Eugene weekly., January 21, 2016, Page 9, Image 9

KESEY SQUARE DECISION:
WHAT’S THE BIG RUSH?
Slow down. That’s the message citizens of Eu-
gene are emailing to City Manager Jon Ruiz, May-
or Kitty Piercy and the Eugene City Council about
Kesey Square and its potential development into an
apartment building by a local group, which could
happen as soon as this spring.
Jan. 15 was the deadline for submission of RFEIs
(requests for expression of interest) for Kesey Square.
“I am reading with some alarm the fast pace of de-
cision-making regarding the future of Kesey Square.
The renewal of downtown Eugene continues and it
seems prudent to take time addressing the long-term
use of Kesey Square,” wrote Libby Unthank Tower
to Ruiz, Piercy and the council Jan. 5.
Tower is the new chair of the Oregon Arts Com-
mission as well as the former manager for marketing
and public relations for the city’s Cultural Services
department.
The email continues: “Many of us have returned
from the holiday break and Jan. 15 provides a very
short window to address ‘alternative expressions of
interest’ for this space. And, it appears from the out-
side that a ‘deal has been in the works’ with the pro-
posed developers for some time.”
This letter is not unique: The Mayor, City Man-
ager and City Council inbox, which is open to public
records scrutiny, has been flooded during the past
month with emails discouraging the sale of Kesey
Square, including several requesting that the city of
Eugene delay the Jan. 15 RFEI deadline.
The city of Eugene announced a call for RFEIs
on Nov. 30, 2015, in which it sought “letters of in-
terest and conceptual development proposals from
qualified development teams or an individual for the
purchase/lease and redevelopment of the Broadway
and Willamette parcel.”
Some emails pointed out that the city announced
the RFEI request on Nov. 30, only allotting five
weeks over the holidays for interested parties to sub-
mit ideas to the city. The
development group be-
hind the proposal to build
apartments on Kesey
Square — Rowell Bro-
kaw Architects, business
owner Kaz Oveissi, de-
veloper consultant Mark
Miksis and advising de-
velopers Harris Hoffman
and Hugh Prichard — has
been working on its pro-
posal for two years.
Ruiz tells EW he de-
cided to issue the RFEI.
The city’s Communica-
tions Relations Director
Jan Bohman says Ruiz
decided to issue the RFEI
after “receiving feedback
from the City Council.”
— LIBBY
Yet at least two coun-
cilors were unaware of
where the RFEI came
from. Councilors Betty Taylor and George Brown
say they were taken by surprise by the city manager’s
decision to issue an RFEI for Kesey Square.
On Dec. 11, Taylor wrote an email to Ruiz asking,
“Who decided to issue an RFEI?” She concludes by
stating: “I would like to know what tentative agree-
ment has been made with the prospective developers
and how long it has been in progress.”
At a Jan. 11 council work session, Taylor asked
the city manager why the deadline for the RFEI was
so early. Ruiz did not respond to this question.
“I can’t believe we would consider selling it,”
Brown told EW at the council work session. “It’s
not on the surplus property
list.”
Brown adds, “Evident-
ly it’s within the city man-
ager’s purview.” Brown
notes that in his seven years
on council he’s never seen
a request for an RFEI.
In spite of the five-week
deadline, proposals have
been submitted to the city,
including one from Ali
Emami, the business own-
er who also owns the two
buildings that flank Kesey
Square (housing Voodoo
Doughnut and Northwest
Persian Rugs). His propos-
al offers two options: put-
ting apartments above his
own buildings and keeping
UNTHANK TOWER
Kesey Square public or en-
tering into a public-private
partnership with the city to
open up the city-owned walls of the square to make
it more user-friendly.
The City Council will consider options for the
square in February. A “Save Kesey Square” rally has
been planned for 6:30 pm Monday, Jan. 25, at the
Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza in front of Harris
Hall (125 E. 8th Ave.), where a 7 pm council meeting
is scheduled; as of press time, 264 people are attend-
ing the rally, according to the event’s Facebook page.
— Alex V. Cipolle
‘Many of us have returned
from the holiday break and
Jan. 15 provides a very
short window to address
“alternative expressions of
interest” for this space.
And, it appears from the
outside that a “Deal has
been in the works” with the
proposed developers for
some time.’
A RENDERING OF KESEY SQUARE WITH
APARTMENTS ADDED ABOVE VOODOO
DOUGHNUT AND NORTHWEST PERSIAN RUGS
FROM ‘OPTION A’ OF ALI EMAMI’S RFEI
PROPOSAL. EMAMI SAYS THE SQUARE WOULD
REMAIN PUBLIC AND THE DESIGN OF THE
APARTMENTS IS FLEXIBLE
PHOTO: ALI EMAMI
eugeneweekly.com • January 21, 2016
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