The owners of one of Lane County’s most visible and unusual home construction projects — the massive unfinished vacant house on the east side of Interstate 5 near Coburg — have managed to cling onto the property after a two-year legal battle against their mortgage lender.
The lender, Utah-based Zions Bancorporation, late this summer abruptly dropped its bid to seize the property, after having won its complaint in Lane County Circuit Court that the owners had failed to make a required payment on the $2.5 million mortgage.
The move leaves the 20,000-square-foot house, wrapped in teal-colored vapor barrier, in the hands of Eugene residents Kyle and Christina Wildfang, who began planning their palatial project seven years ago.
The house sits on flat farmland 300 yards east of I-5, south of Coburg’s I-5 interchange.
The couple borrowed $2.5 million from Zions in 2021 and began construction, but by July 2023 had failed to make a $76,000 semi-annual mortgage payment. The bank sued later that year. Construction by then had become fitful. For a while, the building lacked a completed roof, and the plywood exterior wall sheathing was exposed to the elements. Eventually, the roof was finished and the exterior wrapped in the vapor barrier.
After winning its lawsuit in 2024 for the principal of $2.4 million — as well as nearly $400,000 in unpaid interest plus attorneys’ fees — Zions scheduled a sheriff’s sale for this July. In such a sale, the bank typically takes ownership of the property, unless someone steps up to offer more than the debt. The scheduling of the sheriff’s sale drew local news and TV media coverage.
But — and this hasn’t been reported previously — in August, Zions cancelled the sale and dropped its lawsuit, letting the Wildfangs keep the house, court filings show. Such a move typically occurs when a borrower brings payments up to date. In its court filing, Zions said it retained the right to sue again if needed.
The building ranks as one of the biggest residences in the county — and one of the most curiously located. Many social media commenters are puzzled why the Wildfangs built it so close to I-5. No trees or terrain shield it from the freeway’s noise and view. Little work has been done on the structure in recent months and the building permits have expired.
The Wildfangs are tired of all the attention, which started several years ago.
“People need to leave us alone,” Christina Wildfang tells Eugene Weekly. “It’s very embarrassing for us.”
The building’s prominence — it is seen by thousands of I-5 travelers every day — is no excuse, she says. “I don’t understand everyone’s fascination with our private business,” she says. “It’s nobody’s business but me and my husband’s.”
The Wildfangs own and operate two restaurant/taverns, one in west Eugene and one in Springfield.
They bought the vacant 65-acre parcel along I-5 in 2017 from the adjacent Eugene Premier RV Resort for $225,000, according to the deed. Their mortgage with Zions requires them to make semi-annual payments of nearly $76,000 until 2051.
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.