January 31, 2007

MEDIA ADVISORY

CONTACT:

John Jackley, PDC (503) 823-3315

PDC TO ASSIST CARL GREVE JEWELERS WITH MOVE TO NEW RETAIL SPACE
Assistance Will Help Retain Key Downtown Retailer

The Portland Development Commission (PDC) will provide financial assistance to Carl Greve Jewelers to help retain this distinguished business in downtown Portland. Loans and grants will help the company with gap financing for tenant improvements on a new location in the American Bank Building at the corner of SW Broadway and Morrison, 621 S.W Morrison St. After 84 years in the same building, this Portland institution is moving because the lease on their current location expires in November 2007.

PDC will provide the company with loans totaling $519,000 and a grant of $31,900 to help with the relocation and improvements to the new space. Carl Greve also applied to PDC for a $20,000 Storefront Improvement grant. PDC will utilize loan funds from its Development Department’s Retail Tool Kit which is funded with tax increment funds from the River District Urban Renewal Area. One purpose of the Retail Tool Kit is to significantly upgrade key locations in the retail corridor. The relocation of luxury jeweler Carl Greve will reactivate a key retail corner in the downtown core with a signature business that Portland is proud to call its own.

“Carl Greve is a signature business in downtown Portland and it is extremely important that we help retain them in the downtown core,” said PDC Executive Director Bruce Warner. “This is exactly the type of business the Retail Tool Kit was designed to help,” he added.

The downtown corner at SW Broadway and Morrison has been vacant for more than a year and a half. Carl Greve will operate their jewelry business from 3,900 sq. ft. on the ground floor and will use the second floor mezzanine for office space. The business is leaving open the option of expanding retail sales to the second floor if sales warrant expansion.

"Since our lease was expiring in November 2007 we did what any good business does and examined our options,” said owner Tim Greve. “The resulting evaluation determined that our current location would not be viable for our business model going forward. In addition, we also determined that should a new location not be found—one providing an acceptable site and economic outlook—we would be forced to relocate our retail flagship and corporate operations outside the city and county. Fortunately, we were able to identify a location, and with assistance from PDC, we will be able to secure the long term future of our operation," Greve added.

Assisting and retaining Carl Greve Jewelers supports goals of the Downtown Retail Strategy—adopted by City Council in 2002. The Strategy calls for the retention of small, independent retailers and the reactivation of empty storefronts downtown.

“Carl Greve has been an institution in our downtown for more than eighty years,” said Sandra McDonough, president and CEO of the Portland Business Alliance. “The Alliance is very pleased that the Portland Development Commission has stepped up to help them maintain a presence in our Central City.”

Carl Greve opened its downtown Portland store in its current location in 1923. It is the largest locally-owned and operated independent jeweler in the Portland area. The retailer currently employs 27 people. In 2005 Carl Greve Jewelers opened a second retail location at Bridgeport Village. Carl Greve will not close during the move and will open the new downtown store in summer 2007.

PDC was created by Portland voters in 1958 to serve as the city’s urban renewal agency as laid out in Chapter 15 of the City’s Charter. PDC provides comprehensive housing, development and economic development programs within the Portland region.

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