[zilfondel]

From the Eugene Weekly (http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2007/03/15/news1.html):

Broadway Redevelopment
Council balks at buying a project sight and cost unseen
BY ALAN PITTMAN
3/15/07

The Eugene mayor and council balked at a staff recommendation that it choose a single exclusive developer, KWG, for a massive downtown project without knowing the taxpayer subsidy cost or other details of the West Broadway proposal.
KWG Proposal (looking south)

"Picking KWG at this point is almost like a mail-order bride," said Councilor Bonny Bettman of the vague, tentative proposal from the Portland developer.

The council instead voted 5-4 on March 12 to direct staff to work with both the KWG and Beam development teams to bring back more information on taxpayer subsidies, required parking garages, public involvement, preservation of local businesses and other details of redeveloping Broadway between Willamette and Charnelton streets.

KWG principal Thomas Kemper watched the vote and appeared peeved afterward. "We highly prefer doing it all," he said about the possibility of sharing the project with Beam. But he said KGW will continue to pursue the project. "We're just disappointed."

KWG is demanding a high price for downtown development. The Portland developer wants the city to pay for four new underground parking garages. "Parking is a critical element" for KWG, Kemper said. "It could well cost $15 million to $20 million."

KWG is also asking the city to exercise its options to potentially buy all the property for the project at a cost of $16 million. KWG also wants 10 years in property tax breaks worth about $10 million. With added utility relocation and possible affordable housing subsidies, estimated taxpayer cost could exceed $50 million. Kemper expects the city to subsidize the project enough to guarantee the developer a 13 percent profit.

Councilor Alan Zelenka questioned how much subsidy the council and community would tolerate. "If it's $30 to $40 million, are we going to do that? Is the community going to be willing to do that?"

In return for all the subsidies, KWG offers to try to dramatically reinvigorate a downtown core that has suffered for decades. KWG proposed building a lively mix of housing, retail, restaurants, nightclubs, a movie theater and a high-end hotel covering a total of about two square blocks along Broadway. The grocery store space would be almost exactly the same size as the previously failed Whole Foods proposal although the store isn't named.

Beam, a Portland developer that specializes in historic urban restorations, offers a more modest proposal with fewer subsidies. Beam proposes to renovate and restore the historic Center Court and Washburne buildings on the south side of Broadway with retail and offices and build a one-story building in the hole near Broadway and Willamette. Beam wants the city to spend $5 million to buy the property, with some or all of that money possibly returned after Beam takes its expected profits. But Beam isn't asking for more parking garages.

The city already has a lot of half- or near-empty parking garages within steps of the proposed downtown development area. The adjacent 729-car Broadway Place garage is 80 percent empty. Combined with three other half-empty garages within two-blocks, there's a total of 1,556 spaces available.

KWG is asking the city to pay for 700 parking spaces compared to the 455 spaces for the failed Connor-Woolley-Opus redevelopment proposal for the area last year.

Local critics and planning experts have long argued that garages deaden downtowns with ugliness and traffic while increasing car use and costing a fortune. But city staff have stubbornly pushed parking garages as their chief downtown urban renewal tool for the past three decades, with little to show for it.

Although the project could have an enormous impact on the city in cost and downtown character, city staff pushed to proceed with an exclusive development concept before a public hearing or any community involvement.

"I think we've got the cart before the horse," said Zelenka, one of several councilors to call for more citizen involvement before the decision. "One meeting on a decision involving maybe tens of millions of dollars isn't appropriate," Zelenka said.

Zelenka argued that by immediately choosing one developer, the city would lose leverage for a better deal and increase the risk of failure. "We're putting all our eggs in one basket."

Mayor Piercy said she liked Beam's historic restoration idea given that most of the historic buildings downtown were torn down to make room for failed urban renewal four decades ago.

Councilor Andrea Ortiz worried that upscale redevelopment will exclude poorer people.

So what will happen to all the existing businesses, nonprofits and people downtown if the city buys their buildings to give to a developer? Will they be able to afford the likely much higher rents and prices in the new or renovated buildings?

"That's a good question," said Kemper.

Couple points - considering vastness of underdevelopment in Eugene, I think they are faaaaaar away from thinking about gentrification. They're about two steps from needing to bulldoze half of it down - although they do have some good things going for them:


bus transit center
new BRT "pretty buses"
new (very nice) library
5th street public market
Nike store
Steel brewery brew pub & nearby businesses (very vibrant retail street)
train station
and a bank 11(?) story highrise


However, this decision should be a no-brainer: $50 million public subsidy for 2 blocks of development? Are they kidding themselves?! See above for how much vacant parking is within 2 blocks of the site!

But the question is - how stupid are the people and council of Eugene? If I were them, I'd go for Beam, and let the rest of downtown slowly & incrementally redevelop. You can tell how desperate the urban planners who work for the city are in trying to get anything positive to happen to the city. Kind of sad, actually. :koko:


Oh, lastly: all the purdy pdfs are available HERE:

Beam (http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?space=Opener&control=OpenObject&cached=true&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=6&in_hi_ClassID=17&in_hi_userid=2&in_hi_ObjectID=10951&in_hi_OpenerMode=2&)
KWG (http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?space=Opener&control=OpenObject&cached=true&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=6&in_hi_ClassID=17&in_hi_userid=2&in_hi_ObjectID=10948&in_hi_OpenerMode=2&)
The rest. (http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&cached=true&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=6&in_hi_userid=2&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=231&PageID=0)


--> check out Beam's - it's kind of neat if you're a Beam fan like me. They have a bunch of their previous projects prominently presented in their pdf. :D

[zilfondel]

Oh - sorry, I couldn't find the previous thread. Perhaps this needs to be merged with it. And KWG = our buddy from Opus.

[MarkDaMan]

Beam is cool. While other developers in Portland build for profit, Beam builds to make a modest living and a better community, kinda McMenamin style if that makes any sense. If only we could revist Burnside Bridgehead...

Hopefully Eugene will be smart enough to seriously look at Beam's proposal. This KWG proposal and demands is for the birds...

[Preservationist]

Eugene has to have one of the least successful downtowns in the state. I was a student there in the 70s and admit I wasn't paying much attention to what they were doing downtown at the time, but the demolition of most of the historic buildings and the ill-advised pedestrian-only downtown blocks (since reversed) only helped Valley River Center kill off the downtown merchants. Some good things have happened since I left - the bus mall is great and I like the new buses. The city should go with Beam and work incrementally to bring it all back to life. I think wild dreams of rapid transformation 40 years ago may have helped get them into this mess.

[Okstate]

What part of Eugene is thriving since downtown is apparently lagging? Is there a district/neighborhood with great walkability to shops/restaurants?

[brandonpdx]

What part of Eugene is thriving since downtown is apparently lagging? Is there a district/neighborhood with great walkability to shops/restaurants?

The University area...good ol East 13th

[zilfondel]

The Gateway area is having almost a billion $ worth of development, including a half-billion dollar hospital. And the massive symantec campus.

But its all sprawly, and looks like Hillsboro.

[PuyoPiyo]

Well Eugene are too small for this such of project, but all I can say is good luck to them..

[ethirtysex]

The local news did an interesting little feature on the state of downtown. There is a good video on the page, too.

http://www.kval.com/news/19085889.html

From KVAL news
story Published: May 19, 2008 at 7:37 PM PDT
By Tom Adams

EUGENE, Ore. - It's two big pits, vacant storefronts and the home of failed projects galore.

It's also art galleries, Saturday Market and the home of tenacious merchants determined to make a difference.

Downtown Eugene: what's next in the decades-old redevelopment project?

The pit next door to the vacant Centre Court building in the heart of downtown has no name. Officials hope that in a few years, this scene will completely change.

"It's not as bad as it's portrayed. It's actually pretty good," said George Brown, owner of the Kiva on Olive Street and a candidate for city council.

"Well, I wish I could say yes, downtown is going in a great direction, but I just can't," said Angus James, co-owner of The Broadway.

No matter who you talk to, everyone has an opinion about downtown Eugene.

"Since we've been downtown, we've had more pits created than we have buildings filled in," James said.

For more than 30 years, since the pedestrian mall days, people have worked to breathe life into the downtown.

Six years ago, the city tore out the remnants of the old mall and reopened West Broadway traffic. They hoped to attract new businesses. Failed projects litter the landscape, like the Whole Foods store that pulled out, the $165 million development plan of 2006 and others.

"This is it, right here. This is kind of like the strip where there's no life, or that there could be life," said owner Tom Kamis of Davis' Restaurant and Bar. Kamis is celebrating the restaurant's first anniversary.

"How do we make a Eugene Celebration every day? Why don't we fill the storefronts?" Kamis asked. "Get some people that have big ideas that will actually come down here and do it."

What's it going to take to fill these storefronts and get everything busy down here again? "Better security, definitely," Kamis said.

Eugene Police bike officers see the problems downtown every day. They say the many transients are scaring a lot of folks away.

"You don't know what their criminal background is," bike officer Tom Schulke said. "Some of them have significant serious criminal backgrounds and they seem to be magnetized to the downtown area."

Another issue is the downtown code, the rules and regulations that govern development.

Did you know that under the current code, the U.S. Bank Center, as is, could not be built today?

"Two reasons; It has 99 parking spaces and it would only be allowed 20 under the current code, just 20," said long-time real estate broker Hugh Prichard.

Also, under a complicated square footage formula, Prichard says the current building would actually be too small. Prichard says the city's effort to fix the downtown code is definitely the right step, because the current system stymies development.

"The result of that is we're sending all this construction to the suburbs, which is exactly the opposite of city policy and city goals," he said.

It's not all doom and gloom for the downtown area. There's the WestTown on 8th development, next door to the WOW Hall, due to open later in the year. Then you have the infamous pit, right next door to the Centre Court building, home to a lot of rubble and raccoons. What do you do with a space like this?

"Of course, everybody wants to see both pits filled. That's been a constant for the last several years for everybody," Brown said.

Brown, who is running unopposed, is part of the latest effort to generate some new ideas: the Downtown Together project.

How about an indoor public market?

"It would be year-round and it would be everything. It would be an incubator of small businesses," Brown said.

Then there's the Beam development proposal: to buy and renovate the Centre Court building and the Washburne building, now in extra innings over financing and tenants. Kamis said he can wait.

"As long as something gets done down here, I'm happy with anything that goes on," he said.

On Monday, May 19, the Eugene City Council holds a public hearing on the Beam development plan and a few changes in the works to help the company on the finances and find some more potential tenants for the Centre Court building. Final council votes on the revised Beam plan are due this Wednesday.

[Eco_jt]

City antes up for building | Eugene will loan a Portland developer millions for the Centre Court project, but there are no plans for the pit

By Edward Russo

The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Sunday, Dec 13, 2009
News: Local: Story

The city of Eugene is prepared to loan Beam Development of Portland $6.8 million in mostly federal funds to renovate the empty Centre Court building at Broadway and Willamette Street.

City officials are proposing the financing to allow Beam to get started on refurbishing the empty five-story building early next year. The financing will include more than $5 million in federal Housing and Urban Development funds and a $1.3 million federal grant.

Beam President Bradley Malsin, in a November letter to City Manager Jon Ruiz, said the city’s financing is crucial to the project.

“I appreciate your reluctance towards financing a large portion of this project,” Malsin wrote. “However, I believe it is both necessary and prudent given that commercial lenders are simply not originating construction loans at this time.”

Beam’s investment in the Centre Court renovation, excluding the cost of buying the building from the city, will be $750,000, including $250,000 in cash and $500,000 from business energy tax credits and historic tax credits.

“Beam has invested a significant amount of time, effort and resources in getting this project going, and while my equity investment is low, I will still be responsible for 100 percent of the project and the debt,” Malsin wrote.

“The city’s financial commitment will create instant activity and provide new business incubator space in downtown Eugene.”

Ruiz on Monday evening will present the City Council with changes to the city’s previous agreement with Beam that includes the new financing and terms for the renovation project. Ruiz will seek the council’s endorsement, which will be followed later in the evening by a council public hearing on the proposal to use the federal funds to finance the renovation.

Councilors will make a final decision on the financing request on Jan. 11.

The city last year loaned Beam $3.55 million to buy the Centre Court, the adjacent excavated pit on Willamette Street and the occupied Washburne Building on Broadway.

Beam bought the properties from the city, which had purchased them a short time earlier from Eugene landlords Tom Connor and Don Woolley.

The city also agreed to loan Beam $6.5 million in federal funds to help finance the cost of constructing a new building on the pit and to renovate the Centre Court.

Now, Beam will be loaned a little less than $7 million in federal funds to renovate the Centre Court alone, according to a report presented to city councilors.

The city also will loan Beam nearly $350,000 in local downtown revitalization funds.

Under the new, proposed agreement, Beam must submit a permit to start demolition work on the Centre Court by Feb. 1 and a construction permit by May 1.

Ruiz may extend those deadlines for good cause, according to the revised agreement.

Beam is not prepared to proceed with a new building on the pit because the financial picture for that work is “extremely challenging,” according to the council report prepared by city planner Nan Laurence.

If Beam cannot put together a project for the pit by May 2011, the city would have the right to repurchase the property, according to the proposed new agreement.

The city had previously agreed to lease up to 50,000 square feet in the new building if Beam could not secure enough tenants to make the project financially viable.

Under the revised terms, the city will no longer be obligated to lease space in a building, if it was eventually built. However, nothing would prevent the city from doing so.

City Council President Alan Zelenka said he will support the changes.

The council had previously agreed to use the federal funds to finance the larger project, he said.

Zelenka and Mayor Kitty Piercy traveled to Portland two years ago to see Malsin’s projects.

“I have a lot of confidence in his ability to rehabilitate the building and to make it work,” Zelenka said.

---------------------------------------------
Pictures of the renderings after the renovation:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/tecknopuppy/beam-eugene1_2.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/tecknopuppy/beam-eugene2-1.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/tecknopuppy/beam-eugene3_0.jpg

---------------------------------------------

Next time I'm in Eugene, I'll take pictures of the current look of the building and the pit right next to it, can't find any online right now.

[MarkDaMan]

Photos from DJC website

http://djcoregon.com/files/2009/12/center_court_09-300x225.jpg

http://djcoregon.com/files/2009/12/center_court_27-300x189.jpg

[MarkDaMan]

http://djcoregon.com/files/2012/03/0309_eugene_housing_13th_olive_humphreys_and_partners.jpg
13th and Olive, a proposed $89 million student housing project in Eugene, could increase density in the downtown area. (Rendering courtesy of Humphreys and Partners)

Huge Eugene apartment project worries residents
POSTED: Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 03:39 PM PT
Daily Journal of Commerce BY: Reed Jackson
Tags: 13th and Olive, Eugene, multifamily

A two-block site in downtown Eugene soon could become a mecca for college students – as many as 1,200, in fact.

A proposed $89 million project calls for construction of a five-story, 300-unit apartment complex called 13th and Olive. The development, designed by Humphreys and Partners Architects’ Northwest office, would wrap the housing around an eight-story parking structure.

But downtown residents fear their neighborhood could become plagued by noisy and unruly behavior – a somewhat common occurrence in the city’s West University area – if the development were not managed properly.

“We welcome students living in the neighborhood; what we’re concerned more about is the minority of students that aren’t good neighbors,” said Paul Conte, chairman of Jefferson Westside Neighbors. “We don’t want the obnoxious behavior that goes on in areas close to the university.”

Last May, the University of Oregon Department of Public Safety released a statistics report that showed a gradual increase in crime on campus and in the West University neighborhood.

“Near the site, there’s a senior housing high-rise, and one of the concerns of its residents is the monoculture of students that would happen,” said Nan Laurence, senior planner for the city of Eugene. “Students are as varied as we are in terms of behavior, but (residents are) worried about those who aren’t good about obeying rules.”

The project would help meet demand for student housing. Enrollment at UO has increased an average of 4 percent per year since 2009, and students have increasingly had to look farther from campus to find affordable housing.

Capstone Collegiate Communities, an Alabama-based company that develops, builds and manages student housing around the country, is behind the project. Conte acknowledged that it could be done effectively.

“When you look at how students are currently housed off campus, (the apartment complex) might turn out to be better than the alternative,” he said. “The best thing for university operations, students and the community is to have well-managed student housing. But it has to be well managed.”

According to Conrad Sick, a project consultant for Capstone, strict rules will be in effect for the 13th and Olive complex.

“It’s really important for the students to have a design that enables their security and prevents issues of unruly behavior from spilling out into public spaces,” Sick said. “We can’t be so heavy-handed that it impedes students and their lifestyles, but we can’t be soft and let things happen that will diminish the livability of the community.”

Sick said an around-the-clock security staff, a gating system and multiple surveillance cameras will be used. He added that a student government system will be set up to help regulate each housing segment.

David Mandelblatt, chairman of the Downtown Neighborhood Association in Eugene, is concerned about the proposed size of the development.

“It could be 1,200 millionaires or acrobats or people with dogs – it’s not about the students,” Mandelblatt said. “We only have 2,500 residents in downtown. The sheer increase of people could cause problems with traffic, mass transit, police and parking.”

However, like Conte, Mandelblatt believes the complex could benefit the area if it were managed properly. He believes downtown could see a boost in development as a result.

“The 1,200 students will obviously be consumers, and there’s not enough business right now to meet their needs,” he said. “There are a lot of great, small grocery shops, but there is no full-service grocery store. And there’s not even close to enough clothing shops. New businesses would have to be put in.”

In late April, Eugene City Council will decide whether to grant Capstone a $16 million tax break, over a 10-year span. Sick said the project will not move forward if the grant were not offered, but he believes the project is in line with city planning.

“The goals and objectives that City Council has put in place with (its) downtown plan are all pointing to this project as a catalyst for a very vibrant, active and unique downtown for Eugene.”

Laurence could not comment on the chances of the grant being offered. However, she said the project would fit within the city’s downtown plan.

http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/03/08/huge-eugene-apartment-project-worries-residents/

[mcbaby]

http://www.jeffamram.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/yapb_cache/woolworth_center_ct_001_edit_edit.7uwjgkb6c144o8sgoogo4og0w.7l003fwhw4soks0sggs8so4ow.th.jpeg

[zilfondel]

Yeah, I was just down in Eugene a month ago. That project, plus a huge expansion (5 story) downtown Eugene LCC campus is reaching completion (by SRG). Not only that, but I saw dozens of lowrise townhouse units under construction and lowrise apartment buildings near the downtown.

Quite a few changes for the city since I last visited a few years ago...

[Nunya]

Another large apartment project, this time in Eugene. 274 apartments in the first phase and 192 in the second phase.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/real-estate-daily/2013/04/can-pearl-style-apartments-fly-in.html

Monday, Wells Fargo Bank closed a $47.5 million construction loan with Portland-based BPM Real Estate Group to construct Riverwalk, a $70 million project on Eugene’s Goodpasture Island.