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2.Local Business Assistance – project information Estimated Item Cost* Building Improvements $ 1,100,000 Steam Conversion $ 1,425,000 Other Green Upgrades $ 100,000 Local Business Assistance Total $ 2,000,000 Avg. Annual Expenditure $ 142,900 * General estimates in current dollars based on costs of similar projects. Local businesses and employers are vital to a thriving and productive downtown and could benefit from urban renewal assistance to locate downtown and enhance offerings of goods and services. Urban Renewal funds can support a multi-faceted, proactive approach to make downtown livelier, safer, and more inviting. Enabling the projects described below will also provide much needed near- and long-term employment opportunities. Specifically, local businesses and employers could benefit from and have expressed a need for: 1.Building Improvements Both interior and exterior improvements including entrances, windows, awnings and signage enhance the pedestrian experience, make spaces more amenable to business activities, increase marketability of spaces, and attract more interest. The pictures above show the exterior improvements made to One East Broadway that were completed in 2005. 2.Steam Conversion Steam infrastructure is aging and will be obsolete in a few years. Currently, 23 privately owned buildings are on steam within the Downtown District. (Lane Council of Governments also has two buildings on steam in the Downtown District.) EWEB plans to decommission steam service within two to five years. The City is pursuing opportunities to convert city-owned buildings to high efficiency gas. Although operating cost and energy savings are available from converting from steam, the cost of conversion is quite significant. (The estimated cost for converting the 25 non- City buildings is $2.85 million.) Additionally, whenever a customer converts from steam the price of operating on steam increases for the remaining customers. It would, therefore, be cost efficient to convert all users from steam simultaneously. 3.Other Green Upgrades In addition to steam conversion, other green upgrades could decrease occupancy costs and improve the appeal of downtown buildings. EWEB promotes energy efficiency by offering business customers rebates and a streamlined way to replace existing lighting systems, equipment, and windows with energy efficient products. Some of EWEB’s offerings could be matched with urban renewal resources to increase the number of upgrades completed in the downtown core.