The Kotton Mouth Kings finish unloading their gear in the parking lot behind WOW Hall last week. This month, a City of Eugene committee will make a recommendation for the development of the land parcel surround
An allocations subcommittee for the City of Eugene will make its recommendation this month for the development of the land parcel surrounding the WOW Hall. The final decision could limit the WOW Hall’s ability to accommodate touring bands’ vehicles, as well as create conflicts with potential neighbors over concert noise.
Tax lots 14100, 14200, 13500 and 13700 were purchased last year by the City of Eugene with Federal Community Development Grant funds for the purpose of developing mixed-income and low-income housing. Lots 14100 and 14200 are currently used as surface parking, 13700 contains the vacant commercial building adjacent to the WOW Hall, and 13500 is currently used as a loading and unloading space for the venue.
The city issued a request for proposals on June 30 of last year, along with a set of criteria the proposals must meet. The criteria given in the request stated that the development of the site must combine mixed-income housing with ground floor non-residential use and that at least 51 percent of the housing must be permanent housing affordable to low-income households. It also states that tax lot 13500 must remain available to the WOW Hall for loading and unloading.
Proposals were received from the Community Center for the Performing Arts, Private Public Partnerships, Inc., West 8th Avenue Development Group and the Metropolitan Affordable
Housing Corporation.
The CCPA is attempting to purchase tax lot 13500 to ensure their continued use of it as a loading and unloading area, but they believe it is unlikely they will be able to do so. The proposals submitted by both the West 8th
Avenue Development Group and the Metropolitan Affordable Housing Corporation state that the WOW Hall will be given unlimited use of tax lot 13500 and the Metropolitan Affordable Housing Corporation’s proposal actually indicates their intention to sell the lot to the WOW Hall. Kent Jennings of Jennings Development (the development company that has been outsourced by Metropolitan to oversee the project) said that they intend to ask for $50,000 for the lot, which will then be reinvested in acoustic upgrades for the hall. He says the company is doing all it can to make sure the WOW Hall is allowed to operate unhindered by the development.
“Are we going to hand the WOW Hall a blank check? No. But will we work together with the WOW Hall and community throughout the whole thing to make sure everyone’s best interests are served? Of course,” Jennings said.
The CCPA is most concerned by the proposal from Private Public Partnerships, Inc., which includes plans to utilize a portion of tax lot 13500 and deed the remaining 45-by-68-foot portion to the WOW Hall. Abe Nielson, Program Director for the WOW Hall, said that the 66.8-by-90-foot space is already barely large enough to fit the sometimes 45-foot tour buses that arrive almost every week, and that
cutting into it would probably make it impossible. He added that bigger acts are playing at the WOW Hall more often than they used to, which means the ability to accommodate large tour buses is more important to them than ever.
The Urban Services Manager for the City of Eugene, Richie Weinman, said that Private Public Partnerships’ plan to develop on tax lot 13500 will not disqualify them since the amount of the lot reserved for the WOW Hall was not specified. But he added that the subcommittee will probably require them to justify developing that area at the hearing.
