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To: Ellensburg City Council <br />From: John Perrie, Chair <br />Ellensburg Business Development Authority <br />RE: City of Ellensburg Community Center/Downtown Vitality <br />The Ellensburg Business Development Authority (EBDA) <br />provides economic development services for the City of <br />Ellensburg. As such, the Board and organization have been <br />intimately involved in the economic development of Ellensburg's <br />Downtown. Board members and staff have worked with the City <br />in the purchase and sale of the Geddis Block, facilitated the next <br />steps in downtown development through joint funding with <br />community partners for a Downtown Market Study and Economic <br />Development Plan, and supported the Hotel Feasibility Market <br />Study. <br />Whose efforts have borne fruit. The downtown hotel project is <br />moving forward. As that project moves to break, ground, the <br />Downtowners sub -committee of the EBDA and the EBDA Board <br />feel that it is critical to look at the next steps to sustain and grow <br />the momentum in Ellensburg's Downtown. <br />At its regular meeting on May 16, 2017, the EBDA Board voted to <br />request that City Council direct staff to explore the viability of the <br />City's utilization of the Old Y building as a Community Center. <br />Discussion at the meeting focused on the structural integrity of the <br />building, the viability of the space to meet the needs of a <br />Community Center, and the cost of converting the building to a <br />Community Center. -116- <br />