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| Vol. 21, No. 9 • Mailed monthly to over 13,500 homes in the Gateway & Parkrose Communities Free • JANUARY 2006 | ||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLES | |
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| Banfield Pet Hospital national headquarters opens LEE PERLMAN THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
Those on the tour seemed quite happy with the 150,000-square-foot structure, which boasts views of both its immediate neighbors and the peaks of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens. In its center is a spacious two-story atrium. Its frontage along Northeast 82nd Avenue, still a construction zone, will eventually be a 1.7-acre park where the public can run their dogs off-leash for free. The new headquarters building includes a community meeting room, called the Madison, which is available for use by the neighborhood association and other community groups. “It’s beautiful,” former Madison South Neighborhood Association chairwoman and former Central Northeast Neighbors board of director’s president Susan Hamilton told the Memo. “And this is the perfect place for it.” Reaching that conclusion represents a triumph for both Banfield executives and city officials, achieved after a long saga. The first Banfield pet hospital was begun in 1955 across 82nd Avenue from the new center. In time the business has grown into a national corporation, boasting 500 hospitals, some of them in other countries, with more planned. Meanwhile, the chain’s corporate headquarters on Northeast Glenn Widing Drive, off Airport Way in Northeast Portland, was “bursting at the seams,” according to one Banfield spokesperson. The chain needed a new headquarters. They looked beyond the city limits, and found at least one interested suitor. Kansas City, Kan. offered a site that was tempting, if only because it was more centrally located than Portland. Then Banfield C.E.O. and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Scott Campbell, browsing a Web site, told his subordinates, “You know, that school across the street from us just went on sale.” Ultimately, Campbell decided, “Portland is our home.” Of course there were considerable obstacles in the way. The “school across the street,” formerly the Glenhaven School, was occupied by the Vocational Village alternative high school, forced to move there from a location on Southeast Milwaukie Avenue, and not eager to move again. The property was zoned for residential use, and changing its designation would not be simple, easy or cheap. Finally, the property’s neighbors could be expected to look with suspicion on something big and new moving in beside them. Banfield officials tackled the first problem with an approach urban planners recommend but few developers pursue - early outreach. By hand-delivering leaflets door to door that not only outlined their proposal, but also included a rendering of the proposed building. They included the dog park as an amenity. They attended several Madison South Neighborhood Association meetings, and paid attention to what they were told. An early plan to build housing on top of the structure, conceived of as a way to fit in with the residential area and meet the intent of the zoning, was dropped when residents were at most indifferent and in some cases hostile to the idea. In fact, Banfield officials deliberately posited a major housing development as the boogeyman alternative to their own proposal. “The (Portland) School District could sell the property to someone who would develop high-density units, which could result in crowded streets and possibly less livability in the neighborhood,” the Banfield flyer read. “It could be used for commercial business, such as a tavern or a strip mall. It could sit unsold and unoccupied, deteriorating further and possibly lowering property values in the Madison South neighborhood.” It worked. Madison South leaders liked the Banfield proposal. “I’m in horror that this could turn out to be a huge development like Center Commons (at Northeast 60th Avenue and Glisan Street),” Hamilton said at the time. “We’ll eventually get 320 units at the old Shriner’s Hospital property, and I don’t want a ton of new density dumped on us. The Banfield proposal won’t look exactly like what’s there now, but it will be similar. “I’ve dealt with a lot of developers,” Hamilton continued, “and with some you can walk into a room and smell them. These people seemed very genuine and sincere. They answered all our questions. We know how they manage their property now, and we know they’d do the new building just as well.” Madison South enthusiastically endorsed the Banfield proposal - but with the strict stipulation that Vocational Village be provided for. >>continued |
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