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<br /> <br />M I N U T E S <br /> <br /> <br />Eugene City Council <br />McNutt Room—City Hall—777 Pearl Street <br />Eugene, Oregon <br /> <br /> March 9, 2009 <br /> 5:30 p.m. <br /> <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, Mike Clark, Andrea Ortiz, Jennifer Solomon, Alan Zelenka, <br />George Poling, George Brown, Betty Taylor. <br />Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order and convened a <br />meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency (URA). <br /> <br />Mr. Clark declared that he did regular business with one of the principals in the firm of W & G Develop- <br />ment (WG) and to avoid even the appearance of a conflict was recusing himself from participation in work <br />session Item A. <br /> <br />A. WORK SESSION: <br /> <br />th <br />Update on the Sale and Development of 10 and Charnelton Site <br /> <br /> <br />th <br />Nan Laurence, Planning and Development Department, stated that redevelopment of the 10 and Charnelton <br />site had been the City’s priority for a number of years as it was a key site in the downtown core. She said <br />goals for the site’s redevelopment focused on multi-story, mixed-use development to add vitality and activity <br />to downtown. She said last fall the URA had selected WG and their $34 million proposal for redeveloping <br />the site with 83 housing units over two floors of office space. She said the URA’s decision included <br />direction to staff that if an agreement with WG was not executed by March 31, 2009, negotiations begin <br />with Opus NWR Development. She said staff had worked closely and collaboratively with WG to help the <br />project move forward, but national and local economic conditions had prompted WG to request an extension <br />of at least six months and preferably one year. <br /> <br />th <br />Ms. Laurence referred to a document entitled 10 & Charnelton Development Scenarios that described <br />development timelines under the current WG agreement: a WG extension of six months, a WG extension of <br />12 months and development by Opus. She said the WG project still faced uncertainty because of office <br />tenant and financing issues. She said the $40 million Opus project consisted of 210 units of student housing <br />and Opus had reaffirmed its interest in redeveloping the site. A key feature of the Opus project was <br />continuing strength in the student housing market, despite current economic conditions. She conveyed Opus’ <br />proposal to enter into a binding agreement as soon as possible to purchase the property nine months later; <br />construction would begin in spring 2010 and the project would be ready for occupancy in late summer 2011. <br /> <br />City Manager Jon Ruiz clarified that staff regarded the WG proposal as a good mixed-use project with <br />considerable potential for revitalization of the downtown area. He said staff had worked diligently to make <br />the project successful, but it was a much different economic climate now than when the proposal was <br />selected and WG was not in a position to purchase the property by the March 31 deadline. He thought the <br />Opus project was less speculative and had more certainty, largely because of the stability of the target <br />market. He said the Opus project had positive aspects for the downtown area, such as an earlier construc- <br />tion timeline to provide momentum downtown and a strengthened connection to the University of Oregon. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council March 9, 2009 Page 1 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />