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SANDY OREGON. THURSDAY, JAN. 22, ,981
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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.”