The University of Oregon neighborhood is about to get yet another towering apartment complex to rival Eugene’s biggest names in student-living apartments.
Construction crews broke ground last month on a new 12-story student apartment building at 959 Franklin Blvd., located behind the Dad’s Gate EmX station and Deady Hall between Kincaid Street and Onyx Street.
After breaking ground on Feb 5, John Hyland Construction president, Shaun Hyland, said the building is scheduled to be ready for students to move in in September of 2019.
The Chicago-based architecture firm, Hartshorne Plunkard, also designed the Hub Apartments in Eugene. You can find more of its projects here.
According to the plans, the first four floors will include a parking structure with floors 5-12 dedicated to residential space. The building is proposed to have 230 units and 443 beds.
The building is currently called The Sterling Oregon, but Hyland said the name is expected to change to Aspire. The most recently received permit was issued to Aspire Student Housing. Previous applications and documents have also been filed under the name Sterling Eugene.
The site of the apartments sits on the former grounds of Louie’s Village Chinese restaurant and the surrounding lot. In July of 2017 the city issued John Hyland Construction a demolition permit for the building.
Eugene city planner Kelly Whitmill said they were issued permits to begin building phases one and two. Phase one is grading and underground utilities. Phase two is foundation and structural work. The final two phases, which are not entirely approved by the city yet, are the actual building.
The Sterling building’s neighbors the Hub and Patterson Tower match its height at 12 stories and Hyland said Aspire will be “very similar to the Hub.”
The developer is Houston, Texas-based The Dinerstein Companies, although it is not listed on any of the permits. According to its website, The Dinerstein Companies is “one of the nation’s largest developers of multi-family and student housing communities” with over 52,000 apartments units in 26 states. This will be its first property in either Oregon or Washington, with its closest buildings in Reno, NV and Davis, CA. Dinerstein has 67 other student-housing properties that share the name Sterling of some kind.
