The Lithia building next to Pear Blossom Park in downtown Medford. Consultants emphasize the need to locate a new convention center and high-rise hotel near some of the region’s large corporations downtown.

A preliminary study bolsters support for a massive convention center and high-rise hotel in downtown Medford to compete with Portland and Sacramento markets.

The analysis by Hunden Partners, a real estate consulting firm, determined Medford has the potential to attract conferences with 500-plus attendees, partly because it offers a more cost-effective alternative to larger cities.

“Although it does not benefit from close proximity to Oregon’s largest markets, Medford’s strong air access to major Pacific Northwest cities and its location along Interstate 5 positions it as an appealing destination for regional and statewide groups,” the study found.

Hunden noted “safety concerns” in Portland have already pushed event organizers to other cities.

The preliminary findings, which were requested by the city of Medford, are the first of a three-part, $60,000 study that will ultimately propose possible locations in downtown Medford, as well as costs to build the facility and ways to finance it, likely through a public/private partnership.

Hunden, in its preliminary analysis, found there would be significant challenges to finance the project while keeping an eye on delivering a “high-quality” facility.

According to the study, “Hunden emphasizes that to maximize the economic impact and appeal of the project, it needs to be located within Medford’s main economic hub, downtown.”

Hunden offered two proposed convention ideas, one being a center that could host more than 1,500 attendees with an attached hotel, and a more scaled-down option that would also feature a smaller hotel but could still host more than 1,000 attendees.

A large convention center would offer a ballroom area that could hold 1,200 people, with a smaller ballroom that supports 300 guests. Meeting rooms could accommodate up to 195 people.

A 10-story hotel above the convention center would have 220 rooms.

A 420-space, four-story parking area would be required, with 220 spaces for hotel guests and 200 spaces for the convention center.

A smaller convention center would support 800 guests in the large ballroom, 240 in the junior ballroom and 140 in the meeting rooms.

The six-story hotel above the convention center would have 165 rooms.

A 325-space surface parking lot would be required, with 165 spaces for guests and 160 for the conference center.

While the study shows the Medford market would support a convention center, it underscores the need for more hotels in the downtown, particularly an “upper-scale” lodging.

The cost to build either option proposed by Hunden could be significant, though Hunden didn’t disclose costs yet. By comparison, a new four-story, 123-room hotel proposed for Fourth Street is expected to cost $25 million.

Construction costs escalate considerably for high-rise buildings over four stories and for parking structures versus surface parking lots.

The Oregon Convention Center in Portland underwent a $40-million renovation in 2019.

The Portland center features 255,000 square feet of exhibit space, roughly three times larger than the sports event center at Rogue X.

In the proposed large event center in downtown Medford, it would have 26,400 square feet of space, while the smaller version would have 18,400 square feet.

Both event center proposals would have large food and beverage preparation areas.

Hunden anticipates a Medford convention center would require a property up to 6 or 7 acres depending on which project option is picked and the number of floors in the hotel. A parking structure would cut down on the amount of land needed.

As a size comparison, Hawthorne Park near the downtown is almost 13 acres.

While the Medford airport has a lot of good regional connections, it can be difficult to access as a nationwide destination for events, the study indicated.

Another potential issue could be that too many hotels are built in Medford given the current pipeline of proposed developments, according to Hunden.

This isn’t the first time the city has looked at the possibility of a convention center.

In 2017, the city hired a firm to do an analysis of whether market conditions were right for a conference center, and the answer was “no.”

Brian Sjothun, Medford city manager, said the Hunden analysis emphasizes the need to locate the conference center in the downtown, which would place it near some of the region’s large corporations such as Lithia Motors.

“Conference organizers want the ability to walk to restaurants, walk to attractions,” he said.