Windows continue to be boarded up during construction. Over a year after the Patterson House apartment complex was ravaged in a fire, construction to repair the damage nears completion across from the University of Oregon Barnhart Hall in Eugene, Ore., on Feb. 15, 2024. (Eric Becker/Emerald)
The Patterson House Apartments are expected to open its doors to residents starting in Spring 2024. The reopening will mark the first time residents have lived in the complex since it was damaged in a fire on Sept. 5, 2022. Construction to rebuild the apartments began in August of 2023.
“That was very heartbreaking,” Nikole Prechtel, general manager of Principle Property Management, the company that operates the Patterson House Apartments, said. “We spent a lot of time at the property that day just making sure that everything was secured and safe and that all the tenants were able to get out okay.”
Prechtel said that the estimated completion for the apartment’s rebuild is the middle to end of April. The management company is looking to open up the Patterson House for students around the beginning of May, but no exact dates have been set.
Principle Property Management and other contractors have been continuously working together to guide the apartment’s rebuild process throughout the last 18 months.
“We worked closely with the [Patterson House apartment] owners and our company, and the vendor BELFOR is the one facilitating the rebuild,” Prechtel said. “We’ve been able to work pretty seamlessly on getting everything moving as quickly as possible.”
Laurel Davis, a UO student who has worked at Barnhart Dining for three years, worked the day after the fire. Patterson House is located opposite Barnhart Hall across Patterson Street.
“It didn’t really have any sort of impact on us workers,” Davis said. “I remember the loud trucks that were sucking all the ash out of the walls for a few weeks afterwards. But otherwise, nothing’s really changed.”
Some students currently living in Barnhart Hall are pleased to hear about the construction’s completion, after hearing constant loud noises and commotion from across the street during the day.
“I find that I’m often hearing banging early in the morning, which affects my sleep because it wakes me up early,” Barnhart Hall resident Trevor Acker said. “Sometimes it’s not so pleasant to look at when I look outside of my window.”
Prechtel appreciates the work and recovery that has been accomplished following the fire in September. She was unable to provide specific details about any new safety measures being put in place, but acknowledged everything else in the apartments are up to code.
“I’m very thankful for the crew that we have and how we’ve been able to work together, and very excited for Patterson to open back up and start welcoming tenants and students to the building again,” Prechtel said.
