Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle, center. Credit: Gordon R. Friedman/The Oregonian

BY GORDON R. FRIEDMAN

A business leader’s project to launch a full-service center for the homeless in downtown Portland is half a million dollars over budget, raising the possibility it will not open on time or at all.

The overspending stems from the cleanup of the city-owned two-acre site beneath the Broadway Bridge where the shelter is to rise, said Lisa Marandas, deputy director of Oregon Harbor of Hope, the developer-run nonprofit overseeing the project.

Soil on the lot is contaminated from nearby railroad tracks and must be covered with a protective cap estimated to cost $170,000, city documents show.

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Melissa Lewis/The Oregonian

Harbor of Hope has blown past its $100,000 budget for site cleanup and spent “in the $600,000 range,” Marandas told Portland’s development commission at its July meeting.

“The costs are starting to rise and we’re looking at every avenue we can,” she said.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said Friday he is “aware of the issue.” He said the city had done its part to smooth the way for the project by waiving permit fees and making the land available at no cost.

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The proposed site beneath the Broadway Bridge. Oregonian/OregonLive file

Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle announced with great fanfare in April that he had donated $1.5 million to get the center built and operating in Northwest Portland along the Willamette River next to and under the iconic red bridge. A spokesman for Boyle declined to comment Friday.

That the project is already so far overbudget is a foreboding sign. Portland’s previous mayor, Charlie Hales, examined a similar homeless “navigation center” concept, only to conclude such a center would be prohibitively expensive.

The plan hatched by Oregon Harbor of Hope is to mimic other West Coast cities that operate navigation centers, facilities that offer food and shelter to the homeless and referrals to social service agencies.

Boyle jumpstarted the project with his $1.5 million donation. He and dozens of business, government and education leaders – including the mayor and county chairwoman – rolled out their plans at a press conference.

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Developer Homer Williams. Credit: Gordon R. Friedman/The Oregonian

"This is a great day for Portland,” developer and Harbor of Hope chairman Homer Williams said during the announcement. He did not return a call seeking comment Friday.

Project backers set an aggressive timeline, saying the shelter would open this fall. Marandas said they are still hoping to make that deadline. So far, no structures have begun to be erected.

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A rendering of the possible "navigation center." Credit: Oregon Harbor of Hope

A representative of Wheeler signaled the city will cut its losses if the project doesn’t work out.

“We’re not going to throw good money after bad … if it doesn’t pencil, it doesn’t pencil,” Berk Nelson, a senior advisor to Wheeler, told the development commission.

Nelson said the city is working to ensure “everything is going to be feasible” given the intense public interest and news coverage of the proposed shelter.

“We know that the entire city, possibly the country, is looking at the project,” Nelson said.

Marandas said in an interview there is “always a possibility” the shelter will not be constructed due to cost overruns. But she painted the high spending as a glass-half-full scenario.

“I think actually it’s a positive,” she said, because overspending figures “could be a lot higher.” She said cost-cutting measures already put in place staved off a possible million-dollar overrun.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com

503-221-8209

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