12/08/1986 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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M I NUT E S e City Council Dinner/Work Session Eugene Hilton--Bloch Room December 8, 1986 5:30 p.m. PRESENT: Richard Hansen, Cynthia Wooten, Jeff Miller, Emily Schue, Roger Rutan, Ruth Bascom, Debra Ehrman, councilors; City Manager Mike Gleason; Assistant City Manager Dave Whitlow; Development Director Abe Farkas; Elaine Stewart, Greg Byrne, Jerry Gill, Development; Pat Decker, Kirk McKinley, Planning; Public Information Director Barb Bellamy; Dean Runyon, Mark Pangborn, Phyllis Looby, Lane Transit District; Ann Bennett, Downtown Commission; Rob Bennett, Jim Ellison, Sam Frear, guests. I. DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY Mr. Hansen opened the meeting. Mr. Farkas said tonight's presentation was a follow-up from November 19. He said staff intended to review Urban Renewal process steps and financing plans. Mr. Farkas also noted that several . councilors had conducted site visits of the existing Urban Renewal area and of the area proposed for expansion. He said a public forum on the Urban Renewal Update was scheduled in February, prior to decisions by the Planning e Commission, the Downtown Commission, and the City Council in April. Mr. Farkas said the Urban Renewal District over the last 18 years had been responsible for about $50 million worth of development. He presented a slide show of the Eugene area. He said many buildings constructed in Eugene in the 1920s had not been intended as permanent structures, and he noted that Eugene structures differed from those in Salem and Portland in the condition of their foundations and in that few here were masonry buildings. Mr. Farkas said an engineering firm in 1968 had been hired to assess the condition of structures within a 17-block area, and he showed a map identifying structures found to be substandard and that would eventually require removal. He said 74.4 percent of available office space downtown had been occupied in 1968, and a total of 470,000 square feet had existed, in addition to a total retail space of about 1.6 million square feet. He added that reta i 1 occupancy rates were not available for that year. Mr. Farkas compared those figures to 1986 data, indicating that 87.5 percent of more than 800,000 square feet of available office space was occupied. He said 1.6 million square feet of retail space had been retained, and the addition of approximately 1 million square feet of usable space downtown had brought the total space available to 3.2 million square feet. He also noted that about 600,000 square feet of the 1 million increase coul d be attributed to public buildings such as the Communi ty Conference Center, the Hult Center, and parking structures. e MINUTES--City Council Dinner/Work Session December 8, 1986 Page 1