Port of Vancouver commissioners on Tuesday will review and discuss four alternative design concepts as part of a larger effort to rejuvenate the port’s Terminal 1 waterfront property.
The public meeting is expected to begin at noon, following the commissioners’ regular morning meeting, at the port’s office, 3103 N.W. Lower River Road. The port wants to redevelop 10 of its 13 acres at Terminal 1. Current uses at the site, between Columbia and Esther streets in Vancouver’s downtown, now include the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay, docks and piers, a public amphitheater and Columbia Shores Business Center.
On Tuesday, the port’s master-planning consultant, NBBJ, will present four waterfront design concepts during the meeting:
• The “baseline” concept maintains the current street grid and block configuration of the site, restores the Terminal 1 building to its original length and replaces the public amphitheater with a terraced lawn and includes open spaces.
• The “grid shift” approach slightly adjusts the street grid and block configuration. And it incorporates a woonerf: an urban design concept, originated in the Netherlands, aimed at creating safe, shared spaces for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers. The “grid shift” also would remove the amphitheater and replace it with a new cove, and return Terminal 1 to its original size.
• The “Daniels Way” idea extends Daniels Way to the site through a pedestrian underpass and relocates the Terminal 1 building. It gets rid of the amphitheater, replacing it with a terraced shoreline. And it adds a wooden pier for river views.
• The “dock restoration” notion shores up and restores the existing dock and pilings. It disassembles and reconstructs Terminal 1 at the current amphitheater location. Additionally, a new hotel would complement the Terminal 1 building marketplace.
During a public meeting last month, Brian Vanneman, principal of Leland Consulting Group — a Portland-based firm hired by the port for work on the waterfront project — told the port there’s a market for a hotel, but it’s cyclical.
The window of opportunity to build hotels could remain open for another one to three years, he said, so it’s important for the port to “act relatively quickly on a hotel.”
Tuesday’s public meeting is part of a larger process the port launched in December 2014.
That’s when commissioners unanimously approved hiring the Leland firm, for up to $250,000, to advise the port about the market and financial feasibility of redeveloping the Terminal 1 property.
Work on the master plan launched in April, when commissioners unanimously approved hiring Seattle-based NBBJ to handle the work for no more than $300,000.
Commissioners are expected to approve a preferred plan in September. That plan would then be presented to the city of Vancouver for its approval sometime between this fall and spring 2016.
