CC Minutes - 03/12/07 Work Session

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concerned that the City was “getting the cart before the horse” as it was an RFQ and not a Request for Proposals (RFP). He felt the evaluation had been done based on the one that had the best proposal instead of the one with the best qualifications. He liked the KWG proposal, although he had concerns regarding how it would be consistent with the sustainability goals of the City. He liked the Beam Development proposal for reuse of the Centre Court and Washburn Buildings, but he was not keen on their proposal for City ownership. However, he approved of Beam’s experience in constructing Leading in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) buildings. He had also liked the Midtown Developers proposal, though he felt it was more limited as their experience was a “little low on the commercial side.” He did not consider the Bryant proposal or the CenterCal Properties proposal because he did not think either had the right qualifications. Mr. Zelenka did not want to pursue one proposal at this juncture. He also did not believe enough discussion of the public investment had transpired. He did not think it was a time to “go fast.” He stressed that the investment could be tens of millions of dollars. He did not want to put the City in the position of having to say no to a proposal. Mr. Pryor said he was very impressed by the KWG Development Partners proposal, but he did want additional information. He suggested that the City gain more information from KWG and from Beam Development. He said he would be particularly interested in what Beam would do regarding housing. He liked what KWG had proposed in that regard. He also wanted to ask how the developers would integrate with the culture downtown. He acknowledged the movie theater proposal but he wanted to think beyond a movie theater. He was interested in understanding how the proposals would interact with existing downtown businesses as well. He stressed that although he wanted more information, he did not want the process to take another three months. Mayor Piercy said she was interested in how the City would advance its slogan ‘The World’s Greatest City for the Arts and Outdoors’ with whichever developments it opted for. In response to a question from Mayor Piercy, Mr. Braud stated that initially KWG Development Partners talked of a concept that would remove the Washburn Building and reuse the Centre Court Building, but staff had conveyed the community’s desire to salvage the Washburn Building given that there was not a great stock of older buildings downtown. He said KWG indicated it was open to the idea of working around the building should the community wish to retain it. Mayor Piercy said given the lack of older buildings in the downtown, it would be good to see if developers could come up with concepts that included retention of one or both of those buildings. Regarding comments about not wanting to select one developer at this juncture, she felt that one developer would not ultimately own every piece of property in the area. Mr. Braud conveyed staff’s uncertainty on whether the City would gain much by moving forward into the second phase of development with two potential developers instead of one. He related that in the case of KWG, the housing units would be sold and the hotel that was planned would be sold, but the retail space, grocery, and cinema would be retained for long-term ownership. Ms. Ortiz thanked Mr. Braud for the presentation and expressed appreciation for the five RFQ submittals. She found it hard to conceptualize undertaking the project with the Urban Renewal District, which was funded by taxing the community. She did not want to lose sight of the fiscal environment the State currently faced. MINUTES—Eugene City Council March 12, 2007 Page 5 Work Session