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Lincoln City, seeking an injection of economic vitality and workforce housing, is making available eight developable properties ranging in size from less than an acre to 6.5 acres.

The coastal city on Feb. 1 issued a request for expressions of interest in the properties. The city’s urban renewal agency is seeking a developer or developers to build workforce and mixed-income housing on certain parcels and mixed-use buildings on others.

鈥淢uch like other small coastal communities, we need workforce housing,鈥� said Alison Robertson, director of Lincoln City’s urban renewal agency. 鈥淥f course, the more workforce housing we can incorporate the better, but we want to have mixed-income communities.鈥�

The city cobbled together the properties over several years. Then officials waited for the economy to improve before offering it to developers, Robertson said.

Lincoln City officials hope the developable offerings will help jump-start the local economy.

鈥淎ttracting developers to the coast is always a challenge,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淭here’s just not enough happening. So we’re all trying to entice them by putting our best foot forward.鈥�

The largest of the properties available is a 6.5-acre subdivision known as Fernwood that was platted but not built. The site is vacant but with some infrastructure in place. A private road, Fernwood Loop, was built. Water and sewer lines are also in place and stubbed out to each lot. Conduits for electricity, telephone and cable are in place. A defunct development plan anticipated 65 townhomes.

The property is in the northernmost portion of Lincoln City. City officials anticipate offering the 鈥渞oughed in鈥� road in as-is condition with the expectation a developer would finish the road, although it has no known defects, according to the city.

Fernwood is zoned for single-family or multifamily construction.

Another property 鈥� the only one with a building 鈥� is a twin-bay fire station. The single-story building at 914 S.W. Fourth St. is zoned for general commercial use. Lincoln City officials envision an adaptive reuse project with a brewpub, a coffee shop or other food business in the building, possibly along with a bike shop or other tourism-centered business.

As with most Oregon coastal communities, Lincoln City has struggled to grow. The population of Lincoln County, which includes Lincoln City, Newport and other towns, has grown by only about 100 people per year since 2010. The county had 46,685 residents in 2016, according to a Census Bureau estimate.

Lincoln County has a large population of baby boomers who are rapidly reaching retirement age, said Josh Lehner, an economist at the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.

鈥淟incoln County is going through this transition, and it’s more pronounced than in most other counties,鈥� he said.

In recent years, Lincoln County has had more deaths than births, although relatively strong in-migration has supported some modest population growth, Lehner said.

鈥淭he working-age population, although it’s shrinking today a little bit, we don’t expect it to shrink forever,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he outlook is bright or at least relatively bright. I think what Lincoln’s going through is more of a transition period than a permanent decline.鈥�

Lincoln City’s overall residential vacancy rate is only 6.6 percent, compared to 8.6 percent in rural Oregon, according to the Census Bureau. Lincoln City also has many houses that are used part-time as vacation rentals or second homes.

Lincoln City is prepared to offer a variety of incentives to developers, according to the request. Sale or lease write-downs are possible, along with deferral or financing of system development charges.

Possible deal structures include standard purchase and sale, ground lease, joint venture or a sale and lease-back scenario, according to the offering.

鈥淭he city recognizes that we are not developers,鈥� Robertson said. 鈥淲e really are looking at private-sector and nonprofit developers to come forward.鈥�

Responses to Lincoln City’s request for expressions of interest are due by 2 p.m. on March 15.