An effort backed by the city of Eugene to build affordable rental housing in the heart of downtown has been delayed — yet again.
Commencement of the project by a private developer to demolish the former Lane Community College building on Willamette Street and put up an apartment building with rent-controlled and market-rate units has been pushed to the summer, a city spokesperson says.
The development group, 1059 Willamette Investment, LLC, is still lining up money for the project, says city spokesperson Lindsay Selser.
Under the deal the Eugene City Council approved more than a year ago, the development group was supposed to have all funding secured and take ownership of the vacant city-owned building by Feb. 1 at the latest, and promptly start demolition. Now, the developer is targeting the middle of the year for the handover, Selser says.
Mark Miksis, manager of 1059 Willamette Investment, didn’t return a Eugene Weekly phone call and email.
“We really want and need this project to move forward for our downtown and community,” says Eugene City Councilor Randy Groves. Rising construction and materials costs are a challenge, he says. The price of building materials nationwide was rising throughout 2024, says the National Association of Home Builders.
“This past year, damage from hurricanes in the southeast and wildfires in the southwest will not help this situation,” Groves says. “In Los Angeles alone, some 16,000 structures were destroyed from the two wildland fires,” he adds.
For years, city elected leaders have talked up the 133-unit Willamette Street project. But it has been repeatedly delayed over financial issues. The city has pledged $1.8 million in up-front subsidies for the $34 million-plus project, plus has waived property taxes for 10 years.
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City spokesperson Amber Allan says the city is not increasing its subsidy. “Our financial contribution remains the same,” she says.
The project is complicated. Developers have shown little interest in teaming up with the city on it. After buying the building from LCC, the city issued a request for proposals to build the apartments. Only a single developer, a joint venture by Eugene-based deChase Miksis and Portland-based Edlen & Co., responded. The city went with that group.
In the most recent available projections — and these are more than a year old — the development will cost more than $34 million, including about $10 million in equity provided by investors, about $23 million in debt borrowed on the commercial mortgage market, and the city’s subsidies, which include giving the site to the developer. In return for the subsidies, the developer would keep 68 of the units — all small studios — rent-controlled at prices pegged to median incomes.
Under the council-approved deal a year ago, if Miksis’ group had taken title Feb. 1, it would have had until September 2026 to finish the building. It’s unclear whether the city has set a new timeline. But if a 20-month construction window were applied and construction began this summer, the building — five stories of apartments atop the ground floor of commercial space — might be ready by early 2027.
Demolition and construction in Eugene’s city center are tricky because sites are hemmed in by neighboring buildings, Groves notes. “The tight operating conditions in a city’s downtown does not provide space to store equipment and materials on site, which adds cost and difficulty in construction,” he says.
Bricks $ Mortar is a column anchored by Christian Wihtol, who worked as an editor and writer at The Register-Guard in Eugene 1990-2018, much of the time focused on real estate, economic development and business. Reach him at Christian@EugeneWeekly.com.