Developer unveils 2nd-phase plans for athletic club, senior living facility

The second phase of the Hyas Point mixed-use development will feature a senior residential center and a full-service athletic club.

Employees of RKm Development, the Portland-based real estate development firm hired by the Port of Camas-Washougal to design and construct Hyas Point along the Washougal waterfront, unveiled preliminary renderings and discussed their proposals for the planned facilities during a presentation to Port leaders on Aug. 21.

“(Senior living and an athletic club) are two uses that we feel complete a lot of our vision in terms of multi-generational, mixed use, integrated living,” Channa Kim, director of special projects and development for Central Bethany, RKm’s management group, said during the workshop session.

Construction on the first phase, which will feature several streets, including a main thoroughfare stretching east to west along the Columbia River, and four buildings that will house 276 apartment units and 56,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, is slated to begin this fall.

“Very early stages of construction have started on the site,” Kim said. “The Port is starting their preliminary earthwork, and we’re excited to slide right in after them. Things are moving, and I know there’s a lot of excitement about having dirt move finally over there, so that’s been really great.”

RKm hopes to begin design on the second phase as it nears the completion of first-phase construction, although Kim said the funding search for the athletic club is a “gray area” could muddle the timeline.

“It still feels really far away because we’re just getting started on the first phase, but with how long design and planning takes, we feel like it’s good to get our ducks in a row and be prepared for the next step, and also introduce to you how we see this as a continuation of the vision for Hyas Point as a whole,” Kim said.

“It’s hard to think about with the construction just happening now, but that first phase, all the design work was done three years ago,” she continued. “That’s how long it takes to get through this process. Going through this process now will allow us to be ready when that first phase is nearing completion, to get right ahead on these next phases.”

The six-story senior living center, to be located on 200,000-square-foot plot of land in the developlment’s east end, will feature 183 residential units; memory care, assisted living and independent living services; and 124 parking spaces.

“When we were initially concepting Hyas Point, senior living was a bit of a no-brainer for us,” said Dayna Kim, Central Bethany’s corporate projects manager. “Not only was it meant to address the market demand and community request for senior living, but it also tied in really, really closely with a key theme that RKm is built on, this idea of multi-generational, multicultural living. It (speaks) to our initiative to tie in seniors to the whole community; that’s what makes a vibrant community, in our opinion.”

The facility will include a library, kitchens and a dining area; designated spaces for arts and crafts, and multi-purpose, wellness-focused and outdoor activities; and access to a full-service restaurant, also available to the general public.

“This amount of variety and diversity is (important),” Dayna Kim said. “Our seniors are such engaged members of the community, so they are really looking for not only a wellness center, but a very robust activities curriculum. We designed it this way to maximize efficiency.”

The senior center will create 150 to 200 jobs, according to Dayna Kim.

“Senior living is highly complex, and 150 to 200 jobs is basic to run the building, so there’s lots of opportunity there,” she said. “We see it firsthand in our own operations. The businesses or the operators that put their heart and their touch into it are the ones that set themselves apart, and that’s what we’re going to bring to this iteration. We currently do it with our senior living (facility) in Bethany (Village in Portland), and that’s our brand at this point — that’s how we set ourselves apart from the competitors.”

Port Commissioner Larry Keister said he believes the experience RKm has gained from running the Laurel Park retirement community at Bethany Village will help the firm in its development of a senior center at Hyas Point and benefit east Clark County as a whole.

“I think with the experience that you have with your senior living center over at Bethany Village, you have such a background as to what the tenants need, and they’ve probably given you the input to go into the design of this one, and I’m very impressed with that,” Keister said. “I think it would be great for our community.”

Central Bethany also operates an athletic club at Bethany Village, a model for its vision for a similar facility at Hyas Point.

“(The Bethany Athletic Club) has about 4,500 memberships, more members because we have a lot of family memberships,” said Central Bethany operations manager Elaina Kim. “It currently employs about 115 employees, a big group of instructors and part-time staff. Our expertise in owning and operating that building is what helped inform our ideas for this building.”

The 96,000-square foot facility, to be built on a 443,000-square-foot plot of land on the northern half of the development next to State Route 14, will feature a parking structure with more than 700 spaces and between 70 and 80 units of housing in addition to an athletic club.

“This combination of mixes is really important to our mixed-use vision,” Elaina Kim said. “But at the same time, we were trying to address multiple different requests from the community. This idea of structured parking was also the most efficient way for us to deliver parking without taking up valuable service parking areas that now we can allocate to buildings that are more engaging for the community. Structured parking will be large enough to service the entire site.”

The athletic club will include weight rooms, locker rooms, tennis and pickleball courts, a full-sized basketball court, and a six-lane indoor swimming pool.

“A huge amount of programming will be focused on the pool,” Elaina Kim said. “The pickleball court is actually separate from the tennis court, so we’ll have both (courts) running separately. We also have a hardwood court where we’ll run full-sized basketball programming, drop-in and league (play). And looking at other ways to respond to what the community is wanting; we will probably have a component for youth programs and after-school care (as well).”

Port Commissioner Cassi Marshall praised the presentation, telling the Kims that their “concepts are beautiful for phase two, just like phase one” and that they made “a great presentation, (with) informative, inspiring designs.”

“I think your business model is incredibly well thought out,” Keister added. “You’ve got the experience from the developments that you’ve done in the past. You’ve got businesses supporting other businesses, supporting housing. You’ve taken what our vision was and just made it so much better. East Clark County will definitely benefit from this.”