The Treasure Valley Reload Center could end up being considerably smaller than envisioned as project leaders struggle to overcome money shortages and escalating costs.
And even building a smaller warehouse for shipping onions depends on getting an emergency allocation of $3 million from legislators in September.
The latest shift in the publicly-owned shipping center arose during a meeting last week between project leaders and officials at the Oregon Department of Transportation. Greg Smith, Malheur County economic development director, and Brad Baird, chief engineer on the project, revealed other cost challenges still facing the project.
According to Transportation Department officials, Smith and Baird, president of Anderson Perry & Associates, said they were considering cutting the main building down by one third. That would take the shipping center from 60,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet.
They did so after . . .
