The city of Wilmington could be getting a step closer next week to the redevelopment of downtown's Water Street parking deck. 

At a meeting Tuesday night, Wilmington City Council is expected to consider a resolution to move forward on a memo of understanding with East West Partners to turn the property into new apartments, condominiums and retail space with 280 public parking spaces out of 505 in a city-owned deck. The remaining spaces would be leased or bought by East West, the MOU says.

The non-binding MOU lays out a path toward a potential binding agreement, city officials said Friday.

"We've been working with the city staff to develop the memo of understanding, which will take us through the process for the next six months," said Roger Perry, president of East West Partners, a firm based in Chapel Hill. "It's an acknowledgement of mutual understanding about where we're headed in the process in order to try to culminate it with, ultimately, a purchase and development agreement."

If approved, the resolution on the council's agenda for the 6:30 p.m. meeting at City Hall authorizes Wilmington mayor Bill Saffo to enter into the MOU with East West.

In addition to the parking deck details, the highlights of the MOU include:

• The city maintains approval rights on the design.
• The cost of air rights (for private development above city-owned parking) will be determined by appraisals conducted on behalf of the city.
• East West will provide an estimate for city investment costs within 180 days.
• A binding provision that gives East West exclusive negotiation rights with the city for 180 days. In turn, East West will deposit $100,000 in escrow to cover city costs should East West choose not to move forward with a development agreement. 
• The city will be responsible for demolition and construction costs associated with the parking deck while East West will be responsible for all demolition and construction costs associated with the commercial and residential portions of the project.

Since the council chose East West in February as the development company to begin negotiations with, nothing about the plans has substantially changed, Perry said. 

"We are in the process of doing a preliminary analysis of the foundation and site costs necessary to build a project, which is the first piece of the puzzle to solve," he said.

Perry said East West's local team includes engineering firm McKim & Creed, attorney Hal Kitchin of McGuireWoods, Bruce McGuire as on-site construction representative, and Susi Hamilton, founder and CEO of Hamilton Planning Inc. and a state representative for the 18th District (parts of New Hanover and Brunswick counties).