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State may convert old bank building to offices A new state office building in downtown Medford could be built new or converted from an existing building, a state architect said on Tuesday. One possible location for the offices is the vacant Wells Fargo bank branch building on East Main Street, said Bill Foster, the architect. "We're in the very beginning stages of this and we need to have more dialogue with the people in Medford," Foster said. Just a couple of weeks ago, the state Legislature approved $320,000 for initial designs of the building, he said. The state wants to build or convert a 60,000-square-foot building downtown for office space for its agencies, which are now scattered throughout Medford. The state leases a total of 115,000 to 120,000 square feet of office space. "We would be looking at consolidating about half of that," Foster said. He didn't know what agencies would want to be in the main building and what agencies would prefer to remain throughout the community. Foster said he hopes the construction -- or renovation -- could begin by fall or winter of next year. If built new, the project would take about 18 months and cost $7 million to $8 million plus the cost of the land, he said. If the state chooses to take over an existing building -- such as the Wells Fargo bank -- the state could remodel or build an addition, Foster said. State officials have had initial talks about the Wells Fargo building and Foster said it's something the state needs to investigate. A possible problem with the Wells Fargo building is its size. The building was one of the largest banks in Medford at 21,839 square feet. But it would be just a third of the size that the state was planning for its office building. Also, state officials had been talking about building the new offices around Oakdale and Eighth streets -- where a cluster of government buildings already stands. Don Burt, director of the Medford Urban Renewal Agency, said he wants to hold a workshop after the holidays to talk with the various groups wanting to build new facilities downtown. Potential buildings include the state offices, a library and a juvenile detention center. Burt said his agency would have a report listing the best locations for those buildings by February. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA