Wizer space could change dramatically

By Lee van der Voo

The Lake Oswego Review, Oct 9, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

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Should plans pan out for redevelopment of an A Avenue store, Lake Oswego’s downtown could see new shops, apartments and a boutique hotel by 2011.

A national development firm unveiled its plans for Wizer’s grocery store at a meeting of the Lake Oswego Redevelopment Agency Tuesday evening.

Poised to apply for permits and begin neighborhood outreach, representatives of Trammell Crow Residential first offered a preview of plans for the block.

Known to bureaucrats as Block 137, the site is bordered by A Avenue to the north, First and Second streets to the east and west and Millennium Plaza Park to the south.

Developers envision apartment buildings facing Second Street, retail buildings fronting A Avenue and First Street and a hotel overlooking Millennium Plaza Park.

With parking pushed to two floors below ground and a series of courtyards planned between buildings, the project builds on an already-bustling pedestrian atmosphere.

It also reverses a condo conversion trend in Lake Oswego, adding 190 to 195 “luxury” apartments to an area where a significant portion of rental stock has been converted to condos in the last three years.

At first glance, the partnership between Trammell Crow Residential and Gene Wizer, the local grocer and owner of the land, appears promising.

Unlike previous proposals before it, the idea is financially feasible. Past plans for redevelopment of the block have stalled on financial hiccups and on local politics.

In 2006, a Measure 37 claim filed by Wizer became a bargaining chip in an effort to lure $7 million from the Lake Oswego Redevelopment Agency for the site. Wizer was paired with Washington-based Gerding Edlen and proposing a similar mix of retail, housing and possible office space.

The Measure 37 claim charged that the city’s 60-foot height restriction on downtown buildings impeded Wizer’s ability to turn a profit on new projects, particularly without public investment.

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