'Urban village' envisioned for vacant county land downtown
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EUGENE, Ore. - The businessman and former mayor behind the 5th Street Public Market and the Inn at the Fifth teamed up with a public housing agency to propose a mixed-use "urban village" for 2 acres of county land downtown.
Brian Obie from Obie companies made the proposal in collaboration with St. Vincent de Paul and the Housing and Community Services Agency of Lane County. The consortium was the only group to respond to a request for proposals for the land, which includes the now vacant Lane County Annex building.
"We can talk about the Pearl (District) in Portland, we can talk about the Pike (Place) Market in Seattle, but this will be the market district and it will be Eugene-style," Obie said.
The property is along 6th and Oak, adjacent to the Fifth Street Market.
The proposal calls for a movie theater, apartments, retail, grocery, hotel rooms and other amenities.
The Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to authorize county staff to negotiate a lease with Obie. Commissioner Pete Sorenson voted against the motion, saying he wanted to hold a public hearing on the matter first.
"I look at this as a first step towards redeveloping a big piece of Eugene," Commissioner Jay Bozievich said of the proposal.
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"We can talk about the Pearl (District) in Portland, we can talk about the Pike (Place) Market in Seattle, but this will be the market district and it will be Eugene-style," Obie said."
What is Eugene style? Passed out drunks and bums on the street corners and alleyways with dirty needles in the street gutters and bushes.
Remember to vote down EVERY SINGLE COUNTY MEASURE asking for money.
What a joke, we can't even keep the jail open but we can build shopping malls on county property.
Any lease negotiated means money has to be spent.Â
VOTE NO and recall the commissioners.
What are we that stupid? Â I never can seem to find that tattoo on me, although alot of people think i have one.Â
After seeing firsthand what Obie has done with the 5th street market, I shudder to see what he comes up with next. This reminds me of scumbag Arlie & Co. all over again.Â
@MikeG Ha, funny you should mention Arlie and Co. That was exactly who I was thinking of and in about the same terms. A snake.
A lot of time and tax payer money has been spent trying to polish that turd called "downtown". Face it, the day Valley River was built was the day the bell tolled for downtown. Walmart, Fred Meyer and Target on West 11th were the finishing nails in the coffin.
Great, more empty buildings owned by the Catholic Church.
of course they voted 4-1 to allow this to continue without putting it to public comment or finding out just how much it will cost eugene and lane county. More tax breaks for developers? Eugene, progressive? Hardly.