Grocery store anchored center being planned for North Plains
Wade Evanson | June 16 2021
The city is seeking a developer for a grocery and urgent care services facility planned for Glencoe Road north of Highway 26.
North Plains may soon be getting a grocery store.
The city is soliciting proposals from qualified development teams for the land purchase, financing, design and construction of a proposed grocery store-anchored shopping center with a pharmacy or urgent care health facility, with potential for housing options not currently available in town, and all on a 5.07-acre site officially known as the Glencoe Opportunity Area.
"The point is, let's get some services onto this property for North Plains residents," North Plains finance director Bill Reid explained, "so that they don't have to otherwise drive 25 minutes round trip to Hillsboro or Cornelius or wherever else to get the things they need."
The site is located on the east side of Northwest Glencoe Road, less than half a mile north of U.S. Highway 26 between Kaybern Street and Pacific Street.
The project objectives for the requested site redevelopment include the following:
• Bring much-needed commercial services and new housing choice to North Plains, ranked in order of importance:
•• A full-service grocery store
•• Medical services including but not limited to a pharmacy and/or urgent care
•• Multifamily housing not currently an option to North Plains residents (apartments, workforce housing, etc.)
• Enhances the Glencoe Corridor and complements adjacent nearby neighborhoods.
• Encourage new investment and development that allows residents to shop closer to home and brings people to North Plains.
• Maximizes taxable assessed value to allow North Plains' urban renewal agency to pursue other projects successfully.
The city released its request for proposal (RFP) June 2. Officials are hoping to have an exclusive negotiation agreement in place by September of this year.
Reid said residents of North Plains have been clamoring for a grocery store in town for years, and with the city growing at a 67% rate since 2016 — the the fastest rate of growth in Washington County — along with its proximity and easy access to the freeway, he feels good about their chances of luring the types of services they're looking for.
Reid referenced Forest Grove's 2020 proposal for a similarly sized development in downtown Forest Grove. He said North Plains officials modified the nearby city's RFP when developing their own.
He understands that North Plains' situation — along with its wants and needs — is different than Forest Grove's in a number of ways, but he also noted the similarities when considering the type of grocery facility they have in mind.
"We're growing faster than Forest Grove," Reid said. "We're not as big, of course, but we're growing faster, right near the freeway, and we think we have a pretty good shot at getting something of similar size."
The size he's referencing is roughly 15,000 to 20,000 square feet.
The existing Forest Grove proposal calls for a 20,000 square foot store to be owned and operated by WelshCORP, which owns and operates similar grocery outlets at the Oregon coast: Manzanita Fresh Foods and Fresh Foods in Cannon Beach.
Reid said that while it's still early in the process in North Plains, he envisions something similar to that.
"The property isn't big enough to have that sort of grocery store like a Safeway or Albertsons," Reid said. "So, it would either be a very small format of a standard chain that we're all familiar with, or it would be a smaller grocery format. But that's the idea.
"I think if someone like that stepped to the plate and said, 'We'd like two stores like that in Washington County,' North Plains would be happy."
Reid said North Plains wants to have a developer in place by mid-August, with planning to begin in September. And if all goes well, the city of North Plains will have its grocery store this time in 2022.
"Hopefully we're a year out from having a grocery store with some other things on the property," Reid said. "That's our goal, and there's no doubt in my mind that we're going to have some quality proposals."