Dean explained that the metal is pre-finished. Richard asked what the city s tree requirements are. Chad stated that they would be street trees, so one every 30 feet. David asked if there would be secured access on 13 th Street, like a gate? Skip responded at this point the building is secure but not the parking. This is something that they would address if they were having issues in the parking lot. Richard asked if the board felt comfortable with the approach here or is there something of significance we should call out. David stated that the board is not rendering a decision that is enforceable, and wanted to commend Grodahl for seeing the opportunity in Vancouver and doing two, possibly three projects and is supportive of the project. David also commented that he liked the brick work on the 15 th West project. Richard asked if there were any other comments. Dick asked a question regarding work-force housing and where it fits in. Grodahl responded that when he thinks of work-force housing, he thinks of it as 60 to 100 percent. Some on the units at Union Station go up to 115 percent. Richard asked what would be the average price per square foot on land in Vancouver today versus what would be found in Portland. Grodahl responded that it is around $50 per foot. expected to be completed in 2017. Grodahl stated the 13 th West project is
Other Business No other business to be addressed. Executive Session No executive session was needed. PUBIC TESTIMONY Received no public testimony. NEXT MEETING There being no additional business, the meeting adjourned at 1:27 p.m. The next meeting will be November 19, 2015. Approved: Richard Keller President