Auburn recently got the green light from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce to apply for a $3 million Public Works and Economic Development grant for the promenade project on South Division Street.

That grant would represent 38 percent of the total estimated project cost of $8 million. Auburn’s local matching share would be $5 million, and it could use the value of the property it owns in the project area to help meet that match.

“It’s all about downtown redevelopment and jobs again right in the downtown,” said Mayor Pete Lewis.

The City will have to submit an application for the grant.

In his letter to the City, EDA Regional Director A Leonard Smith said “approval is contingent upon many factors, including, but not limited to, the availablity of funding for (fiscal year) 2009, and meeting all appropriate statutory, regulatory and policy requirements.”

“It’s not done yet,” said Dave Barron, Auburn’s Economic Development manager. He likened the application process to an intricate dance with a lot of steps. “But this is great news.”

The grant would pay for infrastructure improvements. The City’s next step would be to put the project out to bid. Lewis would like to see construction start in the spring of 2010, when the two building projects now under way in the downtown, the Auburn Professional Plaza south of City Hall and Auburn Regional Medical Center’s parking garage and oncology center north of City Hall, are finished.

Auburn’s downtown development plan first suggested a pedestrian thoroughfare or promenade in 2001, starting at the edge of City Hall Plaza, extending south along the west side of South Division Street and ending at Third Street Southeast. To prepare the way for retail businesses and restaurants to take root along the promenade, city planners realized they would have to widen the sidewalk on the western side of the street, lay down new pavement, add street grates and potted plants, install new lighting and do a lot of underground work.

In late April, the City of Auburn asked qualified consulting firms versed in design and construction engineering to submit proposals for engineering and design work on the needed above- and below-ground improvements for the promenade.

Barron said at the time that hiring a consultant was really about having the promenade project ready to go should the EDA funding materialize.

“The City wants to be ready, not to mention the fact that the utilities in the downtown corridor need an upgrade,” Barron said. “So if our vision were to come true, of five- to six-story buildings, retail on the ground floor and residential and perhaps offices above, it would put a demand on utilities, and they would need to be up to spec.”

Auburn’s proposal also bested six others put forward by rival cities in a competitive forum hosted by the Puget Sound Regional Council. The PSRC acts as sort of a regional clearing house for the EDA, and a first-place opens the door to project funding.

The promenade predates developer Spencer Alpert’s Auburn Junction proposal by seven years, but Barron said it could be incorporated.

Auburn Junction calls for a green, mixed-use, urban village spread out over 27 parcels south of City Hall with underground parking and walkways, an “upscale commercial and residential dominated project,” featuring ground-floor retail and restaurant facilities incorporating open space.

Auburn Junction’s main features would be as follows:

• Condominium housing – from smaller studios and one-bedroom units to units for families

• Lifestyle retail and entertainment – includes higher-profile restaurants, speciality retailers, and possibly a theater complex

• Flexible commercial space – commercial uses of office-flex space, lodging, educational settings and/or work-live potential on the ground floor and upper stories.

It calls for village green promenades to the north and northeast connecting to Main Street and medical center and a green trail extending southeast to Safeway and south and west to the Sound Transit station. It incorporates a central open space called Auburn Junction plaza and underground parking connecting each of the facilities. Landscaped islands could incorporate large boulders, a waterfall and reflecting pool. It would be built in four phases over a four-year period.