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Photo by Jim Craven Ashland's Oak Street Tank and Steel would become an artisans' market under a plan by developers Allan Sandler and Ed Beemis. An artisans' marketplace Planned for Ashland's Railroad District at A Street steel plant site By DAVID PRESZLER ASHLAND -- Ashland is about to take another step toward what its beloved bard might call less matter, more art. One of the city's oldest blue-collar businesses, Oak Street Tank and Steel, is moving to the edge of town. Developers plan to create an artisans' center in its place. Sandler Bemis The A Street Marketplace, as Allan Sandler and Ed Bemis plan to name the center, would be a place for artisans to work in full view of the public and sell their creations. It would feature a food court and a large covered open area that would be used for concerts and other events. Sandler says it will cost as much as $2.5 million to remodel the Oak Street Tank and Steel building and create an artisans' version of Pike Place Market in Seattle. Instead of vegetables and fish, it would feature pottery, bronze-casting, book binding and the like. "It's going to be a hangout," Sandler says. "You'll actually see the work being done. "Ashland is considered the artisans' mecca of Oregon and we don't have anything for artisans. I think it's going to be a draw, just to see the people working." The proposed center is situated between the downtown core, the revitalized section of A Street and new developments along Oak. Sandler plans to put a large, lighted clock and an entrance on the side of the building where Pioneer and A streets meet, just three blocks from Main Street and the city's biggest draw, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. "You'll see it right from Main Street," he says. "From Shakespeare, you'll see it." His plans go before the Ashland Planning Commission tonight. The commission has already held a hearing on the plans and is expected to grant its approval. Sandler and Bemis have been the developers on several Ashland projects, most recently the remodel of the Masonic Temple building on the downtown plaza. They worked out an agreement with Oak Street Tank and Steel to take possession of the building once that company's new 21,000-square-foot home on Washington Street is complete next spring. Jim Morris, president of Oak Street Tank and Steel, says the move and new building will be good for his company, which has been exploring relocation options for several years. The company was founded in the 1920s in what is now the Standing Stone Brewery. In the 1940s, it moved to its current 13,400-square-foot building further down Oak Street. Though the business has been there for more than 50 years, Morris says he doesn't mind the move. "We are an industrial business and there are houses right across the street," he says. "It's not the best situation. It's kind of the natural progression of things." And he says the increased traffic as Oak Street has become a popular route into Ashland has made getting trucks in and out of the business difficult. The company, which has 15 employees, plans to move in March or April. Once the move is complete, Sandler plans to begin work and open the artisans' center "hopefully for the Christmas holidays" of 2000. The building's character will remain largely intact, Sandler says. Two sections closest to Oak Street will house the food services and artisans' shops. In those sections, he plans to create "an eclectic street scene" with faux store fronts made of different materials from different eras. He says he already has tenants lined up for about half of the retail spaces. The sides will be taken off a third section, leaving the metal roof to create a 4,400-square-foot covered area that will host concerts, pony rides or farmer's markets. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA