Amazon kept its identity hidden for as long as it could. But the behemoth has finally emerged from the shadows, purchasing the 85-acre parcel near the Eugene Airport that it needs for its controversial parcel-delivery warehouse.
Amazon.com Inc. LLC on Dec. 26 bought the parcel off Highway 99 for $2 million, according to the deed, which was reviewed by Eugene Weekly.
The sellers were four investors based in Texas whose families had owned the property for years, according to county land records.
Amazon meticulously worked to keep its name out of all public planning documents for more than a year. The company also swore its consultants and others to secrecy.
But there was never much doubt that the 320,000-square-foot warehouse planned for the site was intended for the Seattle-based e-merchant.
The Dec. 26 sale deed is the first confirmation that the project is for Amazon.
More than a year ago, consultants working for an unnamed entity laid the groundwork for the project. Eugene Weekly broke the story of the proposed development in January 2025, speculating it could be for Amazon.
Public opposition has grown, warning against the traffic jams and air pollution the facility might create, as well as the wetlands filling that an Amazon consultant says is needed. Plus, many area residents just don’t like the prospect of Eugene getting a giant facility from a company headed by pro-Trump and anti-labor Jeff Bezos. Consultants for Amazon are in the process of securing building and wetlands-fill permits.
Potholes for Arcimoto
Enough about Amazon! What’s going on with Arcimoto, the Eugene-based electric-vehicle maker that hit hard times?
Nothing good, unfortunately, for Arcimoto fans.
The largely defunct company has fallen far behind on sending the state the income taxes the company withheld from employee paychecks, and is also behind on paying property taxes on the factory it occupies, new filings show.
All told, the company faces a tab of nearly $600,000 to bring itself current. That includes nearly $275,000 in Lane County property taxes for the factory for annual bills the county sent Arcimoto in November 2024 and November 2025, records show. It also includes about $271,000 in taxes and penalties for failing to send the state the withheld income taxes in 2023-25, the filings show.
Arcimoto did not respond to messages from Eugene Weekly.
Arcimoto occupies the big factory at 2034 W. 2nd Avenue in west Eugene. There, its staff services and repairs the quirky Arcimoto vehicles for customers. The company stopped making the vehicles several years ago.
It’s unclear from county records who owns the 34,000-square-foot building on 3.6 acres. But Arcimoto for years had paid the property taxes — until its last payment in early 2024 — county records show.
The Eugene-based Cohen family bought the building in 2000, then put it in a family trust that still owns the place, county and state records show. No records show the family ever sold the building to Arcimoto, although some county assessor records suggest Arcimoto is a co-owner.
At any rate, the county is owed $95,000 in property taxes, penalties and interest on the tax bill that was sent out in November 2024, and $150,000 in property taxes, penalties and interest on the tax bill that went out two months ago.
Meanwhile, the Oregon Department of Revenue this year has sent Arcimoto a string of collection notices — officially called “distraint warrants” — with the latest sent just last month. The state said Arcimoto owes withholding taxes and penalties totalling $271,000 for the 2023-25 period, as well as other assorted taxes such as Lane Transit District and statewide transit taxes for the same period.
Those notices are a formal step in the collections process.
Arcimoto previously owned a big factory on Chambers Street in west Eugene, but, unable to make mortgage payments, turned it over to the mortgage holder in 2024, Eugene Weekly reported last year.
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.
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
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Eugene Weekly
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