What would you like to see added to the mix of businesses in Downtown Medford? Retail Boutiques? Family Friendly Restaurants? A Bakery? An Ice Cream Shop? A Bookstore? That was one of the questions asked of participants in DMA’S January 9 Reimagine Downtown Medford Tour in a post-tour survey.
The tour brought community members together to envision a revitalized downtown area. About 25 people with connections to downtown toured an itinerary of vacant buildings and a few other downtown spots. The idea was for people to share their vision for downtown and how the vacant buildings could be creatively utilized to transform these spaces into vibrant hubs that contribute to the economic and social growth of our community.
The tour started at the historic Elks Building, which is being partly used by The Copper Plank. Next stop was Middleford Alley to admire the mural with Life Art’s Phil Ortega. Then the group moved on to the P.T. Young/Humphrey Motors Building on the corner of 8th and Riverside. Yes, it’s that black building that used to house a carpet store and has a huge adjoining building and giant patio out back that at one time harbored Shenanigans.
The group continued its walking tour to 2 East Main, with its ground floor possibilities, and ended up a The Genesis, where creator Laz Ayala hosted a tour of Medford’s brand new 62-unit apartment complex designed to house people with workforce level incomes.
People involved in planning the tour were Annie Jenkins, DMA Interim Executive Director; Jason Nelson, Rutledge Property Group and DMA Board Member; Clay Bearnson, Owner of Gypsy Bar and DMA Board Member; Marta Tarantsey, Business Oregon and DMA Board Member; Sam Barnum, City of Medford Safety Department; Harry Weiss, Medford Urban Renewal Agency; and Max Sinclair, ORW Architecture
You can view the Reimagine Tour Survey Results in the file below:
