SEPTEMBER 2007: AROUND THE STATE
Bumps in the road for
Medford’s downtown
MEDFORD Its
library was forced to close its doors, and one of its
cornerstone developments is on ice, but champions of downtown
Medford are still optimistic that their plans for a revitalized
core are on track.
The Bella Vita on Main, the mixed-use development that was
heralded by the Medford Urban Renewal Agency (MURA) as a
cornerstone development, is on hold indefinitely because of the
environment for real-estate finance. “The markt is
solid,” says Bella Vita’s developer Terry
Cook, “but financing is impossible.” Cook, of
Portland-based Cook Development, says he had about 50% of the
retail and residential building pre-sold but after pitches to
64 lending sources, he came up empty.
Still, MURA director Jackie Rodgers is optimistic that other
downtown redevelopment projects will pick up the slack. Ground
may be broken as early as October on The Commons, an
eight-block development project (including three blocks of open
space) anchored by the Lithia Motors headquarters. A Bartlett
Street overhaul is also well under way and the street will
eventually break through a parking structure that currently
breaks its flow. A new higher education building for Rogue
Community College and Southern Oregon University should be done
by fall 2008.
Rodgers also points out that dozens of downtown buldings have
received facelifts through the city’s façade
program, receiving grants between $1,000 and $37,500 to spiff
up historic structures.
Salvatore Mellelo, who started his Mellelo Coffee Roasters
business in a corner espresso stand in 1992, says he’s
pleased with the progress downtown is making, despite the fact
that he was forced to close one of his three downtown shops,
the one at the downtown branch of the library, due to a lack of
foot traffic. Jackson County closed its libraries in April when
officials were unable to find a funding source.
“When I first started, I didn’t see much in the
way of loving downtown,” Mellelo says. “But
I’ve always loved downtown. I thought, ‘I know what
this could be.’”
Despite the setbacks, he still does.
CHRISTINA WILLIAMS
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