Meeting Set on Plans for Redevelopment

A meeting of midtown property owners will be held tonight to discuss city plans to turn the aging business district into the city’s next redevelopment area.

Set for 7 p.m. in the community meeting room at City Hall, the meeting comes a week after city officials announced plans to gauge the environmental impact of rehabilitating the Main Street and Thompson Boulevard business corridors.

Redevelopment allows cities to divert a portion of property taxes to a special fund and borrow against it to pay for improvements.

Officials say it is one of the few tools the city has to raise the money needed to revitalize the area, which they say was long ago bypassed by malls and discount retailers, leaving behind vacant storefronts, high business turnover and sluggish property values.

Plans are to use redevelopment money to finance building and storefront improvements, off-street parking, street work and other projects.

City consultants estimate that over the 30-year duration of the project, about two-thirds of the total commercial square footage in midtown--about 3 million square feet--may be substantially rehabilitated, demolished or replaced by new development.

The proposed midtown redevelopment area runs from Ash Street down both Main and Thompson to Mills Road. It includes the Buenaventura Mall, where a $100-million expansion project is underway, and portions of Loma Vista Road.