Big changes are coming to the area just west of the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. They include taller buildings and more student housing. Here’s a look at one project that may help energize the neighborhood.
At the corner of 13th Avenue and Kincaid Street, the U of O Duck store, also known as the bookstore, is a longtime center for student life.
“The Bookstore has been an anchor there for 100 years, they’ve been on that site,”said Mark Miksis with deChase Miksis. “And that’s really one of the key services that’s is provided to students on campus.”
Mark Miksis is a UO graduate. His firm is developing a new building just west of the Duck Store.
“Where the Mac Store is and then there’s a series of smaller retailers along that block,” he said. “That is where the new building will go. And that building will have ground floor retail, really working to reinvigorate the commercial activity along 13th.”
Miksis said the upper floors will be student housing. He says they’re still gathering information to determine the amount of housing and size of the building.
Arlyn Schaufler is CEO of the Duck Store. He said their board has wanted to develop the property for some time. They warned tenants that change was coming.
“We kind of kept them in the loop on a lot of it but not particulars,” he said.
Since they announced the plans publicly, Schaufler said they’re helping businesses like Caspian Café, which will be displaced by the project.
“So we have a retail broker, working with her to try to relocate her during construction,” he said. “So that she, you know. We all love our Caspian you know. Miss that cheeseburger meal.”
Schaufler said he hopes Caspian can return once the new building is finished. For the student housing, Mark Miksis said he wants to know what students need, especially after the changes that have come with the pandemic.
He said there will be a big appeal to the location so close to campus.
“Our amenities will be at the street level,” Miksis said. “Just being able to walk downstairs or go to the bookstore and get your supplies or just something to eat at a restaurant. We have a lot of built in amenities right there on 13th avenue.”
There’s a lot of student housing in the works in a town that’s already seen a lot of new apartment buildings go up in recent years. But putting the housing close-in appeals to UO city and regional planning professor Marc Schlossberg. He likes to see an investment in this neighborhood that is a walkable, bikeable part of town.
“The University of Oregon is a 40 thousand person mini city of students, faculty, and staff,” he said. “And it makes a lot of sense to have housing and restaurants and other commercial services immediately adjacent to the campus.”
Schlossberg said he’s long felt this block of 13th near campus is less vital and interesting than it should be.
“So, I’m pretty excited,” he said. “We obviously need more housing for students. The university continues to want to grow its undergraduate numbers.”
The University is more and more reliant on enrollment for funding, Schlossberg explained. Having students live adjacent to campus means less reliance on cars for transportation.
“I also think that having the redevelopment happen here might be able to create a nice amenity for the larger community,” Schlossberg said.
Duck Store CEO Arlyn Schaufler said they’ve talked about bringing back what was called “the beach” in front of the Duck store, where students would bask in the sunshine with a beverage.
“Mid to late 80s, that was kind of a better place to hang out than the EMU, believe it or not,” he said. “The EMU’s obviously renovated now. But one of the concepts we talked about was recreating the beach.”
Developer Mark Miksis remembers “the Beach” too.
“There’s all this history and legacy around the Duck Store and we really want to be conscious of that and amplify that and move that into the future,” he said. “So, to the degree that we can build on that, I think that’s one of our key objectives to the project.”
Construction is expected to start later this year. There are also student housing projects planned across the street at the site of shuttered Taylor’s Bar and Grill, and a block west where the 7-Eleven and Glenwood will be torn down soon.
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