Two local developers want to give Eugene a downtown movie theater, nearly 300 units of housing, and new shops, restaurants and offices. The catch is, they want the city to help them purchase some of the land from businesses unwilling to sell.
Last week, the Eugene City Council voted 6-2 to direct City Manager Dennis Taylor to continue working with developers Tom Connor and Don Woolley to develop their proposal in more detail so the council can investigate it further.
“It’s a very preliminary vote,” Eugene City Councilor David Kelly said.
Kelly, who represents the campus area, voted in support of the resolution.
“Something like this could help take downtown to a whole new level,” Kelly said.
Some of the proposed new buildings on Broadway between Willamette St. and Charnelton St. would be up to five stories tall. Kelly said it’s a shame that most of downtown is currently only one story high because taller buildings would be a more efficient use of space.
Kelly also favors the plan’s promise of downtown housing.
“Part of making downtown more visible is having downtown residents,” Kelly said.
Most of what Connor and Woolley want to do is permitted outright under building codes, Kelly said, and they already own most of the buildings on the blocks in question. City involvement would be needed to build a parking garage and facilitate the transfer of buildings that Connor and Woolley do not own.
One such property, Luckey’s Club Cigar Store, located at 933 Olive St., has been in business since 1911, owner Jo Dee Moine said.
Moine, who has owned the bar for four years, said she first heard of Connor and Woolley’s plan six months ago.
“They presented an offer that was barely more than I paid for the building,” Moine said, adding that she rejected the offer.
Moine said she wants to be part of the revitalization of downtown Eugene, and would be willing to implement housing above Luckey’s or improve the building’s facade, but no one has approached her about anything other than selling the building, which she does not want to do.
“I do want to be part of this,” Moine said. “I don’t want to be treated like I’m poo on somebody’s shoe to scrape away.”
Moine said the decline of downtown Eugene is partly Connor and Woolley’s fault because they own most of the buildings and can afford to leave them vacant. Meanwhile, she added, current downtown property owners include men and women representing a range of different races, cultures and sexual orientations, and selling their buildings to Connor and Woolley would eliminate that diversity.
Moine is also concerned about the possibility of a national chain store replacing a bar where she said 80-year-old men who had their first drinks there decades ago still come in and reminisce.
“What are they going to put here in this business that’s been here 95 years?” she asked. “A Starbucks?”
Two stores owned by Lazar Makyadath, Lazar’s Bazaar at 57 W. Broadway and a shoe outlet next door, are also targeted by Connor and Woolley’s plan.
“They didn’t ask me to sell the building,” Makyadath said. “They are insulting me with the prices.”
A petition exists to put a measure on the Oregon ballot in November prohibiting public bodies from condemning private property with the intent of transferring it to another private owner. While the petition originated in Hillsboro and Kaiser, it is relevant to the current situation in downtown Eugene, and Makyadath said he is distributing this petition at his stores.
“This is pretty unconstitutional for the city to give a green light without discussing with the owners of the property,” Makyadath said.
Connor and Woolley plan to also acquire the city’s Atrium Building at the corner of West 10th Avenue and Olive Street, and Councilor Kelly said city offices located in the building would need to be relocated if that happened.
Jenova Land Company, Connor and Woolley’s company, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
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