Please don't tell the Sam-Rand twins
Here's an interesting factoid from today's story in the O about the City of the 'Couv buying the newspaper building in its downtown:
The six-story, 118,000-square-foot building at 415 W. Sixth St. is at the epicenter of the city's downtown renaissance that unfolded for the first part of this decade. The building is south of Esther Short Park and next door to the Hilton Vancouver Washington, which is owned by the city.Pray that the mayor of Portland and his ventriloquist in the firefighter gear don't catch wind of this and keep up with the Joneses by buying some hipster hotel somewhere in town. They'd probably use water bureau money, on the theory that hotels use a lot of water.
| Posted at 9:45 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (13)
This is pretty much the idea of the Convention Center hotel, I think. Publically owned, managed by a hotel company. We're closer than you think....
Posted by Snards | June 4, 2010 10:13 AM
Maybe this is why Leonard has been so cozy with Tracy Marks of the Hilton. I'm sure Blackstone would take the 40% premium Leonard would pay for a hotel that recently shut down for a month because of lack of business. Maybe use the Post Office as Hilton III.
Posted by Gary W. | June 4, 2010 11:07 AM
Don't we own The Nines, in effect? Last I heard it was in default.
Posted by Allan L. | June 4, 2010 11:17 AM
Take note that Vancouver is buying this at a considerably lower price from the original asking. Is there not a lesson here for Portland (referring to the pending purchase of the Oregonian land in the northwest industrial zone)?
Posted by Harold | June 4, 2010 11:18 AM
The Sam-Rand can use Water Bureau money for anything they want, so long as we still keep getting hosed.
Posted by Mojo | June 4, 2010 12:33 PM
This IS the convention center hotel. Vancouver wanted a convention center so they built and own the hotel that houses it.
Lots of controversy about that one on the other side of the river.
Posted by Brian | June 4, 2010 1:08 PM
Ok, here's my question... is the Vancouver Convention Center/Hotel profitable, or is it a big publicly owned money-loser like Portland's. One that supposedly needs continual enlargement to achive its goal. (q.v. Winchester House in San Jose, CA)
Posted by JC | June 4, 2010 1:26 PM
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_8100/is_20090622/ai_n51362580/?tag=rel.res1
103K in losses over the first 5 months of 2009. Linked article under "Related Results" shows losses clear back in 2005. I don't know if it's ever shown a profit.
Posted by Brian | June 4, 2010 3:29 PM
On the other hand, Vancouver probably wouldn't be the site of both the Democrat and Republican state conventions this year without it.
http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/may/15/june-conventions-vancouver-tourism-boost/
Posted by Brian | June 4, 2010 3:31 PM
I think it is a great idea for the City of Vancouver to buy the old Columbian Building. I think it makes sense for them to own their buildings rather than leasing. This would also allow them to consolidate. And, it would get an office building filled in the downtown core. Think of PDC in old town. the businesses there didn't want them to leave because they provide a lot of day time activity and business. Hopefully the same would happen with the City of Vancouver moving downtown.
Posted by PDXPessimist | June 4, 2010 5:03 PM
Consolidated services in a building they own would be nice... maybe if they hadn't sold the Citizen's Service center for 3.2 Mil (with another building included in the deal) a couple years ago they would have still had that.
http://www.vbjusa.com/stories/2007-05-17/iq_plans_to_buy_downtown_city_buildings_for_3.2m.html
Posted by Brian | June 4, 2010 7:31 PM
Allan L.: I believe you are correct about the Nines being in default on their loan to the PDC.
Posted by Dave A. | June 5, 2010 11:40 AM
Yes don't forget the Nines Hotel fiasco when you are trotting out the list of publicly subsidized PDC epic failures.
Last I saw you could get a room there cheaper than at a Comfort Inn, and they still can't fill the place.
Posted by lie2me | June 5, 2010 12:27 PM