April 27, 2005
Some Pre-Selection Burnside Bridgehead Linkage
Developer Selection Scheduled For This Afternoon
In advance of this afternoon's (or, more likely given the time for public testimony, this evening's) selection by the Portland Deveopment Commission of the preferred developer for the Burnside Bridgehead project, it's a good time to catch up on some stray links to coverage of the process.
Last week, The Business Journal of Portland profiled Beam's hopes for being selected, including some comments from Gerding/Edlen that are generally supportive of PDC giving Beam the opportunity. Gerding/Edlen is generally viewed as out of the running, and we've argued here that for months now they've mainly come across as just going through the motions.
Meanwhile, in yesterday's Portland Tribune, it seems that Beam tried to push for a delay (yes, another delay) of the decision, based on the premise that too mcuh new information has come out in the final days, such as the evaluation committee's recommendation and the staff report.
That article also has Beam opining about Opus Northwest people testifying at the last meeting, with Beam complaining that it was their understanding that the developers were not supposed to be testifying during public testimony.
We haven't yet had a chance to go back and review our notes from this entire lengthy process, but to be honest, that was our impression as well. We had thought that the idea was for the developers to have their own opportunities to present to the Commission and to the community, leaving public testimony for, well, the public. So, we're inclined to share at least some of Beam's irkedness over this one, because our sense and recollection of things is the same as theirs.
Over in today's Oregonian, they focus on the office space issue. At the prior PDC meeting on the Bridgehead, which we missed, Beam apparently was challenged by at least two Commissioners on that subject.
For our part, we find that understandable, but a little baffling, since (as the article mentions) the partners of Beam Development themselves have committed to moving into the project themselves, accounting for two-thirds of the office space.
Finally, Brian Libby re-insists that the conversation focus more on the architecture, despite the fact that this stage of the game is about choosing a developer based upon capacity and general conceptual approach, and no actual hard-and-fast design work happens until later in the process anyway.
This afternoon's PDC meeting begins at 3:00 PM, at the Commission's headquarters at 222 NW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland. The selection of a Burnside Bridgehead developer is the final item on the agenda.