As the city continues its work on downtown redevelopment, Mayor Jim Ferrell announced during the Federal Way City Council’s meeting on Tuesday that the two sites downtown will be referenced by different names going forward.

The former AMC theater site will now be referenced as the “Town Square” site, while the former Toys’R’Us site where the proposed Performing Arts and Conference Center (PACC) is slated to be constructed, will be referenced as the “proposed PACC” site or “proposed Performing Arts and Conference Center” site.

“To know me is to know I’m a very positive person and I think language is very important in how we talk about our downtown and how we’re developing it,” Ferrell said. “We keep referring to these two sites in regards to old, vacant businesses … It’s important as we move forward that our language is positive and visionary.”

Ferrell briefly mentioned that the Town Square site may be part of the Council’s discussion at their retreat on March 8. The discussion would center around an interim park on that site for the foreseeable future.

Ferrell also reiterated the need for positive downtown discussion.

“(This) way, we’re not going to be talking about old vacant buildings in our downtown, we’re going to start talking about what our town is going to look like in the future,” he said.