Developers push harder for downtown property.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

The developers who want to renovate the heart of downtown Eugene launched a public relations offensive Tuesday, calling on city leaders and residents to help them acquire land they want for their project.

Eugene property owners Don Woolley and Tom Connor Jr. and their Portland-based developer met with reporters Tuesday to talk about their proposed $165 million development on 2 1/4 blocks of Broadway between Willamette and Charnelton streets.

They said they hope that public opinion will persuade key Broadway area property owners to sell their properties for the proposed shopping, housing, office and entertainment development.

And an executive with the development firm Opus Northwest said the sales commitments will have to be reached in the next few weeks or else his firm is likely to look for a project in another city.

"I just can't sit around here forever hoping and wishing that this thing is going to happen," said John Bartel, vice president and general manager of Opus Northwest. "We have an obligation to our company to put its resources to work. And if we can't put them to work in Eugene, we'll put them to work somewhere else."

The Connor and Woolley families own seven out of 23 properties, or about 40 percent of the acreage, for the proposed project on Broadway. Most of the space in their buildings is vacant.

Bartel and the Connor and Woolley families have tried to buy an adjoining 16 properties controlled by 12 different owners. Most of those properties have tenants. So far, the developers have been unable to reach accords with the vast majority of their neighboring property owners.

In December, the developers asked the city to acquire those properties and to sell the buildings and land to them at cost. That request raised the possibility of the city ultimately condemning private property, which drew criticism.

Last week, the developers sought to quell the controversy by telling city officials they did not want the city to condemn properties on their behalf.

On Tuesday, Bartel, Woolley and Connor Jr., the son of Woolley's longtime partner, Tom Connor, said the idea for the city to get involved came from city officials.

Bartel and the Connors and Woolley had been working on the project since early last year.

By fall, the developers still had not reached sales agreements for properties that they wanted to use for their development.

Those properties included the former Cafe Paradiso building, owned by Betty Snowden, and the variety stores on West Broadway owned by Lazar Makyadath.

"We were ready to give up until the city stepped in and said, `Let us see if we could help,' ' Bartel said.

City officials said, ` `If (property owners) won't sell to you, maybe they will sell to us,' ' he added.

Bartel said the developers want to acquire all the adjoining properties, not just some or most of them.

The development's design calls for buildings with storefronts and other commercial space on the first floors and housing on the upper floors, he said. "Take a slice out of that, and how is that going to work?" Bartel said.

Tom Connor Jr. said his real estate agent will meet with some of the property owners in the next week or so. City officials are to meet with other owners, he said.

Makyadath, owner of Lazar's Bazar, on Tuesday said he is supposed to have a meeting on Feb. 23, presumably with someone from the city.

Recently, Makyadath said he wanted $2 million for his properties. Last week, he said he wanted $2.5 million, but that he would donate $1 million of that to "the community."

On Tuesday, he declined to say what his current price would be. When he meets with either city officials or the developers' representatives next week, "what they have to offer is what I will be listening to," he said.

The developers said they hope that public opinion from residents and other downtown property owners will persuade the property owners to sell.

Russ Brink, executive director of Downtown Eugene Inc., a group representing downtown business and property owners, said the redevelopment is an opportunity for current landowners to get a good price for their holdings.

"At some point, the property owners will have to decide whether they want to maximize the value of their property as it currently is, or are they going to be looking at another 10 years of the existing situation?" he said.

If they sell, the property owners can use the profits to buy other downtown properties, Brink said.

Mayor Kitty Piercy said she is encouraging the developers to meet with the property owners "to give them the time to express their concerns and wishes, (and) to see where opportunities lie. For some, that conversation is a matter of respect. And respect ranks right up there with the most important ingredients of coming to an agreement. I think that is very important in getting to the win-win."

Rob Bennett, the owner of the Downtown Athletic Club on Willamette Street, said he hopes that the developers make generous offers to the property owners. Bennett does not own property in the footprint of the proposed redevelopment.

The redevelopment is needed to rejuvenate that part of Broadway, Bennett said. "In a project like this, the property owners have a chance to get the maximum reasonable value," he said.

The developers "are anxious to get these properties, and if they don't do the project, then we are back to square one," Bennett said.