2008-03-06 THILOFARMERS MARKET - Laserfiche WebLink

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BOWMAN: But would your second story retail help to alleviate, is that the reason why you have the second story retail to create income? DELA CRUZ: Yeah. And that’s part of, that is the result of the tsunami code that we have to follow, is that we have to build 15 feet up. And we could just build a roof on there; but to do the cost, it wouldn’t make economical sense for us to put something which is a roof. So we had to add in the second floor area for leasable space. And that goes in keeping with what we wanted to do, which was to expand the amount of floor area for additional vendors as well as bathrooms and a restaurant dining area. BOWMAN: Thank you. WATANABE: Ms. Siracusa. SIRACUSA: What kind of provisions are you making for your current vendors during the time that you’re under construction and how long do you expect construction, that interim adjustment to last? DELA CRUZ: The preparations, we’ve up to this point, this is one of our first official milestones for the market. And so subject to the outcome of this Commission’s review of the SMA it will start the ball rolling as far as our written memo communications to the vendors as far as how we’re doing in the process of our construction, meaning -. SIRACUSA: I meant starting from when you break ground, and that’s when the vendors have to be relocated somewhere else. So have you made, I assume that you’ve made some sort of provision for that, for their relocation. And I’m wondering from when you break ground until everything is completed and they’re ready to move back in, for how long a period do you expect that these people will be displaced? DELA CRUZ: I think we wrote in our SMA application anywhere from 12 to 18 months. But certainly if we can do it sooner we’re going to try our best efforts to make the construction phase go faster. I personally would like to see it done within 6 to 8 months. And so I’m, you know, that might be a stretch but that’s one of goals that I have. SIRACUSA: But where will they go in the meantime? MELROSE: The intention is to move them across the street and relocate them. Understand that this business is about vendors, and treating vendors well is really the key to the success of the business. So displacing them and not caring about what happens to them in the meantime isn’t a good business move. So there is space across the street. There may be some shifting in food and craft across the street a little bit; but I think the intention is to maintain the market during that period in time and to try our very best to make it as quickly as possible because, you know, vendors can move off to other places. We think this is the right place for the market. It does a lot for Downtown. So it’s really important that the market maintain and manage a good relationship with the vendors to the extent that they can. This will be a EXHIBIT B 14