“Les Schwab has no obligation to build what you see here,” said MRA executive director Ellen Buchanan.

Kraig Erickson, a Woodbury Corp. representative, told the board that it’s in his company’s best interests to make sure the building that Les Schwab constructs pleases city officials.

“We’d like to continue doing work in Missoula and wherever possible get MRA participation,” he said.

He also reminded the board that the architecture of the buildings at South Crossing were built to a high standard, using aesthetically pleasing materials, even though the company wasn’t required to do so.

Erickson said that his company would like to raze the site as soon as possible because it makes it much easier to attract tenants to a blank site rather than one with a useless, abandoned building.

“If everything’s razed, it helps to market the site and I have significant experience with that,” he said. “We feel what you’ve got now is a very blighted site, and what we’re looking to do is build brand-new buildings and improve the site dramatically. It’s right next to the fairgrounds, across from the mall and in the center of town. Woodbury Corp. has made a significant investment already by buying the property.”

Englund and the rest of the board and MRA staff acknowledged that Woodbury has made substantial investments in Missoula and always has kept up its end of the bargain. However, they still got hung up on how to ensure that Les Schwab, which is receiving no TIF assistance and is therefore under no obligation to follow design criteria, would be held to the renderings they presented. In the end, the board decided to work on the issue and take it up at a later board meeting.

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