Oregon daily emerald., February 02, 2001, Page 3, Image 3

Eugene city planners look for room to grow
■As downtown Eugene
struggles, the city’s outski rts
are booming
By Rebecca Newell
Oregon Daily Emerald
If Eugene were a Monopoly board,
it would look like the game had just
begun — houses and hotels in some
places, other property still up for
grabs and in need of development.
Despite problems with the redevel
opment of downtown Eugene, other
pockets of the city are growing rapid
ly. While the city concentrates on re
vitalizing the ailing Broadway neigh
borhood, portions of town such as the
Ferry Street Bridge/Coburg Road area
and Bethel are experiencing a boom
d lri between the Hu It
Center, the LTD station
and the 5th Street Public
Market is a,no man's land.
Jim Torrey
Eugene mayor
in residential and commercial devel
opment.
Ferry Street Bridge/Coburg
In Coburg, the Oakway Center
and the Willakenzie area have expe
rienced steady growth in the past
few years, accentuated by the recent
private redevelopment near the Fer
ry Street Bridge, said Kurt Yeiter,
senior city planner for Eugene.
“With the completion of the Ferry
Street Bridge, [Coburg] is easier to
access,” Mayor Jim Torrey said. “It’s
close enough to downtown to ac
cess everything.”
The Coburg/Oakway intersection
has been described as the second
busiest intersection in Eugene, with
60,000 cars a day traveling through
it, said Steven Koth, project super
visor for McKay Investment Co., the
company that developed and owns
the Oakway Center.
“The city has demographically
grown around the Ferry Street
Bridge in the last five years,” Koth
said.
The affluence of the Oakway
neighborhood is another draw, Koth
said. According to a recent citywide
census, within a one-mile radius of
the Oakway Center, the average
household income is $73,896 —
one of the highest-earning neighbor
hoods in Eugene.
“That says you have proximity to
good clientele, as well as access to
the heart of the city and Interstate-5,”
Koth said. “The demographic, loca
tion ad traffic are attractive to retail
ers.”
For the Oakway Center, that com
bination was used as the result of
careful planning and execution.
“We started redeveloping in 1996,
and have been continuing the
process for the last four years,” Koth
said. “Borders came in during 1998,
Trader Joe's in 1998, Bed, Bath and
Beyond in 2000. and just recently,
Pier 1 Imports.”
In the last year, McMenamins
opened in the former West Bank
Restaurant Building, and its opening
was followed by the arrival of two
new hotels. One, the Residence Inn
by Marriott, opened Jan. 15 and is en
Calendar
Friday, Feb. 2
Roundtable Discussion: Karen Sprague, vice provost for undergraduate studies,
discusses general education requirements. All faculty are invited. Noon-1 p.m.
Room 159, PLC. Free.
Creative Writing Reading: First-yearMFA fiction writersand poets read
from their works. 7:30 p.m., Alumni Lounge, Gerlinger Hall. Free.
Eugene Area Development
Booming sections of Eugene
- are from the Ferry St.
* Bridge to Chad Dr., and
the Bethel area
Harlow Rd
Centennial Bivd
Booming areas
The ailing areas of Eugene are at the end
of West 11th St. and the downtown area
Katie Miller Emerald
West 13th Ave. ~
joying the convenience that nearby
establishments offer to its clientele.
Marriott management chose the
area for its proximity to the Universi
ty, the downtown area, the river and
the park, said Patrick McShane vice
president of Exeter Hospitality Asso
ciates, the management company for
Residence Inn by Marriott. “Other
businesses welcomed us because we
bring additional business to them,”
McShane said. “If someone is staying
here, they can rundown to Borders or
Starbucks. We’re very pleased with
where we’re at.”
Farther north, development near
Costco has attracted the interest of
“big box retailers,” stores that serve
as “anchors” for business parks, retail
and restaurants, Torrey said.
“The north end of Coburg,
Willakenzie, has seen a lot of residen
tial growth,” Torrey said. “Homes are
developing there because we have
flat land that is easily serviced. Bethel
is one of our major growth areas for
the same reasons.”
Downtown area
Despite the frequent growth on the
outskirts of Eugene, it’s the heart of
the city that is struggling, Torrey said.
“As far as downtown, we need
some of that growth [the outlying ar
eas are experiencing],” he said. “In
between the Hult Center, the LTD sta
tion and the 5th Street Public Market
is a no man’s land.”
Despite the popularity of events
such as Art Walk and the Saturday
Market, a large part of the problem for
the struggling downtown is a lack of
night life, Torrey said.
Add in the future loss of Symantec,
and business dining the day will also
take a hit, he said.
“When the lights go out at 6 p.m.,
office people go home. We don’t have
the quality of night life in the core of
our city we need,” Torrey said. “I
want to bring the vitality back to the
core of the city. We need to make
downtown a destination.”
Future growth
In order to “fill in the holes,” the
city of Eugene is working on forming
nodal development areas — small,
high-density residential areas with
some light commercial develop
ment — and having these serviced
by transit, Koth said.
“The city created a master trans
portation system that has a sugges
tion for about 37 nodal develop
ment areas in Eugene,” he said. “We
try to find room for the growth to go,
rather than worrying about how fast
we grow.”
Agripac is another plan on the
city’s agenda. The nine-acre piece of
ground currently houses a cannery
that is closing a year from now. The
city of Eugene is buying the land
and has big plans for the space. Tor
rev said.
“We want to split it in two; half
for the potential federal courthouse,
a $70 million project, and half for
residential and light commercial
development,” he said.
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