Salem’s Urban Renewal Agency approved more than $1.2 million in grants Monday for two private development projects, including a downtown grocery and food-services project and a West Salem mixed-use building with housing above commercial space.
The board approved a $470,000 grant from the Riverfront Downtown Urban Renewal Area capital improvement grant program for work at 435 Liberty Street NE. The money is intended to help pay for building improvements and equipment for grocery and commercial kitchen food services.
The board also approved a $749,000 grant from the West Salem Urban Renewal Area capital improvement grant program for a new mixed-use building at 415 Moyer Lane NW. The project is planned to include multifamily dwellings on the upper floors and commercial retail units on the ground floor.
Both actions required board approval because they exceeded the $300,000 grant amount that can be approved administratively under the programs.
Councilor Linda Nishioka said the downtown grant responds to a need residents have raised since the closure of the Grocery Outlet on Front Street.
“I know folks in Ward 1 and in downtown and a lot of folks across Salem have been hoping for a new grocery store to come downtown,” Nishioka said. “So very excited that the Urban Renewal Agency will be helping invest in bringing El Torito to a much-needed spot here in downtown.”
Nishioka also praised the West Salem project, saying the grant would help bring more housing and commercial activity to that part of the city.
“Across the bridge in West Salem, this investment, we can all be excited to have 32 more housing units within our city sitting above retail commercial,” Nishioka said.
She noted that while the public grant amount is $749,000, the private developer is expected to bring more than $7 million in investment to West Salem.
Mayor Julie Hoy also supported the grants, saying the need for a downtown grocery store has come up repeatedly as the city looks at housing in the downtown core.
“We have a lot of potential housing projects that are in kind of a limbo status in the downtown core,” Hoy said. “And what I keep hearing over and over again is a need to have a grocery store.”
Hoy said a grocery store would support people who live downtown and want to walk to buy bread and other daily essentials. She also described the West Salem project as a chance to better use underutilized property.
“Vacant spaces earn nothing, do nothing, solve nothing,” Hoy said.
The board approved the items without opposition among members present. Board Member Shane Matthews was absent.
The approvals come as Salem continues to use urban renewal dollars to encourage private investment in targeted areas. Urban renewal funds are typically generated through tax increment financing within designated districts and are used for projects intended to remove barriers to redevelopment, improve properties or support infrastructure and economic activity.
For downtown, the grocery grant is tied to a long-running concern about access to everyday goods in the city center. For West Salem, the mixed-use grant fits a broader effort to add housing and commercial activity in an area city leaders have identified for redevelopment.
