Gilham Road development makes headway.

Byline: REAL ESTATE By Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

It's been a little like doing a jigsaw puzzle, but Eugene builder Tom Walter believes the final pieces for his latest development - 17 units of upscale housing at the north end of Gilham Road in north Eugene - will be in place soon.

Plans for Alder Creek Estates - complicated by multiple ownerships and a creek running through the property - have taken several years to work out, Walter said.

Walter owns 9 acres of a nearly 13-acre plot of land fronting on Gilham Road and already surrounded on the north, west and south by the River Pointe housing development.

But his 9 acres are divided into two long, skinny east-west parcels at the north and south ends of the land, with a similar piece owned by the Adkins family - longtime builders in the Eugene-Springfield area - sandwiched between.

"Long narrow slivers are about all that's left in this part of town," Walter said. "So we've been working together with the Adkins (family) for several years to get it right."

In the end, the three pieces probably will be developed from a common plan, he said. He'll probably have a total of 29 units on his two pieces - 17 homes on the first and 12 on the second - with another dozen or so in between built by the Adkins' construction firm.

Elena Adkins, whose husband, Mark, owns Mark Adkins Legacy Homes, said the necessity to work jointly on the design for the land has gone smoothly and made the plans for the developments better.

"We're working with the engineers now, and there have been some wetlands areas that have to be figured out," Adkins said. "There's a drainage channel that has to be worked around, and we're talking about adjusting the lot lines between our properties" to make better design sense.

At least a half-acre will be dedicated to preserving the existing channel and wetland trees, of which there will be at least 70, Walter said.

He plans to begin street work into the south end of the development within the next couple weeks.

"It will mean moving a lot of dirt, and that's difficult to do in winter, but we need lots desperately," he said.

Besides this project and Turnberry Court off Oakway Road in Eugene, Walter said he has a contract on some land in Eugene's South Hills and is negotiating for some property in the east Springfield hills.

Similar to the large homes in the adjacent River Pointe, houses in the new Alder Creek Estates development will range in square feet from 3,000 to 4,000 and will be priced at $500,000 and up, he said.

Real Estate Report runs Tuesdays. Reporter Randi Bjornstad can be reached at 338-2321 or rbjornstad@ guardnet.com.