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Renewal project targets Main, Fir Agency envisions multi-use structure BY BILL VARBLE A four- or five-story, $14 million building with shops, offices, apartments and parking could be standing at the southeast corner of West Main and North Fir streets in downtown Medford by early next summer. The Medford Urban Renewal Agency has bought two tax lots there for $841,000 and is seeking city approval to clear the way for the project by tearing down the C. A. Weintrout building, built in 1946 as a car dealership and recently acquired for $550,000. The site's most recent tenant was a now-defunct furniture store. The project includes the lot behind the building, which the agency bought in 1996 for $291,000. The Medford Historic Commission has scheduled a public hearing at 6 p.m. May 2 in City Hall Room 340 to consider the agency's request for a permit to demolish the building. The City Center Revitalization Plan adopted in 1988 identified the lots as properties that could be acquired by the agency for public parking and possible commercial space. The agency already owns a narrow strip of railroad right-of-way adjacent to the property. "We're finally in a position to move ahead," the agency's Mike Webber said Thursday. The fact that the building is inside the city's historic district triggers the public hearing process. "It's to see if there's somebody who would step in and save it," said senior planner Jim Maize at the Planning Department. The Urban Renewal Agency is seeking proposals to develop the property. "We've asked developers to tell us what will work on this site, taking into account market conditions," Webber said. He said prospective tenants, whom he declined to identify, need at least 50,000 square feet. The building will probably involve some combination of retail, office, parking and living spaces. Look for 10,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Some preliminary conceptual drawings that have been submitted call for office space above the retail shops on the Main Street side and a parking structure and apartments in back. It's a type of development cities such as Eugene and Portland have encouraged. Webber described it as "a true mixed use." The project could be paid for through a combination of private and tax-increment financing, a method of raising money based on the increase in property taxes in the historic district after 1988. "There will be negotiations with a developer," Webber said. Such deals can be put together in different ways. The city could own the land and lease it. A developer could get the land for doing the building. Somebody could buy the whole thing. Webber said the agency doesn't expect any opposition to the removal of the building. Medford's dominant downtown architecture dates from the period of 1895 to 1915. The Weintrout building is classified as a "secondary contributing building" in the historic district. "The intention is to build a 100-year building," Webber said. "A high quality, historically correct building in the architectural vein of the other buildings downtown, very classy." He said the Agency could begin demolition in June. Bids aren't out yet. The job includes removing an old basement and could go six figures. Current tenants -- two antique stores and a warehouse -- are on month-to-month leases. Parking can be a stumbling block for downtown development because of the high cost of land. "Parking doesn't pencil," Webber said. "A developer probably couldn't build the parking. The urban renewal program says we acknowledge that, and we'll use tax increment financing." That means the parking would be public and available to shoppers and Rogue Community College students. Webber declined to say who had submitted drawings, noting that a request for proposals is still out. "What's going to be key is, who can build this quickly?" he said. There's been no major new development in the downtown core in recent years except for the Mail Tribune's two buildings and the transformation of the old Craterian Theater into a performing arts center. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA