08/19/86 Special Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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26 Planning ,July 1986 parking built in. And you'd be adding a strong element to the core. Putting a big parking structure in the middle of the downtown, as you propose, could kill you-unless maybe it had retail stores in the base. You don't want to create a big dead block in the center of town. I'm also concerned that you ma), be over- building speculative office buildings. Culls. We're worried too. We have a 20 to 25 percent office vacancy right now. But we've been told that there's a window now for buildings with floor areas of 10,000 to 15,000 square feet. And those buildings- with that kind of space - ar.e full. Heckmnn. I think what you need is a single office user to balance ali these buildings with multiple tenants. I would look for someone within your existing cor- porate base who might be interested in developing a single-user building of 30,000 to 4.0,000 square feet. You should play on the new hotel and the civic center and on their identification with Downey as a place. You do have a good location, with freeways on four sides, so irs a logical place to set up a business. Hamilton. There's also a real market for the small office building that an engineering firm, say, can build and own itself. And if they find a good environment with easy access, so much thb better. But they want to be sure there are good restaurants nearby and maybe a health club. That's why it's important for you to identify what you have and encourage peo- ple to provide what you lack. Bottom line Meehan. The problem is who's going to do all this. What you have here are major landowners who are reluctant to spend dollars on their property. They need a push from the city, which has to provide the en- trepreneurship that's been missing so far. And that means the city has to support its staff so that it can create a climate for development. Now some of that has The hotel srtves a needed focus to the civic center and promlses ~o result in spin-off Just up the street, work/s progressing on a facade reno~al~on project. A consultant team recommended a canopy for the block under renovation. Our panel warned ubout extending it to adjacent blocks.