Lithia Motors will take responsibility for building park space and a parking garage in addition to its two 10-story office buildings under tentative plans for Middleford Commons revealed Thursday during a joint study session with the Medford City Council and Medford Urban Renewal Agency board.

Bill Hoke, Medford's economic developer and deputy city manager, said representatives from the city, MURA and Lithia have been meeting several times each week for the past several months and are on schedule to sign a development agreement to build the $169 million, multi-block Middleford Commons.

The mixed-use project is planned for the area between Central and Riverside avenues and Jackson and Sixth streets, currently occupied predominantly by Lithia's car dealerships. Details of retail and residential space are yet to be worked out, but Lithia Motors' corporate headquarters would provide the anchor.

MURA will contribute $14.1 million to the project, which will go toward property acquisition and purchasing spaces in the parking structure, Hoke said.

Lithia will construct the park space and transfer it to the city, said Hoke, and the city's Parks and Recreation Department will create a maintenance plan.

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He said Lithia, as the developer, will construct some of surrounding streets and sidewalks, and the Medford Water Commission will contribute money to replace the small, 100-year-old water lines in the neighborhood.

Hoke said the "disposition and development agreement," or "DDA," as officials refer to it, is set to come back to the council for review at the next study session in two weeks, and will outline phases and a timeline for the project.

Mark Rivers, a real estate developer from Boise, Idaho, said Lithia wants to be fully moved in to its new headquarters early in 2009, after the existing Lithia Dodge dealership has moved out to a 133-acre site on Highway 62 near the Medford airport. Rivers was the developer for the BoDo redevelopment project in Boise, Idaho, which is similar in many ways to the plans MURA and Lithia have for Middleford Commons.

After the meeting, Rivers said there are no details or cost estimates at this time, but the parking garage will be an expensive undertaking.

The five-story, 390-space Evergreen parking structure opened in December and cost MURA $10.2 million.

Councilman Jason Anderson asked when the work force housing component of Middleford Commons is scheduled to be built. Rivers said it would probably happen in 2009-2010.

"We're looking at sequencing these (phases) as close to each other as possible," Rivers said.

Councilman John Statler asked about the status of purchasing property in the project area.

"We wouldn't be doing any property acquisitions until the DDA is signed," said Dick Entinger, MURA board member.