ALBANY — Property developers from Corvallis have submitted plans to construct a four-story, 25,453-square-foot building on the site of the former Buzz Saw restaurant at 421 Water Ave. N.E. in Albany.

Ohanamula LLC, whose principal corporate members are David and Janet Johnson of Corvallis, purchased the 1.2-acre property in December 2006 for about $1 million, according to Linn County property records. The property had been advertised for sale at $1.1 million.

At the time of the purchase, Jim O’Bryant, a broker for HCS Commercial Real Estate said, “Ohanamula is a Willamette Valley-based family organization. They have been involved in many businesses in the Corvallis and Albany area. The unique name is derived from the Hawaiian word ‘ohana,’ which means family.”

The 9,729-square-foot former restaurant building will be demolished and replaced by the project that is being called the Wheel House. It will feature a 3,500-square-foot restaurant on the first floor, and each floor will be about 6,372 square feet. The three upper stories will be offices.

Preapplication meetings were held at the Community Development Department on April 4 and Dec. 5, 2007. Ohanamula LLC has asked for a variance to allow the proposed building to be located at the top of the bank of the Willamette River, where a 5-foot setback is usually required. The company has also asked for a variance to allow the building to be set back from Water Avenue, where buildings are usually required to be at the front property line.

“This is really an exciting project,” said Kate Porsche of the Central Albany Revitalization Agency. “This is a great plan and it’s well-funded. We are so pleased it has progressed to this point.”

Porsche said CARA is also impressed with the proposed architecture for the building and the fact that it will include a restaurant.

“In terms of creating vitality, restaurants are key for the downtown area,” Porsche said. “They will draw people downtown at night and on weekends. The plan is to relocate the walking path back along the river and that will provide some nice benefits for the community overall as well.”

From the 1930s until the 1970s, the property was the site of a lumber mill. Former Albany residents Dick and Alma Boudreau owned and operated the Buzz Saw restaurant there from the late 1970s until 2003, when West Linn investor Sohail Masood purchased the operation and renamed it The Pointe. The restaurant closed in 2004 and lawsuits were filed between the two parties. Litigation was settled in the summer of 2006.