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Tenants will include County offices and conference center, Transit offices and associated <br />customer service operations, and a small amount of Transit-owned retail space facing Court <br />Street. <br />A private developer will be selected to create, finance and operate a single or mixed-use <br />component on the northern portion of the block. There will be limited design and use <br />constraints on this Project. The Project will be constructed on grade adjacent to the bus <br />mall, which is constructed above a subsurface parking lot. Access to the parking garage is <br />provided at each end of the site with an enclosed stairwell. There is the potential for the <br />developer to construct elevator access to the garage from a building that would be <br />constructed on the North Block pad. <br />In addition to the economics of development options, the Procuring Agency is interested in a <br />project that adds vitality and physical symmetry to the block. There are some limits placed <br />insofar as certain uses which will not be permitted, such as liquor or tobacco stores and <br />outlets dealing in obscene materials. <br />A Mazket Analysis of office, retail, and commercial space in the downtown Salem area was <br />conducted in December 1999 by the firm of Palmer, ('rroth, and Pietka. This document will <br />be made available to any Respondent who requests it. <br />The Courthouse Squaze project has been perhaps the most highly visible development to take <br />place in Downtown Salem in our community's history. There has been much discussion and <br />debate generated by the project, and an active interest has been focussed from the outset on <br />the type and role of private development within the block. At various times, a number of <br />different types of uses have been discussed by the Transit and County Boards. Among the <br />development options that have been discussed are: subsidized housing; affordable housing; <br />upscale housing; retail spaces; restaurants; government offices; private offices; day care <br />centers; mixed-use of two or more of these options; a conference center; an urban pazk; and, a <br />downtown parking lot. At this point in time, the Procuring Agency is consciously remaining <br />open to information and concepts presented by the development community. The Boards <br />believe that it is in the public's best interest to consider any and all proposals on their own <br />merits, and aze not directing respondents to any specified land uses or mix of uses. <br />There aze many community organizations and agencies that have expressed views on potential <br />uses of the North Block site, including the Salem Downtown Association, the Salem Chamber <br />of Commerce, the City of Salem Downtown Development Board, City staff, as well as the <br />Transit Board and Marion County Board of Commissioners themselves. Some of the input <br />from these bodies shares consistent and compatible themes, while other viewpoints on how <br />the site should be used may be divergent or contradictory. <br />Reflecting the diverse viewpoints on the appropriate use for the site, there are distinct and in <br />some instances competing values which underlie the views. Should the project maximize <br />revenue return to the District and County, or should it settle for a lower return if desirable <br />social goals can be met? Should the project include the maximum amount of parking <br />possible, or should it discourage pazking and increased traffic in the downtown area? Should <br />the selected use(s) for the site maximize the downtown tax roll, or meet government's need <br />3 <br />