Judge Still Undecided on Stalled Development

In court Friday, judge Brown listened to a plan by original project developers Selwyn Bingham and Sylvia Cleaver and another by the city and creditor Enron Microclimates. Toward the end of the hearing, the judge said she was undecided but leaning toward the city's proposal because of a lack of certainty with the proposal by Bingham and Cleaver.

Bingham and Cleaver's proposal hinges on a loan from Chicago's Wexford Bancgroup that wouldn't be granted until after the judge approves the Bingham-Cleaver plan. The one-year loan at 12% interest would be given to Crescent Avenue, a limited-liability corporation owned by Cleaver and Don Thor. For the plan to work, the group would still need to find longer-term construction financing, let alone long-term financing once construction is complete.

The city and Enron's plan calls for Dorn-Platz of Glendale, CA to complete the project in three phases that would eventually result in three office buildings totaling 325,000 sf, a 48,000-sf athletic club and 240 apartments. Previous plans for a hotel and a movie theater would be scrapped.

The Round at Beaverton Central was touted as the core project of a completely redeveloped Central Beaverton area that skirts the light-rail tracks west of Southwest Hall Boulevard and Watson Avenue. Work on the $100 million office, residential and retail complex stopped in early 1999--two years after it began--after its developer failed to find the necessary financing to proceed, leaving buildings half constructed.

As it now stands, the project along the Westside light-rail tracks consists of the rusting steel skeleton for a four-story office building and a half-completed condominium and retail project. It's value, as figured by an independent appraiser, is about $1.30 million.