YMCA is out as Gresham rethinks urban renewal

Urban renewal commission terminates agreement with development companies

By Mara Stine

The Gresham Outlook, May 6, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

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Gresham’s redevelopment commission on Tuesday, May 5, decided against anchoring a cultural marketplace in the city’s urban renewal district with a YMCA.

Urban renewal commissioners voted 6-0 to terminate their exclusive negotiating agreement with Williams & Dame Development and Capstone Partners LLC more than a month before it was to expire on June 18.

The move comes two weeks after Williams & Dame and Capstone Partners sent the commission an April 21 letter stating they were stepping aside from the Rockwood Cultural Marketplace development process.

“It is clear that the proposal currently lacks a clear consensus of political support, and that most of the commissioners feel that they lack adequate information and public input to allow them to make a decision on the future of the project,” the letter states.

After meeting with commissioners, “we believe that the best course of action now is for us to step aside from the process so that the Commissioners can take the time necessary to properly evaluate the development proposal for the site (including the YMCA). Our hope is that the Commissioners will become more comfortable with the proposed direction.”

On Tuesday night, the clear consensus of political support was to “not move forward on the Y at the site,” said Commission President Shane Bemis.

Beat out five developers

Williams and Dame was selected over five other developers to redevelop 6.5-acres that used to house a closed Fred Meyer store. The commission owns the property and entered into an exclusive agreement with Williams and Dame in February 2008.

Gresham’s urban renewal agency purchased the property on the northeast corner of Southeast 185th Avenue and Southeast Stark Street in 2006 and demolished the store. The hope was to create a multi-phased development — including residential, commercial and public open space — that would help improve Rockwood’s blighted image while attracting other businesses to the area.

For years, the agency thought a Multnomah County Justice Center slated for the area would help boost the area’s profile and foot traffic. But the county announced in February that the justice center would be stripped down to a simple courthouse and sited in downtown Gresham.

Originally, the Cultural Marketplace called for multiple phases, including for-sale condos and/or townhouses, plus commercial and retail space. But as an ever-worsening economic downturn swept the globe, it torpedoed the market for such uses, which led Williams & Dame to propose the YMCA as the marketplace’s anchor.

In March, the commission granted a 90-day extension on the Williams & Dame agreement, in part to see if a YMCA would be the right fit for the project.

Catalyst questioned

Community reaction at an April Urban Renewal Commission meeting was less than enthusiastic. Meanwhile, the commission remains unconvinced that a nonprofit health-and-wellness organization would attract more businesses and merchants to the site.

“We just didn’t see eye to eye,” Bemis said. “I resented their push that it’s catalytic. More like catatonic.”

Commissioners were surprised to hear from the Williams & Dame development team that the YMCA’s program was “only in a very conceptual stage at present” and “yet it seems that they are willing to bet the whole farm on making the Y a regional anchor catalyst for this site with a take it or leave it attitude on their part,” said Commission Vice Chair Richard Strathern.

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