Let’s say someone gives you four acres, river view access, and said to you – go build something. What would you do with it? This is the dilemma any developer faces when it comes to the Burnside Bridgehead project. Read on>
On February 27th, PDC decided to let its agreement with developer Opus, expire. Whatever your thoughts or opinions might be about the decision, one thing seems clear. Unless a developer is able to find one or more ‘anchor’ tenants, this area will continue to be unused and the tax money this area could produce for the district goes un-generated.
So what would you do with it? Would you try and woo Target, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Lowes, Home Depot or other ‘big box’ to come in? Should it all be used for housing and small business owners? How should it get built and paid for? Should we just make it one large dog park? How about a hotel? Give us your opinion and we’ll be sure to send them PDC’s way.
At this point, just about anything is better than the site’s current state and unknown future.
First of all, stop spending UR $ for the time being. Re-adjust the timeline and wait for the market and economy to recover. We need to bite the bullet and realize a quality project won’t happen there for a while, at least not with all the conditions placed on Urban Renewal Projects.
I would say sell it, but there’s no support for that from either the neighborhood or the city, and frankly our district NEEDS a successful development there if we have much hope of turning around the Urban Renewal budget mess.