Westmoreland delay urged.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

Five area legislators are calling on University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer to stop or at least slow the possible sale of the Westmoreland student housing complex, but that hasn't persuaded Frohnmay- er to change course on a decision he says is vital to the UO's future.

The local lawmakers say they will oppose the sale until the university provides more information and opportunity for public discussion. The University Senate also opposes selling the 404-unit apartment complex, saying Frohnmayer should go back to square one and give them a chance to be a part of the decision-making process. Several student groups have said the same.

But Frohnmayer said retreat is not an option. He said there is an urgent need to raise capital to update the university's aging and out-of-date dormitories and construct new housing, and he said the Westmoreland property is too distant and getting too old to serve the university's needs.

But perhaps just as important to the UO president is being able to raise the money to buy some key properties in the east campus area - the top priorities being the former Romania car lot and a vacant highway department office - which he considers essential to the university's future. The car lot already has been purchased by the UO Foundation and the other parcel is owned by the state, but Frohnmayer said it's crucial to bring them under university ownership to take advantage of the development potential in the area.

With the $15 million to $18 million the Westmoreland sale is expected to bring, the university could buy the lots and pursue mixed-use developments that in turn would generate profits that would come back to the university and be used to renovate and expand existing student housing. Retiring UO Provost John Moseley recently told the University Senate that the administration wants to increase the amount of university housing by 15 percent within the next 10 years.

But for that to happen, Frohnmayer said, the university can't afford a long debate over the proposed sale.

"This is property that only comes on the market once in a generation, maybe once in a century," he said. "If it's gone, it's really gone. That people can't see the strategic urgency of moving to preserve the university's possibilities for the future is very disappointing."

Lacking details

Legislators see it differently. Reps. Phil Barnhart and Bob Ackerman and Sens. Floyd Prozanski, Bill Morrisette and Vicki Walker wonder what's the rush. Before the university turns out the more than 500 tenants living in Westmoreland, it should give the plan a full public airing, provide more details - especially on its plans to help displaced students - and consider alternatives for raising needed money, they say.

"I have a lot of reservations on them moving forward on any type of proposal for selling student housing without some type of grand plan on how they're going to replace it and maintain adequate, low-cost housing for students," Prozanski said. "At this point I've told the university they should not be moving forward until they have demonstrated those needs can be met."

Student groups and tenants have said the same thing. The university still has not presented any details on how it will help those displaced by a sale, they say, and Ackerman and other legislators say plans on how the sale proceeds will be spent are just as lacking.

But it's too soon to make detailed plans, Frohnmayer replies, because he doesn't know how much the university might get for the complex and whether the new owner will keep it as lower-cost housing available to students. He said those two factors will shape both the mitigation plan for tenants and the investment of the proceeds.

"Right now we don't even have a sale proposal, so we caution everyone against jumping the gun," Frohnmayer said. "As soon as we have a better idea of what the market will bring, then we will have the mitigation plan we can bring to the (higher education) board that I think will make everyone understand that this can be a proposition that's winning for everybody."

Go slow

Nevertheless, Ackerman has been sharing information on the proposal with other legislators and hopes they will join him in opposing the sale before the state Board of Higher Education. In addition to the lack of planning, he said, it doesn't appear the UO has considered other options for raising the money needed to buy east campus land or to renovate the existing dormitories.

Private fundraising, state bonds repaid through a small increase in student rent or using the $200,000 a year Westmoreland brings in over expenses are some of Ackerman's ideas. Prozanski said the university should consider selling its Riverfront Research Park property on the Willamette River for a hospital site and use the proceeds to meet housing and growth needs.

"I don't see any reason why there's the rush to judgment to sell Westmoreland when there's other viable alternatives out there for them to come up with basically the same result," Ackerman said.

But Frohnmayer said all other viable ideas for raising the needed money have been raised and discarded. None provide the ready cash as well as the ability to leverage additional funds that would come from Westmoreland's sale, he said.

"The strategic acquisitions of the property that we need for the university's development in the next century is simply not available without a plan such as this," he said. Westmoreland gets more expensive to operate every year and doesn't produce "anything like the cash flow necessary to be current and competitive and serve our students well."

Barnhart, whose father ran the university housing office for 30 years and is the namesake of Barnhart Hall, counters that the UO owes the campus and the larger community the benefit of a public discussion before completing a sale.

"When the university is looking at a decision as significant as this one, I think that they need to do what Eugene really does best, and that is to involve the community in the conversation about what to do," he said. "You end up with better decisions that way."

Talk is expensive

Frohnmayer, though, is afraid that such a conversation would simply amount to talking the idea to death.

"This is a heavily process-oriented community, but a lot of times process means don't do it," he said. "Those are false colors if people are flying under that. If more conversation means you can't do it or don't do it or I disagree with you, then those voices have been heard already and heard in great abundance."

Frohnmayer also admitted that he's a little irked at being second-guessed on the Westmoreland decision. Given that the state provides only about 15 percent of the UO's budget and that legislators for years have been telling universities to find ways to do more with less, he said, it's a bit exasperating to face criticism for doing just that.

"We are told to operate with dispatch, with speed, with efficiency, to make do with fewer resources by making it up in productivity and efficiency," he said. "If people then say, but don't do the options that make sense in the long run without talking about it for two or three years, there's a certain irony and disappointment to hear that."

Despite the criticism, Frohnmayer said he remains convinced that the sale not only is a good move but also a necessary one, not only to take advantage of what the real estate market is offering now but also to make long-needed improvements in housing that if ignored much longer will leave the campus unattractive to new generations of students.

"By the time it's a crisis and affects enrollment then it really has huge financial consequences in a negative way, and I think the go-slow folks have given that way inadequate consideration," he said. "I don't intend to wait until the crisis is on top of us."

CAPTION(S):

Kevin Clark / The Register-Guard A child's toy sits outside the University of Oregon's Westmoreland student housing complex. `If more conversation means you can't do it or don't do it or I disagree with you, then those voices have been heard already and heard in great abundance.' DAVE FROHNMAYER UO PRESIDENT