Miller requests funds for building

A local business is seeking help with its extensive renovation of a down town building.

LeeAnn Miller of Reclaiming Design made a request for $50,000 from Portland Redevelopment Commission during its meeting this morning for her renovation of the building at 206 N. Meridian St.

Miller gave a presentation regarding the building that she purchased via a tax sale and has been working on renovating, inside and out. She plans for it to become the new retail and showroom for her interior design firm, which is currently heavily focused on kitchen and bathroom projects.

She explained that the floor was rotten after various bouts of flooding and it has been replaced with a new concrete floor that slopes slightly toward the front of the building.

A garage door has been added at the rear of the building and various other improvements are in the works. (Some joists need to be replaced.)

“There’s things that continue to evolve because you’re not going to know what those issues are until you get into them,” said Miller. “We weren’t planning to go that far with some of the issues, once you get into it, you want to make it right.”

She estimated the total project for the first floor at $215,000. She plans to put in $145,000 personally with an additional $20,000 from the city’s facade program, and she requested $50,000 from the redevelopment commission.

Redevelopment commission members asked her about her timeline, with Miller saying she hopes to be open in late fall, with a second employee hired.

Rusty Inman, president of the redevelopment commission, noted that similar projects in the past have needed to be clearly identified — such as a roof or wall — with two quotes provided to the redevelopment commission to evaluate.

The commission tabled the request to allow that process to follow through, with Miller suggesting that plumbing or electrical work might make the most sense. It agreed to meet with her again when quotes become available.

“I’m glad to see you’re doing something downtown,” said redevelopment commission member Mike Simons.

Commission members Joe Johnston, Reda Theurer-Miller, Dave Teeter, Inman and Simons also approved several items related to the possible purchase of the Hood Building, home of The Commercial Review, for potential development.

They OK’d hiring a surveyor and engineer to survey the property at the southwest corner of Ship and Main streets and to update a Phase I environmental study. (A Phase I study was previously completed, but redevelopment commission consultant Ed Curtin recommended that it be updated as more than a year has passed.)

Also approved was a waiver regarding legal representation. It was necessary because Wes Schemenaur, the city attorney, and Bill Hinkle, attorney for The Graphic Printing Company, work in the same firm.

The potential development project was set to be discussed during an executive session that followed the regular meeting this morning.

The commision also heard an update from Theurer-Miller regarding Portland Main Street Connect. The group is working on plans for its 2024 and ’25 activities and plans to bring it to the redevelopment commission with a funding proposal in July.

She also expressed the organization’s interest to combine its effort to create a plan for vacant buildings downtown with the redevelopment commission’s economic development plan. Addressing those structures is the next major step the Main Street group would like to take.

“We have a lot of information, we have a lot of things completed, but this whole business about downtown revitalization related to those buildings, that’s just, it’s like climbing a mountain,” said Theurer-Miller. “That’s one of the most challenging things.”

She added that a 2002 Ford truck was purchased and a water tank installed to be used for watering downtown planters. (The redevelopment commission provided funding for the purchase.)

In other business, the commission:

•Heard from Portland clerk-treasurer Lori Phillips that the redevelopment commission’s total across all funds is $963,501.50, with the June tax draw expected to bring another $180,000.

•Transferred $25,000 to its economic development “bucket” from its Brownfield bucket. Economic development previously had a negative balance.