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By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune September 19. 2014 9:00AM Tenants begin moving into One West Main Downtown merchants anticipate positive impacts as the first of three primary corporate tenants moves into the new downtown building From left, Paul Schoenberger, Diamond Harris and Stephen Kemp of Interior Office Concepts set up office cubicles for Procare Software on the second floor of the new One West Main building in downtown Medford. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Spanking-new One West Main is complete on the outside and beginning to fill on the inside. Employees from the headquarters of Pacific Retirement Services began the three-phase migration last week, with Procare Software due to follow Oct. 11, and Rogue Disposal & Recycling moving in a couple of weeks later. The $8.3 million, four-story, 116,600-square-foot building surrounding the Evergreen parking garage is widely viewed as an economic engine that will attract additional investment and commercial tenants to downtown Medford. "I don't have statistics or numbers, but it's certainly going to have an impact on local businesses," said Procare Software owner Jeff Blum. "It brings an attractiveness that certainly wasn't there two years ago when we began. When you consider what the lot was like prior to this, I don't think it can do anything but help." Sunrise Cafe owner Ed Chun, whose eatery is about a block away, thinks One West Main is a can't-miss proposition for existing establishments. "All the little businesses that have just been making it in the past couple of years will benefit. It will be huge for all of our businesses," said Chun, a former Medford City Council member. Even if only one in three of the new office workers goes out to lunch, Chun anticipates 65 to 70 new customers hitting nearby lunch spots. "We're expecting a 25 to 30 percent increase in our lunch business here, and hopefully we can double the lunch business with the addition of a mobile food cart," Chun said. "In six months to a year, we're going to have close to 200 new employees working downtown. We've done corporate catering for Rogue Disposal and PRS, so we know their employees like our food. You add the county (mental health) building opening, and you're hearing a lot of buzz downtown. With Lithia and the college stuff going on, there is definitely a different vibe than when we moved here 4½ years ago."  Some of those new lunch-goers may eventually be able to find their way to a restaurant without leaving the One West Main building on the corner of West Main and Fir streets. Coldwell Banker Commercial NW owner Tom Fischer, tasked with filling the ground-floor commercial space, said he anticipates signing a dining tenant by December, along with a coffee shop and two financial services firms. Fischer said the building's three owners are looking for a high-quality local tenant to occupy the 4,300-square-foot restaurant space. "It's a space similar to Red Robin in size, but we're looking for something a little more upscale," Fischer said. "Our primary goal is to find someone local. We'd love to get someone people are familiar with in the Rogue Valley and Southern Oregon. Porters is an example, just down the street, of the quality we're looking for; obviously, they're not going anywhere." He said restaurants such as Cheese Factory and P.F. Chang's are out of the picture, because the area lacks the population and affluence to meet their corporate demographic requirements. Breakfast would likely have to be served by a secondary tenant.  "The main focus is a good-quality restaurant, and not all quality restaurants serve three meals a day," he said. "Perhaps the coffee shop could supply the breakfast menu." Fischer said businesses ranging from a fitness center chain to travel agencies and clothing retailers have inquired about space, which is renting for $1.90 to $2.50 per square foot. "To a lot of people in Southern Oregon that seems like a lot of money, but it's a function of the building," Fischer said. "For retail space, that's not exorbitant. The Panda Express building in the Southgate starts at $2.40 (per square foot) and was fully leased before construction." Fischer also has received lots of inquiries from people considering opening a new business. He's not sure whether that's a sign of the times or a disconnect in understanding start-up costs and long-term leases. "Maybe it's a problem of perception, but I've had a fair number contact me who have never had a business before," Fischer said. "My guess is it's a good thing; in the Silicon Valley, those folks are called entrepreneurs. Here, we call them someone who wants to work for themselves. Some have access to a line of clothes, no experience in retail and no funding. In a building like this, you can't start off there." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31 ,  and read his blog at www.mailtribune.com/Economic Edge.   http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20140919/NEWS/140919643 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->