A second wind for deserted complex?

New CascadeStation retail would lure jobs, tenants, planners say

By Jeanie Senior

The Portland Tribune, Jul 23, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

With streets and sidewalks, underground utilities, a station on the Airport MAX line and an alluring central park-blocks walkway, CascadeStation feels like an attractive ghost town.

That’s not the way it was supposed to be.

Now, its developers are hoping to jolt some life into the stalled multimillion-dollar project east of Portland International Airport by doubling the amount of land available for retail Ñ and by attracting a couple of anchor tenants.

“The window of opportunity is here,” said Jeff Murphy, vice president of lead developer Bechtel Enterprises Inc., which has asked the Portland Planning Bureau to consider changes to CascadeStation’s restrictive zoning and allow for 800,000 square feet of retail.

Developers also are asking that a couple of sites be re-sized, from the present maximum of 60,000 square feet to at least one supersized lot of 100,000 square feet or more, to attract anchor tenants.

CascadeStation was ready for occupancy almost four years ago, a planned mix of office buildings, hotels, shops and restaurants on 120 acres with 1.3 million square feet of office space, 400,000 square feet of retail space and potentially 10,000 new jobs.

Oregon’s bum economy and an oversupply of office space and hotels dealt the first blow to the project. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, landed the knockout punch.

Then the economy started to percolate again.

Murphy said retailers large and small now are looking at CascadeStation.

“We can use this kind of initial retail development to support and validate the office market,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to create quality jobs in that area, and I think we have a clear plan for getting there.”

Costco, Wal-Mart, Target and Swedish home furnishings store Ikea Ñ with its closest outlet in Renton, Wash. Ñ have all been rumored as a possible anchor if the zoning change is allowed.

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