3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018
Affordable housing group buys former Waldorf Hotel
Searching for
tax credits to
finance project
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Innovative Housing Inc.
has purchased the former
Waldorf Hotel downtown
from trucking and demolition
company Groat Brothers Inc.
for $80,000.
The affordable housing
developer had provided ear-
nest money to buy the dilap-
idated former hotel, also
known as the Merwyn, where
it wants to create 40 units of
workforce housing. But the
group had to wait for docu-
ments from the state Depart-
ment of Environmental Qual-
ity detailing the needed
cleanup of soil under the
building contaminated with
oil, said Julie Garver, the
group’s director of housing
development. The group pur-
chased the building under the
company name Innovative
Merwyn.
Groat Brothers had previ-
ously sought to demolish the
building and sell the prop-
The Daily Astorian
Affordable housing developer Innovative Housing recent-
ly purchased the former Waldorf Hotel next to City Hall
from Groat Brothers Inc.
erty to the city, which was
considering an expansion
of the Astoria Library next
door. After a public outcry,
the city’s Historic Landmarks
Commission voted against
demolition.
Innovative Housing was
recently rejected for highly
competitive 9 percent low-in-
come housing tax credits
administered by the state that
would have paid for much
of the building’s restoration,
estimated at $6 million.
The group is now work-
ing with Gov. Kate Brown’s
regional solutions team on
how to make a more attrac-
tive application this month
for state funds from the Local
Innovation and Fast Track
Housing Program to couple
with noncompetitive 4 per-
cent tax credits, or, if that
fails, another application for
the more lucrative 9 percent
credits next year, Garver said.
“It’s one more step in the
process,” she said. “Afford-
able housing financing always
takes longer than you think it
should.”
Mark Ellsworth, the North
Coast coordinator with the
regional solutions team, said
the state is planning a meet-
ing with Innovative Housing
and a tour of the project next
month, trying to establish it as
a high priority in Salem.
“If we prioritize this, I trust
that will help them,” he said.
The Northwest Ore-
gon Housing Authority was
awarded $12 million in state
and federal low-income hous-
ing tax credits in 2016 to help
pay for the recently completed
rehabilitation of 52 units at
the Alder Court, Wapiti and
Canim apartment complexes
in Warrenton. The housing
authority will apply for the
same fast-track funds as Inno-
vative Housing to help pay for
building more than 50 units
of new affordable housing in
Tillamook, said Todd John-
ston, the authority’s executive
director.
“It’s a great funding source
because it brings the private
market into the affordable
housing market,” Garver said
of tax credits. “It creates bet-
ter-quality affordable hous-
ing. Because of the public-pri-
vate partnership, the private
partner monitors the property
for 15 years. That takes a lot
of pressure off of the govern-
ment’s shoulders to do that.”
Innovative
Housing’s
College board approves buying MERTS campus
Twenty-two
acres of land at
Tongue Point
denial for the 9 percent tax
credits came after the state
determined there was not
enough of an affordable hous-
ing crisis in Astoria, which
has faced rapidly rising rents
and gentrification. The former
Waldorf Hotel is located in a
census tract not considered
low-income.
Garver and Ellsworth
both pointed to a fierce state-
wide competition among
many projects for insufficient
affordable housing funds as
Consult a
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have received a notice from CareO-
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additional information.
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Q: When
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By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
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Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
lege needs to raise at least an
$8 million match by 2021 to
secure the state bond money.
The college had hoped to use
the campus purchase as part
of the match but found out it
would not count, Zahn said.
“We really can’t wait until
2021 to make this purchase,”
she said. “It’s a Catch-22,
because we need to own the
property before we qualify for
the” bonds.
Consultant
Catherine
Crooker has been reaching out
to potential large donors and
gauging whether there is ade-
quate support for a $14 million
campaign. She is expected to
provide her recommendation
in January.
The maritime workforce
is dominated by baby boom-
ers approaching retirement.
Christopher Breitmeyer, the
college president, has called
the campaign an opportunity
to help train people locally
for high-paying, high-demand
jobs and bring attention to a
relatively hidden campus.
With the only such pro-
gram on the Oregon Coast, the
college has been designated
the state’s official maritime
training center. The college
was included in the federal
Domestic Maritime Cen-
ters of Excellence Act intro-
duced in the U.S. House last
year, potentially opening it to
more federal support if the bill
passes.
The college had originally
looked at adding a second
story to its existing maritime
sciences building. But archi-
tectural firm SRG Partner-
ship found it would be more
cost-effective to build a new
8,700-square-foot academic
hall on a larger pad supported
by more than 1,000 stone
piers digging 60 feet into the
ground to prevent the building
from moving during an earth-
quake. Installing the piers is
estimated at nearly $1.9 mil-
lion. The total cost of the new
maritime building is projected
at around $20 million by 2021.
The college board on Tues-
day also approved spend-
ing more than $50,000 for
SRG to design the new build-
ing and engineer it if the cap-
ital campaign is success-
ful. The company previously
completed a master plan for
the career-technical campus,
along with designing the new
Patriot and Columbia halls on
the main campus.
The Columbia Land Trust
recently secured more than
$1.3 million in grants to buy
about 90 acres on the south
side of Liberty Lane. The land
would be restored into salmon
and wildlife habitat under
the Columbia River Estuary
Study Taskforce. It would then
be transferred to the college as
a living laboratory to comple-
ment a new environmental sci-
ences program.
The land trust’s purchase is
expected to go before the state
Land Board next year, Breit-
meyer said.
By CASSANDRA
PROFITA
Oregon Public Broadcasting
A new study finds a contro-
versial fossil fuel refinery pro-
posed at Washington’s Port of
Kalama would actually reduce
global carbon emissions.
The study was commis-
sioned by the port and Cowlitz
County in response to a per-
mit requirement by the state
of Washington to report the
greenhouse gas emissions
associated with the project.
A California-based com-
pany called Life Cycle Associ-
ates tallied all the greenhouse
gas emissions associated with
the $1.8 billion methanol refin-
ery proposed by developer
NW Innovation Works.
The plant would convert
natural gas into methanol that
would be shipped overseas and
made into plastic.
The study, part of a draft
supplemental environmental
impact statement for the proj-
ect, included the carbon emis-
sions from the plant’s con-
struction and operation, its
energy sources and shipping.
It concluded that while the
plant would generate carbon
pollution, it would also dis-
place dirtier methanol produc-
tion overseas, resulting in a
net reduction of global carbon
emissions.
Brett VandenHeuvel, with
the environmental group
Columbia Riverkeeper, said
that conclusion is deeply
flawed, and that the project
will still be a major source of
pollution in Washington.
“They paid for a report
and they got the answer they
wanted but we don’t think it’s
going to fool Washington state
leaders,” he said. “It’s laugh-
able that the world’s larg-
est fracked gas refinery will
reduce global greenhouse gas
emissions.”
Columbia
Riverkeeper
challenged the project’s shore-
line permit last year, and the
Washington Shorelines Hear-
ings Board responded by
requiring additional informa-
tion about the project’s green-
house gas emissions before the
permit could be approved.
Vee Godley, chief develop-
ment officer for NW Innova-
tion Works, said his company
plans on offsetting all of its
pollution through a mitigation
plan in addition to using the
cleaner methods of producing
methanol.
“We’re looking forward
to having a discussion about
the best way to mitigate our
impacts,” he said. “We want
to see this money be utilized
to support green initiatives in
Washington.”
If the state approves its
final permit, he said, the com-
pany plans to start construction
next year.
A public hearing on the
draft supplemental environ-
mental impact statement for the
project is scheduled for Dec.
13 in Longview, Washington.
I am presented with a long list
of templates. I just want a new
blank document.
a new Microsoft
A: Open
Office document. Click on
“File”, then “Options” (at the
bottom of the list). Click “General”
then scroll to the bottom of that
window. Uncheck the box in front
of “Show the Start screen when
this application starts.” To go back
to showing templates and recent
documents when Microsoft Office
start, click on that box again to
restore the check mark.
Q: How does sensitive
The Clatsop Community College Board has approved buying nearly 22 acres the school
leases for the Marine and Environmental Research and Training Station.
Study: Kalama plant would reduce carbon emissions
Plant would
turn natural gas
into methanol
10TH STREET
ASTORIA
TRANSIT CENTER
The Clatsop Community
College Board on Tuesday
approved purchasing nearly
22 acres at South Tongue
Point it leases from the state
for its career-technical cam-
pus, the Marine and Environ-
mental Research and Training
Station.
The college would pay
$826,500 for the land, plus
$10,000 in closing costs. The
state Land Board will decide
whether to approve the pur-
chase at its Dec. 18 meeting.
Four years ago, the college
applied to purchase the land
it has leased on Liberty Lane
since the 1990s, when the
career-technical campus was
founded. The campus includes
maritime science, automo-
tive, welding and fire science
programs. The college moors
its training vessel, the Fore-
runner, at a dock on a square
plot of land owned by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers at
the end of Liberty Lane.
“This is a very good invest-
ment for the institution,” said
JoAnn Zahn, the college’s
vice president of finance and
operations.
The offset of what the
remaining lease would cost
the college takes more than
$200,000 off the purchase
price, she said. The college is
paying for the land out of its
plant fund, which is used for
construction, renovation and
acquisition of property.
The impending purchase
comes as the college is con-
templating a $14 million capi-
tal campaign to match $8 mil-
lion worth of state bonds it
has been promised and hopes
to use on a new maritime
sciences building. The col-
the overlying issue.
Part of establishing a need
for the tax credits will be part-
nering with local businesses
and economic groups to help
the state understand that much
of the problem is workers
commuting to Astoria because
they can’t afford to live in the
city, Garver said.
“We’re persistent,” she
said. “We keep marching
along and going through the
process, and we’re going to
get it done.”
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A: Imagine
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above the gum line and the root below.
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DMD, FAGD
People with sensitive teeth experience
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Q: Should I use heat
or cold?
you hurt,especially in
A: If a joint,
use ice; it reduces
ASTORIA
CHIROPRACTIC
Barry Sears, D.C.
503-325-3311
2935 Marine Drive
Astoria, Oregon
inflammation and pain and
shortens healing time. You can get
a burn from ice just like with heat,
so don’t leave it on for more than
20 minutes. Most problems get
better more quickly with ice. Heat
feels good, but may seriously
make problems worse. As long
as there is pain and/or swelling,
continue ice; it can be done as
often as once an hour. Would you
heat a cut? No, because it would
keep bleeding —that is what
happens inside where you can’t
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Q: I’m going out of
T HE D AILY
A STORIAN
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town and need
to stop my Daily
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options?
have several different options for
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