On Sept. 14 I parked he bike in front of the large stormwater swale at Santiam Road (left) and Main Street (right).
Every once in a while a bike ride takes me past the corner of Main Street and Santiam Road in Albany to check on progress there, the former site of the historic Cumberland church.
“I am 90 percent done with the site improvements that included the storm water detention feature, parking lot, new city curb, gutter, roadway, sidewalks, cross walk, etc.,” owner Yohn Baldwin told me in an email Friday.
The former church building was moved off the lot in 2021 to be turned into the Cumberland Community Events Center a couple of blocks away, at Santiam and Pine Street.
Baldwin, owner of nearby Baldwin General Contracting, bought the church lot in 2022 with plans to use it for parking for a new business he hopes will move into the warehouse next door. The original idea was to put a little park at the very tip of the corner, but the stormwater swale had to be built there instead.
Baldwin said the swale, required by the city, is bigger than the parking lot. “Crazy to have to build a $75,000 hole in the ground to manage water from nine parking lot spaces,” he wrote.
Yet to be completed on the site are a bike shelter, striping of the parking lot, lighting and landscaping. Baldwin expects all that to be done by the end of October.
Being nosy, I asked him what all this was costing. The final cost of site preparation, he said, will be $307,000.
His original idea was to remodel the warehouse for a fitness center and as retail space, but the prospective tenant has moved on. Now Baldwin is working with someone on another potential use, which would entail redesigning the interior. He also plans to check with the city about altering the storefront system originally approved.
For the outcome, stay tuned. (hh)
That’s some swale at Santiam and Main
On Sept. 14 I parked he bike in front of the large stormwater swale at Santiam Road (left) and Main Street (right).
Every once in a while a bike ride takes me past the corner of Main Street and Santiam Road in Albany to check on progress there, the former site of the historic Cumberland church.
“I am 90 percent done with the site improvements that included the storm water detention feature, parking lot, new city curb, gutter, roadway, sidewalks, cross walk, etc.,” owner Yohn Baldwin told me in an email Friday.
The former church building was moved off the lot in 2021 to be turned into the Cumberland Community Events Center a couple of blocks away, at Santiam and Pine Street.
Baldwin, owner of nearby Baldwin General Contracting, bought the church lot in 2022 with plans to use it for parking for a new business he hopes will move into the warehouse next door. The original idea was to put a little park at the very tip of the corner, but the stormwater swale had to be built there instead.
Baldwin said the swale, required by the city, is bigger than the parking lot. “Crazy to have to build a $75,000 hole in the ground to manage water from nine parking lot spaces,” he wrote.
Yet to be completed on the site are a bike shelter, striping of the parking lot, lighting and landscaping. Baldwin expects all that to be done by the end of October.
Being nosy, I asked him what all this was costing. The final cost of site preparation, he said, will be $307,000.
His original idea was to remodel the warehouse for a fitness center and as retail space, but the prospective tenant has moved on. Now Baldwin is working with someone on another potential use, which would entail redesigning the interior. He also plans to check with the city about altering the storefront system originally approved.
For the outcome, stay tuned. (hh)
Tags: former Cumberland site, Santiam and Main, storm water swale