City progressing on two downtown property RFPs for food, incubator uses; proposals under review

City staff gave a status report on two downtown property efforts: 105 Sixth Street (the Cleaners Building) and 500 Grace Avenue. The city issued RFPs for facility condition assessments and for rent‑determination and lease negotiation services as part of plans to prepare the sites for food and beverage uses and incubator tenants.

Staff said the RFPs (facility condition assessments issued on 09/19/2024 for 105 Sixth Street and 09/24/2024 for 500 Grace Avenue) returned one proposal for each location from IMEG. Staff reported these proposals “align well with the scope of work” and that the items will be presented to city council for consideration and approval on 12/17/2024. For 500 Grace Avenue, staff also issued an RFP on 10/18/2024 for demolition and shell plans; one proposal from TSK is under evaluation.

Staff noted because the contract amounts fall within the city manager’s signing authority, staff is in the process of executing professional services agreements and expects work to begin in January 2025. The transcript records a staff‑stated figure of “95,675” associated with the IMEG proposals, but a second numeric item in that same sentence was unclear in the recording; the transcript did not definitively confirm a final contract dollar total.

Next steps: council consideration on 12/17/2024 and initiation of services in January 2025 if awards proceed as indicated in staff reports.