Albany is getting ready to pick a firm of consultants to design a remake of the city’s Willamette riverfront from Washington Street in the west to Main Street in the east.
The city of Albany’s urban renewal agency is buying a building within its district without saying publicly which one. But it’s not the Eagles club at Broadalbin Street and Water Avenue, which is no longer for sale.
Albany’s urban renewal board next week will be asked to choose one of three widely different offers to buy and redevelop the former Wells Fargo bank at Broadalbin Street and First Avenue downtown.
For Albany’s downtown urban renewal program known as CARA, the focus now is on launching and completing a redevelopment of the riverfront along Water Avenue, finishing some remaining projects, and then going out of business, possibly by 2025.
Albany’s urban renewal agency continues to be shy about naming the parties that offered to acquire the former Wells Fargo branch in the heart of downtown. But it plans to decide on selling the building to one of them the next time the CARA advisory board meets, which is June 19.
Albany city officials have received a couple of competing proposals for what to do with the former Wells Fargo Bank downtown, and they are looking for more.
The Schultz Building at 212 First Ave. S.E. has seen various uses since being built in 1910. Now it may become a restaurant, according to a grant request being considered by the Albany urban renewal district.
Should the Central Albany Revitalization Area provide charging stations for electric cars downtown? The CARA advisory board will get a chance to talk about that idea when it meets on Wednesday afternoon.
The Albany City Council thinks the city would benefit from a downtown parking study, and it has commissioned one at a contracted cost of no more than $42,803.
Riverfront development question: How much?
Albany may spend up to $20 million in urban renewal funds to redevelop its Willamette riverfront, including 14 blocks of Water Avenue from Washington Street to Main, but the potential price tag is getting some pushback from at least two members of the city council.
Tags: CARA, riverfront development, Walker/Macy