Lake Oswego Review
November 6, 2023
Lake Oswego's Lake View Village in downtown celebrated its 20th Anniversary on Saturday, Nov. 3.
Courtesy photo: Gramor Development
It’s rare to celebrate the 20th anniversary of a development. But that’s what happened on Saturday, Nov. 4, as a packed tent of people came together at Lake View Village to honor a significant milestone in the evolution of a city’s downtown.
As Lake Oswego mayor Joe Buck said, it’s not usual for a development to be honored in such a way because usually the development is sold soon after it is built and usually the developer isn’t local.
Lake Oswego’s Lake View Village bucks both these common trends.
Barry Cain, president of Gramor, is a Lake Oswego resident and is the developer of Lake View Village. He saw the vision of what could be done to create something special in downtown Lake Oswego and put his money behind it to make it happen.
Barry Cain, president of Gramor and the developer of Lake Oswego's Lake View Village, shares the history behind how the development came together.
PMG photo: J. Brian Monihan
Of course, Cain couldn’t make this happen by himself.
Buck reminded the crowd on Saturday that what Lake Oswego has become today was made possible by the common vision of the community dating back to the 1970s. He even noted that one of the original ideas was to have an ice-skating rink in the center of downtown where Lake View Village’s parking garage currently sits.
Lake Oswego Mayor Joe Buck talks about the impact that Lake View Village had on setting the stage for future development in Lake Oswego.
PMG photo: J. Brian Monihan
Because change is hard for many people, both Buck and Cain noted the challenges of being the first to build such a development and the angst it brought out by many in the community, including a public vote that so divided Lake Oswego on whether the project should go forward that it failed by seven votes on the recount.
Cain also admitted that when he was finally able to get buy-in on a smaller version of a development, the number of hoops his team had to jump through from the city of Lake Oswego was painful. He thanked past mayor Judie Hammerstad, former city manager Doug Schmitz and then-redevelopment director Robert Galante for their vision to help see this effort through.
Buck echoed these sentiments, noting how much intense debate and dialogue happens within the community and within a city council when you have so many people invested in making sure these projects come together as expected. He said Lake Oswego is fortunate to have this collective vision by multiple city councils that literally spans a generation for Lake Oswego, building on the success of Lake View Village with other projects like The Windward, the Headlee Walkway, the new Lake Oswego City Hall, redevelopment of many streets in downtown and the upcoming North Anchor Project, just to name a few.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Lake View Village is an important milestone for many in the community to understand that not that long ago, Lake Oswego was a much different place.
And because of the collective vision of many people and the willingness of Cain to be the first to break through the wall, Lake Oswego has benefited greatly from it today and in future years to come.
Lake Oswego Lake View Village anniversary attendees enjoyed food and drink from Pizzeria sul Lago and celebrated the anniversary while listening to several jazz ensembles on both Friday and Saturday.
PMG photo: J. Brian Monihan
Dan Balmer and his ensemble performed Friday night during the anniversary of Lake Oswego's Lake View Village.
PMG photo: J. Brian Monihan
Story and photos by J. Brian Monihan, Lake Oswego Review publisher
Nov 5, 2023