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Ashland duo aim for the upscale crowd Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Developers plan artisans marketplace By Sara Murphy ASHLAND � This empty industrial building is nearly 22,000 square feet full of possibilities. That�s the way Ed Bemis and Allan Sandler see it. To look at it now, though, it�s just a shell: walls, a roof and plenty of room for imagination. "People are going to come," says Sandler, standing in the middle of the former Oak Street Tank and Steel building at Oak and A streets. "Whether they buy anything or not, I don�t know," he says. "But they�re going to come look at it." What they�ll see, he explains, is an artisans marketplace � somewhat like Eugene�s Fifth Street Market � that looks like an eclectic city street with an upscale, international bent and a hint of the structure�s hard-working history. "We�re doing everything from scratch," Sandler says. "You�ll think you�re in Disneyland when you�re back here � only not so fake." Sandler and Bemis are the developing duo building MoJo Cafi on Lithia Way. They�re also responsible for the recently remodeled Masonic Temple building � the one with the walkway � on the Plaza. Four years after they began talking about creating the A Street Marketplace, Sandler and Bemis relocated Oak Street Tank and Steel to a brand new building on Jefferson Street and gutted the old building. Now they�re ready to begin the magic. "We hope not to get up to $3 million," Sandler says. "It�ll be in that area," Bemis agrees. What they�re planning is a multicultural mall with a Parisian pastry shop, a tapas bar and a Tibetan treasure house with the look of a Buddhist temple. They also have plans for a potter, a photo studio, a metal shop and an international music store. At the end closest to Ashland Hardware will be a large covered area available for concerts, growers� markets or weekend pony rides. The goal is to create a destination of sorts, a ritzy shopping mecca marked by a clock tower at the end of Pioneer Street. It should open this fall. "It�s only three blocks from Shakespeare," Sandler says. That may not be close enough for success, say skeptics, including Planning Commissioner John Fields, the owner of Golden-Fields Construction and developer of a seven-acre mixed-use "village" right across the railroad tracks. "Retail is a very tricky thing," Fields says. "You need traffic. "If Ashland didn�t have Shakespeare, it would be a ghost town," he adds. "Locals shop at the mall." Fields speculates that the marketplace is too far from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival � Ashland�s most highly trafficked tourist area � to draw the attention that high-end galleries demand. He predicts the building will be remodeled into office space, but says there�s a chance the marketplace may prove profitable since Ashland�s tourists are more and more the "Carmel-type." "I just don�t think Ashland�s quite there yet," Fields says. "I think people are still fairly cheap. "They�ll buy a T-shirt or a sweatshirt and go home." Other folks, including Leon Danielle, say Ashland is ripe for ritz � and he�s talking about the locals. "People are a little bit resistant to change in Ashland," says Danielle, a hair stylist who plans to set up shop in the marketplace. "But every time they�re offered something new and pretty like the Firefly (restaurant), they love it." Danielle says he�s excited about being able to offer Ashlanders a "top salon," the kind of salon he�s used to in Hawaii and Beverly Hills. "I believe we�re going to be a real important anchor business because we have a real strong clientele," he says. "We do most of the movers and shakers." Fields says he wishes the marketplace success. But he can�t help feel a little nostalgia for that old industrial building by the tracks. "I kind of miss the clanging of Oak Street Tank and the whistle," he says, "people actually making something for a living." Reach Ashland bureau reporter Sara Murphy at 482-4655, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.