Developer submits ‘solid’ Westgate proposal to city

By Christina Lent

The Beaverton Valley Times, Apr 3, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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A Seattle developer has made a favorable first impression on some city officials with its $121 million Westgate Redevelopment Proposal.

Urban Renaissance Group submitted its ambitious plan to the city and Metro Monday night to build a 17-story office tower with structured parking and 144 apartments in two separate four-story buildings above street-level retail on the former Westgate Theater property in downtown Beaverton.

“It’s a really solid proposal,” said Mayor Rob Drake following his first look at the plan. “I think it’s exactly what we would want to see in our regional center.

“It’s apparent to me that the developer put a great deal of interest and passion into the proposal.”

Lonnie Dicus, the city’s project manager, also had high praise for the developer’s approach.

“Urban Renaissance has taken the first, right step in understanding where the city wants to go with such a significant project for our downtown core,” Dicus said. “Initially, I have a favorable impression of the proposal.

“I really appreciate the effort Urban Renaissance invested to come up with solutions that fit with a lot of the city’s goals. In their proposal, they spoke to a lot of the goals that were identified as part of the visioning effort and in our sustainability plan, and that’s really nice to see.”

He also gave them high marks for requesting more time to study challenging connectivity issues at the site and to meet with neighborhood groups, adjoining businesses and city staff in various departments to seek input on the project.

“This developer has been really receptive to the feedback they have been given by city staff and has been very open to meeting with a number of people,” added Liz Jones, associate city planner.

After months of work, the Urban Renaissance team is confident it has put together a plan that will be a welcome addition near The Round at Beaverton Central.

“The project is critical to the success of a new Beaverton city center,” said Patrick Callahan, founder and chief executive officer of the development firm.

As the only proposal on the table, city officials admit there remain a lot of unanswered questions. The biggest being who will finance the project?

“If the city identifies us as the selected developer, we will be in a good position to go out and talk to people in the financial market to find a partner to accomplish the project,” said Thomas Kilbane, Urban Renaissance’s director of project coordination. “We’re anxious to see how the city is going to respond to our proposal.”

The success of the project also hinges on agreements with adjacent property owners for the construction of three traffic signals and eight road projects to improve accessibility and connectivity to the urban center.

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