Developers drop plans for downtown.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

Eugene property owners Don Woolley and Tom Connor have scrapped plans to redevelop 2 1/4 blocks of West Broadway, saying they were unable to acquire 15 neighboring parcels they needed.

Connor, Woolley and their development partner Opus Northwest on Thursday announced that they are dropping plans for a $165 million retail, housing and entertainment complex on West Broadway, between Willamette and Charnelton streets.

"We are disappointed because we thought this represented the best opportunity for downtown redevelopment that we have seen in 20 years," Woolley said.

The developers wanted to build 186,0000 square feet of retail space, 100,000 square feet of commercial or office space, a 1,600-seat multi-screen cinema, a parking structure, a hotel and an estimated 350 condominiums and apartments. They hoped to attract a mix of national, regional and local tenants.

Reaction to the news varied, from disappointment to optimism that other redevelopment ideas will emerge for the area. Some of Connor's and Woolley's buildings are empty storefronts, and the area is a hangout for street youths and panhandlers.

"It's a blow to the solar plexus," said Angus James, co-owner of The Broadway, a restaurant at West Broadway and Charnelton Street, in the upscale Broadway Place housing complex.

"We have been here for six years now, and the fact that people are coming through the doors each day is a testimonial to our own hard work," he said. "We are really alone on a peninsula down here, and we would have greatly benefited from some neighbors."

Some viewed the news as a major setback for the city's downtown redevelopment efforts. Four years ago, the city tore out the remnants of the downtown mall, part of a $2.4 million project. West Broadway, between Willamette Street and Charnelton, was reopened to vehicle traffic, and the city installed extensive landscaping and fancy sidewalks, hoping that it would help attract businesses to the area.

Others, including Mayor Kitty Piercy, said the Connor-Woolley-Opus proposal may be replaced by individual, smaller renovation projects that, over time, could pump life into the area.

"I'm disappointed, but I'm not discouraged," Piercy said. "We will need to work together as partners with the property owners and Connor and Woolley to put the best face on that area as possible and continue the revitalization of downtown."

Woolley told reporters that after more than a year of negotiations his partners were able to reach a sales agreement with only one property owner. Six of the 11 property owners who controlled the 15 parcels had no interest in selling, he said. The remainder could not reach agreement with the developers on sales terms, Connor and Woolley said, with some wanting up to eight times the assessed value of their property. Woolley said Thursday he had mixed emotions about the failure of the project. "In some respects, I'm not disappointed," he said. "You know, we, as a team, got tired of pushing water uphill."

Sue Prichard, the developers' real estate broker, said the latest offers to the adjoining property owners "were significantly over market value."

"But that doesn't mean it was any more convincing to those folks if you don't want to sell," she said.

Lazar Makyadeth, owner of Lazar's Bazar and another storefront on West Broadway, said the first offer that he got from the development group last year was $425,000. The latest offer, received within the past few weeks, was $1.1 million.

But Makyadeth said he wanted $2.2 million. Of that, he said, he was going to donate $1 million to community nonprofit groups.

Makyadeth said he will operate his store for another three years, retire and then give his properties to his children.

Some of the property owners who either did not want to sell or were unable to agree on a sale price said the end of the Connor-Woolley-Opus plan will mean that downtown redevelopment will take a different course, especially if Connor and Woolley sell some of their properties.

"Hopefully, there will be slow regentrification of the neighborhood," said restaurateur Joshua Keim, who owns a building on West Broadway, next to Lazar's Bazar.

Jo Dee Moine, one of the property owners who was not interested in selling, said she's interested in buying the one property that Connor and Woolley reached an agreement to purchase, the former Bookmark building on Olive Street, near West Broadway.

Moine, the owner of Luckey's bar on Olive Street, said she's interested in transforming the former Bookmark building into a recording studio.

"I'm very interested in any downtown property," she said. "There is a lot of interest and excitement about doing business downtown, even with the problems, the panhandling and what not."

Woolley said he and Connor will try to find tenants, particularly long-term tenants, for their half-dozen, mostly vacant buildings on Broadway.

If they can find long-term tenants, Woolley said, he and Connor may be willing to renovate the buildings.

If not, Woolley said, he and Connor may be willing to sell them.

Russ Brink, executive director of Downtown Eugene Inc., said the long, narrow spaces inside some of Connor and Woolley's buildings are not what modern retailers want. "We certainly hope that we can get the buildings filled, occupied as quickly as possible, and or redeveloped," he said. "(But) those buildings are problematic."

Connor and Woolley plan to keep two buildings, the former Bon Marche and Kaufman's buildings near West Broadway and Charnelton Street. The International Society for Technology in Education has moved into part of the former Bon building, and Woolley said he is hopeful about attracting call center operations to the two buildings.

Prichard said someone from out of town might be interested in redeveloping West Broadway properties someday. "Periodically there are people who come through town and see it through fresh eyes," she said.

Rob Bennett, owner of the Downtown Athletic Club, said Connor-Woolley-Opus wanted to attract a critical mass of merchants that would have changed downtown for the better in a short period of time.

"The problem that we have now is, who's going to be first" with a smaller, financially riskier project, Bennett said. "Let's say you own a building downtown and you have an ingenious idea for a business that can survive all by itself. But that doesn't normally happen."

John Carlson, owner of Shawmed Medical supply, rents space for his store at West Broadway and Charnelton Street from Connor and Woolley. Carlson said he would have been able to lease space in the new development, though he's just fine with his present storefront.

"To a certain degree, it's nice to know we can stay here," Carlson said. "But for the good of the downtown and the other businesses here, it's too bad because they would have really benefited from that increased exposure" to potential customers.