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Developers plan to close today on the purchase of two and a half acres of land located on the West Bank of the Willamette River, just north of the Marquam Bridge in Portland.
Jack Onder and Homer Williams, doing business as RiverPlace Partners LLC, are buying the land from the Portland Development Commission. The project, originally planned for a hotel, is slated for three condominium buildings and an 8,000-square-foot restaurant.
The idea for a hotel was scraped after the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11 sent the hotel market into a tailspin.
The site was identified as a key attractor to activate the area, said Rachel Blakeman, senior project coordinator at PDC. We did away with the plan to have a hotel but did not give up on the goal of activating the waterfront. A destination restaurant, everyone agreed, made the most sense as the thing to target in lieu of a hotel.
The restaurant will be located on the river....