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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1981)
Section SANDY OREGON. THURSDAY, JAN. 22, ,981 í lie S^ndy Post Hu ' l ie k ; Area News People Home & Garden Features I own Center, the 107-acre shopping m all between Interstate-205 and SE 82nd Avenue, is expected to have about 130 of its 180 stores open in tim e for its March 6 grand opening. C ackamas gets a super mall — ” 1 think it’s go ing io he one of the most im portant retail areas, other than d< iwntown Portland, in its future years.” Tom Vanderzanden Clackamas County planner — ‘‘ I t ’s going to be one of the focal points of the West.” Terry W. Protto Cla< kamas Meier & Frank store manager — “ I t ’s very inn< ivative and complex . . it’s a hell of a big thing." Bob Schumacher Cla< kamas County Commissioner I t ’s bigger than Was hi ng ton Square, >f the most coor- dinated retail developments to nestle its cor icrete foundation CLACKAMAS . . SUPERM ALL! Clackamas Town Center, the 10’7 -acre shopping m all nearing com pletion between Interst ate-205 and Southeast »xpected to have 82nd Avenue r m r t h n f ^ u n n v c i r l p P ica about 130 of iits 180 stores open in tin le for its March grand opening. Men>r & r r<ink s mall store nas bee■n open since Oct The m all s four other m ajor stores — J C Penney. Sears, Nordstrom and Montgomery Ward — Wl 11 open with the rem aining sic The two-b pvei shopping (•enter, withi its ice rink, rt of a larger 853 restaurants, i Tiovie theater and banks acre Town ( .’enter development areai srhe<doled to undergo extensive im imovement during the nejit six Vears. Clackamas County commissioners recently approved establishing a tax increment financing district in the area to fund nearly half of the $32 m illio n in improvements. They include a new interchange along 1-205, buying two park sites, building a new fire and police station, building walkways and bikeways, possible day care facilities and a Clackamas Community College satellite center. Add the county’s plans to attra ct light industrial firm s and high-density residential developments and to reserve a right- of-way for a future light ra il system, and T ri-M e t’s plans to build a transit center near the Town Center, and “ super- m a ll’ ’ takes on a new perspective. “ I t ’s much more than a shopping center, ” says Clackamas County commissioner Ralph Groener. “ I t ’s an a ctivity center with a m ixture of re ta il, industrial and professional office developments, open spaces, restuarants, a lib ra ry, you name it . ” I t ’s a European concept, “ the idea of living close to where you work, an energy-conserving way of thinking,’’ Groener says. “ I t ’s the kind of thing we’ve got to do for the future.” “ I t ’s novel,” says Tom Vanderzanden, a Clackamas County planner who’s “ nursed” the town center plan along since its inception some five years ago. “ There are other regional shopping centers, sure, but this is a town cen ter . . . a com m unity focus. The things that make it different are the planning and the infrastructure around it.” That planning and the supportive developments around the mall should prevent it from becoming “ a dinosaur in 15 years," Vanderzanden says. When Earnest Hahn, the m a il’s ,/w Angeles-based developer, came to the county with his development plans, “ We said, hey, if you’re going to plop that shopping center in that area, le t’s look at it , ’ ” says Commissioner Bob Schumacher. “ Ijook at Washington Square . . . i t ’s just there It ’s obvious they didn’t plan around it.” T erry W. Protto, manager of the Clackamas Meier & Erank store, says the store’s “ testing of the w ater” at the new mall site has been more favorable than expected. “ We’re very pleased . . . we’ve done much better than planned,” Protto says. “ We’ve been free-standing and doing very well We look forward to the tremendous potential for this m a ll.” The May Co., which owns Meier & Frank, has about a 40 Clackamas County Commissioner Ralph Groener Meier & Frank store manager T erry W. Protto percent financial interest in the m all, Protto says. Its Clackamas store is the largest of the m a ll’s five m ajor stores and, with 180,000 square feet, is ” 10 percent” bigger than the Washington Square store, he says. S till, the mall and surrounding area w ill not be without their problems, points out Groener “ There’ll be tra ffic problems, yes,” and an increased burden on the county sh e riff’s office, he said i Meier & Frank was robbed Sept 29, just a few days before its grand opening, but all nroperty was recovered and the incident did not seriously ruffle corporate feathers, says Protto.) But “ the pluses outweigh the minuses,” Groener says “ I think we ll have reason to be proud of ourselves.”
