Question and Answers to Issues Courthouse Square

Home Browse Search

/ ' F or Board Meeting of September 11,1997 MEMO TO: BOARD OF DIRECTORS ~ FROM: R. G. ANDERSEN- CKOFF, GENERAL MANAGER ' SUBJECT: COURTHOUSE SQUARE ' ssu None. Information only on Courthouse Square 1 Background , Courthouse Square is the name given the Marion County/Salem Area Transit jaint project on the foRner Senat~u Hotei block in downtown Salem. The concept of a jointly developed project on this site has been around for at least ten years. if not longer. but it was not until October 1995 that the concept began the evolution from idea to proposal. ' Over the summer of 1995. a broadly based atizens committee, chaired by then Board member Biii Frey, evaluated a lengthy list of potentiai sites for a new downtovm transit ' cente~. The District had been di~ected by Mayor Andersen-Wyckoff. in 1993, to remove the "temporar~/' transit malt from its High Street location. The committee oonduded that three sites met their criteria. The Senator Block was not one of them because it had bee~ removed from the list on the basis that the intergovemmenral oooperation ~ecessary to its ' success was a risk. The site, however, was at the top of the list with a special techn"~cal review committee composed of staff from the various local govemment age~cies and COG. When R. G. Andersen-Wyckoff became General Manager in September 1995, he immediately pursued the potential of a joint development on the Senator Biock He found ' immediate interest on the part of the County and the Transit Boar+d and within 45-days the e Courthouse Square proposal was bom. Foiiowing a presentation to ifie City Councd. County , Commissioners, and Transit Board in November 1995, ofi'icial authority was granted to pursue the ooncept. In early 1996, a development team was selected via an RFP, which brought a private developer, architect, and general contractor onto fhe project. The selection was ~ made by a`selection committee" composed of two representatives from the County, the City, Transit, and fire at large representatives of the business/neighbofiood. As the project began to take shape architecturally and financially, the evoluuti~on changed the original concept of private financing to public financing and the need for the private developer was 1 considerably diminished. After disag~eement between tfie developer and the public agenaes over the scope of work, its value, and compensation, the public agec~cies ' terminated their working relationship with the private developer a~d an independent'project manager," the Melvin Marfc Development Company. of Portland was ~etai~ed ttxough an RFP process. The original architect and general oontractor are also part of the current development team. ' At the end of July. when preliminary «~nnstrudion estimates were being received on the project, it became apparent that changes already being made to the project were not reducing the construction costs sufficient to bring the project into budget. Redesign is cumently underway. with the intent of reducing the overall cost ~ The District is financing its portion of the project with federal FTA grants in the amount of $9295-million (20% is local match) secured for the District by fom~ Senator Maric Hatfield. The Count~s portion will be financed by Revenue Bonds with debt service ' being paid by rents cuRently being paid for county space in other faal'ities. and fiom space rentals to prnrate individuals. (Attached is a copy of the project p~oposal made in November 1995.) . ~ Courthouse Square EXHIBIT 10 ' 11