04/15/1981 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e Public hearing was opened. Those testifying in favor of the UDAG application were: Ron McMullin, 1420 East Briarcliff, President of the Whiteaker Community Council, said that they had been working on the projects in the Blair area for several years. They have been using Community Development Block Grant funds and trying to provide private financing for the Red Barn project on Blair as well as a co-op housing project in the Blair neighborhood. They feel that it is important to be able to continue with this project. The UDAG grant would give them an opportunity to leverage additional money via private financing. It would give a greater amount of equity. It would allow them to meet the higher interest rates currently being asked. Cecil Strange, NEDCO Board, said 50 years ago Blair Boulevard was a commercial center in the Whiteaker community. The buildings are now run-down as the Highway 99 traffic was diverted to the south. There are very few viable com- mercial buildings in the area. Many that are there are currently for sale. NEDCO has been working to revitalize the Blair Boulevard area as a commercial district fOllowing the goals and strategies adopted by the City Council for economic development. Peter Bartel, 2532 Nixon Street, board member for the Community Center for the Performing Arts (CCPA) and aide to Commissioner Jerry Rust, urged the council to proceed with the application for UDAG money. He said there is a significant problem in the core area that needs to be addressed. As the board member, he assured the City Council that were the City to receive money, the CCPA would apply for money as well. He noted that very early on Commissioner Rust wrote a letter supporting the Red Barn1s historic designation. It is an important part of the Whiteaker neighborhood. He wished to reaffirm Commissioner Rust's support for NEDCO and the Red Barn project. Carol Glaser, 47 Adams Street, staff member of NEDCO, called council's atten- tion to the distributed information on the Red Barn project. She reviewed the history of NEDCO, the market feasibility study for the commercial market, and the architectural analysis for the structural feasibility of the building. NEDCO has located prospective clients and has obtained a historic designation for the Red Barn. They have accomplished rehabilitation of one building on the site, which is now the NEDCO office. All this was done with volunteer labor and at a cost of only $10 a square foot. They have raised 40 percent of the total project cost for the Red Barn. As they are getting quotes from mortgage lenders of 14.5 percent to 19.5 percent for the long-term mortgage, NECO is short of equity for rehabilitation financing. They also need off-street parking for the buildings and other area businesses. They propose to apply to UOAG to remove a house from a lot and to pave the lot for parking. NEDCO proposes applying for a UDAG grant of approximately $80,000. The total project cost is $460,000. The UDAG portion would be 17 percent of the whole. It would be leveraged at a ratio of 2.8 to 1 of private money to public money. They are far along in the written work for the application and for the commitment from the private people--the tenants and the banks. The NEDCO staff feel they can put together an application that will be successful. Ms. Glaser invited council to visit the site and talk with the NEDCO staff. There being no further testimony, public hearing was closed. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 15, 1981 Page 6