The University of Oregon Foundation finalized its purchase of the vacant car lot on Franklin Boulevard near the Williams’ Bakery site last month, adding a piece of property to the University’s inventory that has been sought for several years.
The purchase was completed March 14 in what Sheila Romania Moore,
daughter of lot owner and car dealer Joe Romania, said was a “very quick and pleasant process.”
Moore would not disclose the sale price, and phone calls to the UO Foundation were not returned Friday.
The Romanias owned the lot, located at 2020 Franklin Blvd., for nearly 40 years, and Moore said the University has shown interest in purchasing the property for the past two years.
No formal announcement about the sale has been given.
The Fairmount Neighborhood
Association discussed the latest news and rumors about the property at its meeting Thursday night.
Association Co-Chair Kristen Taylor jokingly said at the beginning of the meeting that she should have made the theme of the meeting: “Why have one arena? Just have two,” in order to get more people to attend, a reference to the car lot and the lack of available information about what will become of it.
The group discusses the latest news concerning the Williams’ Bakery site and the University’s plans for a basketball arena at every meeting.
Association Co-Chair Jeff Nelson said at the meeting that he has been in contact with business owners around the bakery site, because University officials have said the three businesses on the same block as the bakery property will have to move if an arena is to
be built.
Nelson said Karl Wagenknecht, a dentist with an office in the Villard Medical Building, behind the bakery site, has repeatedly said he is not interested in moving.
“He’s still saying he doesn’t want to move, so we’ll see what happens there,” Nelson said.
Phone calls to Wagenknecht were not returned Sunday.
Williams’ Bakery will not vacate the site for at least another year, Nelson said, so exactly what will become of the site may remain speculation for quite some time.
John Hirons, who owns Hirons Drug Store on Franklin Boulevard, said he suggested the University purchase the car lot when he was approached by University representatives a couple years ago about the possibility of building a basketball arena on the Williams’ Bakery site.
Hirons said he told the University that purchasing the lot would enable his business and the neighboring supermarket, PC Market of Choice, to relocate to the property while allowing the University room for a parking structure and other necessary items in close proximity to the arena.
But Hirons said that suggestion may not be feasible because of the impact associated with the move.
“I don’t know that that’s a good deal for us,” Hirons said, asking why PC Market of Choice, Hirons or anyone else would want to be farther away from the University.
Hirons said there is an array of factors to consider when thinking about the future of businesses along Franklin Boulevard, such as the addition of Bus Rapid Transit, a new hybrid-electric bus system from Lane Transit District.
The system will run down the middle of Franklin Boulevard and will include a station on the east side of the car lot just purchased by the UO Foundation, something Hirons said can affect the cost and benefits associated with moving his business.
Not knowing what the future holds for a piece of land adds to the risks associated with relocating a business there, Hirons said, adding that the safety of the car lot has not even been discussed.
He may have made the suggestion to relocate a couple of years ago, but Hirons said in reality a relocation may not be viable.
“I think it would cost us an arm and a leg to do it, and I certainly wouldn’t want to put out large sums of money to rebuild the structures that are on the existing properties,” Hirons said.
Rumors of PC Market and Hirons possibly relocating to the car lot were discussed at the neighborhood meeting, and Nelson said he doesn’t think the University is in any sort of financial situation
that would allow anything to be done with the property in the
near future.
“Because the University doesn’t have money, it will probably stay as is for now,” Nelson said.
No news concerning the Williams’ Bakery site was discussed at the meeting.
University Vice President for Administration Dan Williams met with several students in the residence halls during Finals Week last term to bring them up to date on the arena project and hear their comments and concerns.
Vice President for Student Affairs Anne Leavitt and University Housing Director Mike Eyster attended the meeting, which Williams said was attended also by members of the Residence Hall Association government council.
Williams said in an e-mail that it is particularly important to open discussion with the residence halls now that the bakery site has been identified as the new arena’s location and said the students who attended the meeting made a number of valuable suggestions.
University freshman Martini Morris attended the meeting and said the majority of the discussion centered on safety concerns brought on by the would-be arena’s proximity to the residence halls. Noise generated by night games and the amount of people walking by the residence halls were the most pressing of the students’ concerns, Morris said.
“Those two concerns are big issues for us, seeing how we live here,” Morris said.
Morris said Williams had drawings of floor plans and a layout of the arena and that suggestions were made regarding fences being built around the residence halls for added safety.
Funding for the arena has not been secured, but University officials said if an arena is built, it will be located on the bakery site, or something else University-related will be built there, Morris said.
“Either way, there will be something built here this close to the halls, and it’s an issue that we have to think about,” Morris said.
Leavitt said the meeting was similar to consultations Williams has done in the past about possible arena locations.
“(It was) a conversation with a new group, but it was the same habit or pattern (Williams) had of consulting with affected people,” Leavitt said.
Morris said it was made clear at the meeting that student opinions were valued but would not dictate what was to happen with the arena or the site.
“Although they value what we have to say, overall, the students don’t have much say in what’s going to happen,” Morris said.
Eyster said it is so early in the process that no arena plans will be finalized anytime soon, but the University wanted to keep the students who will be most affected by it informed.
“There’s a lot of things that are still unknown, and this project is sort of off into the future,” Eyster said.

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