07/11/1977 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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and Charnel ton, and between Eighth, Broadway, Lincoln, and . Charnel ton. He said these garages, plus existing parking, would provide sufficient parking for all facilities including the multi-use center. Ms. Funk said the economic analysis included a study of both market and economic feasibility for a shopping center in Eugene. She said a study prepared by Kayser Marston a year ago showed a market for 200,000 square feet of new department stores by 1980 which could either be one large store or two smaller stores. The study recommended downtown as a location for the center to be competitive with Valley River Center. In terms of financial feasibility, the project had to be viewed both from the point of view of the developer and the City. Ms. Funk said the public cost would include assembly of land, parking garage~ and street improvements. She said if the developer had to pay for these items, it would be cheaper for the developer to develop in the suburbs. Therefore, the public paid for these items in order to make the project feasible to the developer. She said the firm had totalled the City's costs on the high side. Its revenue would be derived from sale of land, tax increment from the new development, plus tax increment from a previous City project not being used, and other federal funds already committed to such a project. She said the project thus calculated was financially feasible. Mr. Elbasani pointed out that the downtown development planners - were not seeking City Council authorization of its plan, but endorsement of the principle of the project, and permission to seek out a developer. Assistant Manager said the City had received letters from Will Carlstrom and Wallace Swanson as public testimony on a downtown development project. Public hearing was opened. Clark Winston Cox, 1085 Patterson Street, was skeptical about the proj ect. He referred to a downtown plan designed ten years ago and indicated it had not helped the downtown area much. As an example, he cited the fact that Montgomery Ward left the downtown area and moved to Valley River Center. However, he said he was willing to give the new plan a try. He said if parking were created for 2100 cars. it would necessitate the removal of some bus stops. He said the plan had not included any mention of a bus terminal site. He said LTD could the site proposed for a - multi-use center because it would give the terminal a whole block. He and others would be more comfortable with the plan if it included provision for a bus terminal. He said the location of the bus terminal was more important than the creation of more parking. Bob Trimble, 1470 Oak Street, objected to the downtown redevelop- ment plan for three reasons: 1) there was no reason to be down- . town after business hours; 2) the mall was all path and no place; SLf3 7/11/77--2