The Oregon Research Institute broke ground in late December following an agreement between the University and the community to allow the construction of a new building between the Millrace and Willamette River.
The new 80,000-square-foot building is projected to cost $17 million and will be completed in December 2012. Founded in 1960, ORI is an independent, nonprofit research center that primarily studies human behavior.
ORI will share the building with the Educational Policy Improvement Center,@@http://cepr.uoregon.edu/@@ which will occupy 10,000 square feet of the new building. ORI is currently housed in two buildings, one on Millrace Drive and one on Franklin Boulevard.
“What we miss out on from being in two buildings is the social interaction,” ORI Science Administrator Kathryn Madden@@http://www.ori.org/Media/media.html@@ said. “What we like is the emotional stimulation that comes from just running into people in the halls, talking and then thinking about research. We want to get back to that.”
The new building will be located in the Riverfront Research Park@@http://researchpark.uoregon.edu/@@ on Millrace Drive. The location of the building has been hotly contested for years by Connecting Eugene,@@http://www.connectingeugene.org/@@ a group dedicated to sustaining the Willamette riverfront. Connecting Eugene and ORI reached a compromise to move the location further from the riverfront.
“The plan has long been to completely build out the open space on the riverfront parcels under a plan originally approved in 1989,” Connecting Eugene spokesman Paul Cziko@@http://www.connectingeugene.org/front-page/connecting-eugene/@@ said, “but the community has balked at this idea repeatedly.”
The previous site was going to located farther west and north of the train tracks and closer to the river, according to Madden. The new site will be located directly next to the current building on land that became available only recently. The facility will be built and owned by the Texas-based real estate company Trammell Crow,@@http://www.trammellcrow.com/@@ meaning that it will rent the facility despite owning the land it is built upon.
The institute plans to work mostly in personality research, designing and testing methods to improve the quality of people’s lives.
“We’re interested in finding out why people do the things they do,” Madden said, “and helping them change their behavior to be healthier and happier.”
Former University President Richard Lariviere suggested building on the new parcel in April 2011. The new site is set back from the river and is already surrounded by existing development.
“Connecting Eugene strongly supports the University, the developer and ORI’s decision to the move the building project to this alternate site,” Cziko said. “We look forward to supporting a new vision for the University riverfront that safeguards the land for future generations and is sensitive to the civic and ecological potential of this unique place.”
“I think it’s great they moved it back from the river,” University senior Kelsey Mills@@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Kelsey*Mills@@ said. “It’s all about a compromise. If they’re willing to work with environmental groups, that’s great.”