Retail giant Costco appears intent on expanding its hemmed-in Eugene store, but details remain sketchy.

This we know: The company last August paid $6 million to a real estate investment group for the Chad Drive property that housed Office Depot, the deed shows. The property is across Chad from the Costco store.

Atlas Holdings, the private company that owns the Office Depot and OfficeMax chains, earlier this month closed the Chad Drive store.

That leaves Costco with an empty 25,000-square-foot building with about 1.5 acres of parking holding about 140 parking spaces.

This is what we don’t know: Costco’s intentions.

Costco’s public relations office didn’t respond to repeated emails from Eugene Weekly. Workers at the Chad Drive Costco say their employer has told them nothing. They grouse they didn’t learn of the transaction until months after it was done. One worker speculated Costco may move its tire service from the main store to the former Office Depot site, creating expansion space in the main store.

Parking cruise

For years, Costco has been antsy about the jammed parking lots and crowded aisles at its Eugene store.

Seeking a solution, the Issaquah, Washington-based chain in early 2024 floated a plan to build a three-story parking garage in the parking area at the northeast corner of the Costco property on Chad, plus build a small addition to the store. Costco met with city planners to talk over the proposed garage’s facade, pedestrian circulation, stormwater runoff, bike stalls and the like.

In its application for the consultation meeting, Costco wrote: “There is a strong need for more parking on the site to serve the growth in Costco’s membership and on-site employees.” The hunt for parking irritates many Costco shoppers.

City staff told Costco the garage “would be required to meet standards like [building] orientation, pedestrian connections, landscaping,” Jeff Gepper, Eugene’s principal planner, tells Eugene Weekly. Costco was especially anxious to preserve existing mature trees on the site, Gepper says.

No commitment

But the company gave the city no development timeline, nor did it commit to pursuing the garage plan, Gepper says.

Subsequently, Costco never submitted formal plans for the garage. Nor has it submitted plans now for how it will use the former Office Depot property.

Office Depot built and opened its Chad Drive store in 1994. In 2008, under pressure due to declining sales, the company sold the Eugene real estate for $4.3 million to a New York-based investment group, and stayed on as a tenant, with a series of renewal options stretching out over 30 years, real estate records show. But the office products sector continued to sour. 

Office Depot in 2013 bought OfficeMax and closed hundreds of “underperforming” stores of both brands. Atlas Holdings continued the closure strategy after buying Office Depot last year. Office Depot earlier this year held its closing sale for products from the Chad Drive store, then formally shut the place May 22.

The company continues to operate an OfficeMax store in South Eugene.

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.

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