Big-time financing arrived Thursday to pay for the construction of two new towers at The Waterfront Vancouver.
Gramor Development, the Tualatin, Ore.-based developer, secured a $42.5 million loan from U.S. Bank to build a seven-story office tower and six stories of luxury apartments with 63 units. Both buildings will have shops and restaurants at the street level.
“This is a really exciting time for The Waterfront project,” said Barry Cain, president of Gramor and one of the chief investors who bought the property almost a decade ago. “The transformation is well underway, and it’s unlike anything that currently exists in our area.”
The towers will rise from Block 6, one of the 21 developable blocks there near the Columbia River.
Crews had already started doing some work on the towers, Cain said, feeling confident the loan would come through. The block was excavated, but the high water levels of the Columbia River will delay work a few more weeks.
“It’s impacting us right now,” he said. “The water levels peak about mid-June, so we figure we’ll take a couple weeks before we get going in earnest. That’s kind of expected.”
The water level is about 3 feet currently, he said. Once it sinks to a foot, crews can pump the rest out.
Both towers already have tenants in the wings. M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has a lease in the office building, while Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty and MidiCi Neapolitan Pizza have spaces in the residential tower. Hundreds of people hoping to live in apartments and condos have already shown interest, too, according to Cain.
Accounting for the loan, $250 million in investment has already piled into the waterfront, Cain said. The total build out is projected to be worth $1.5 billion.
Construction on privately owned parts of the waterfront began last summer. The first phase, expected to open summer 2018, is comprised of two restaurant buildings, these newly financed towers, and the Grant Street Pier, a 90-foot cable-stayed pier over the Columbia River.
The city of Vancouver is also developing a 7.3-acre park at the waterfront, to be built by Battle Ground-based Tapani Inc.
Restaurants moving into those buildings include WildFin American Grill, Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar and Ghost Runners Brewery.
