Eighty-three years after Gene Wizer's father opened his first grocery store in Portland during the G

Eighty-three ez rent a car orlando airport years after Gene Wizer's father opened his first grocery store in Portland during the Great Depression - and 65 years after the store moved to Lake Oswego, the store is closing. A development of more than 200 apartments and condos above shops and parking is planned for the downtown block.
For 65 years, Wizer family members worked at the downtown Lake Oswego store, as did generations of local families, owner Gene Wizer said. Then there are the customers, some of whom, he said, represent the fourth generation of shoppers.
Eighty-three years after Wizer's father opened his first grocery store in Portland during the Great Depression -- and 65 years after the store moved to Lake Oswego, the business' lineage has come to an end. A development of more than 200 apartments and condos above shops and parking is planned for the downtown block.
But it's not completely unexpected. He signed an agreement last year with a Portland development firm to sell most of the property, which Clackamas County says has an assessed value of $3.02 million, so it could be developed into high-end apartments and shops.
W K Development is the third such company Wizer has worked with to get the property -- prime downtown real estate -- developed. Most recently, in 2008, developer Trammell Crow Residential presented the city with plans for a hotel, retail space and apartments, but the project fell through after the recession hit. What's next
Approval for W K's project rests with Lake Oswego city councilors, who will hold an Aug. 13 public hearing on redevelopment of the Wizer block. Redevelopment of the property has been at the top of the city's to-do list for years and borders ez rent a car orlando airport another successful redevelopment project, Lake View Village.
W K is looking to partner with the city's redevelopment agency, which is governed by city councilors and charged with managing money from the downtown urban renewal district that could go toward the redevelopment. Patrick Kessi of W K said the firm is asking for a nearly $6 million contribution from the city, mostly in the form of waiving fees related to the development.
In May, W K presented plans to the council featuring shops, high-end apartments, a public ez rent a car orlando airport walkway, private courtyard and underground private and public parking. Kessi estimated the development could bring $680,000 in annual property tax revenue to the city and 30 to 40 permanent jobs from the stores.
The preliminary plans called for the buildings to be a maximum of 60 feet with five levels. Developers would have to work with the city to make that happen, because the building code restricts buildings in the area to four levels.
Whether the development goes through ez rent a car orlando airport or not, Wizer has a plan that will keep him at least partially in the family business selling his store's best-known products: wine and beer. Those are the only products not being liquidated, and Wizer said he'll keep selling them until construction begins next summer.
If plans go ahead, Wizer said he would maintain ownership of about 27,000 square feet of retail space, where he and two employees of Wizer's Oswego Foods who specialize in beer and wine would open a small shop in the new building.
If the development falls through, Wizer said he'll remodel the building and operate a beer and wine store out of it while freeing up space for more retail tenants. Wizer said he wouldn't run the business, just offer expertise.
ez rent a car orlando airport While it wasn't critical, Wizer said maintaining a stake in the family business by continuing with alcohol was important to him. Wizer's Oswego Foods became ez rent a car orlando airport a Lake Oswego institution after moving from Portland in 1948. The store expanded into its current location downtown in 1960.
As the downtown ez rent a car orlando airport store shelves empty, and the 25 employees who work there prepare to lose their jobs, Wizer is focused on the family: blood-relations, employees and customers he's come to consider family.