SPRUCE UP

BUILDINGS DEVELOPED: Calvin Cathey of Final Touch Painting, La Grande, works inside of the New Town Square building at the corner of Fourth Street and Washington Avenue. (The Observer/CHRIS BAXTER).

Bill Rautenstrauch

The Observer

Renovation costs could top $1 million

Two commercial buildings in downtown La Grande are getting major makeovers, with an eye toward making La Grande a more attractive place for businesses and shoppers.

Terry De Spain, who operates a company in Joseph called De Spain Coordinating Service, said he is developing the properties for the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Adelsberger of Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The New Town Square building at the corner of Fourth Street and Washington Avenue — known in former times as the Montgomery Ward building — and the nearby Town Square building are two pieces meant to complement each other, according to De Spain.

The Montgomery Ward building has been renamed New Town Square for marketing purposes, he said.

"The new name will help with cooperative advertising for both buildings," he said.

Remodeling of the New Town Square building is nearing completion, De Spain said.

At the street level, the renovations include a new roof, awnings, paint, siding, signs and brick work.

Downstairs, the developers have built a complete new professional office complex. Some offices are already occupied, and a search for other tenants continues.

Street level stores in the New Town Square include Nature's Pantry, the Sub Shop, Divine Divas, New Vizions, and the Sun and Style beauty salon.

The new office complex is accessed through a street-level entry way which also has been extensively remodeled.

The Town Square building across Fourth Street from the New Town Square currently is home to Blockbuster Video, Farmer's Insurance, Charter Communications, and Rise Inc.

Work there has yet to get under way, but plans call for a complete new design of the front of the building, and expansion and remodeling of retail space in the basement.

De Spain said he hopes to place a major corporate retailer in the building.

He said the search for a new tenant for Town Square is tailored to business development surveys done recently by the Union County Chamber of Commerce and the La Grande Downtown Development Association, and Oregon State University.

Those surveys asked local residents what sort of businesses they would like to see locate downtown.

De Spain said they make excellent reference material.

"The surveys have helped to develop an understanding of what the needs are," he said.

Restaurants and clothing stores topped the local survey. A major suggestion stemming from the OSU survey was an office print center like Kinko's.

"The key for Town Square is the tenant," said De Spain. "We're spending time and due diligence looking for the right one."

At first, there were plans to recruit a book seller, but De Spain said the idea was scrapped out of respect for several bookstores already doing business locally.

"We decided against that because there are already four or five bookstores in the city," he said. "Whatever we do will contribute to downtown business, not take away."

No company has committed to locating in the building, but De Spain said prospective tenants could include Coldwater Creek, an apparel store, and Bed, Bath and Beyond, a household accessory dealer.

De Spain said total costs for renovating the two buildings likely will top $1 million. The New Town Square renovation was done at a cost of about $150,000.

All of the work will be accomplished by local contractors, De Spain said.

De Spain said the buildings' owners believe La Grande shows major promise as a regional shopping center.

"It serves a lot more than the the 24,000 people who live in Union County. When you consider people who come here from other towns outside the county, and more dropping in off the freeway, it's a big draw," he said.