New apartments to rise at Eugene riverfront
Eugene city council Wednesday greenlit a 7-story, 237-unit market-rate riverfront apartment complex, citing a need to increase housing supply. ● “We have a housing shortage in Eugene, and I don’t think that’s any secret to anybody who lives here,” councilor Randy Groves said. “Any housing that we add in to our inventory helps. Whether it be low-income all the way up through market rate.” ● The apartment complex, called the Portal, is located on the block between High and Mill Street between 4th and 5th Avenues and is being built by Portland-based developer Atkins Dame. The developer already has begun construction on the 130-unit east half of the apartment, and got approval from city council to begin the west half. ● The west half of the Portal will include 75 studio, 131 one-bedroom and 31 two-bedroom units as well as commercial space. It is non-student housing, a distinction the city defines because the apartments will be rented by unit instead of by bed. Atkins Dame will be building on eight of the 17 acres of Eugene’s new riverfront neighborhood.
At Atkins Dame’s request, city councilors agreed to adjust two rules that would have otherwise limited the apartment complex: allowing it to include 237 units instead of the previously established 200-unit maximum, and allowing it to be 100 feet tall instead of the previous 70 foot maximum.
They then voted to grant it a tax exemption for multi-family housing, which an analyst told city staff was necessary to make the project financially feasible.
Density increase
In May 2020, city councilors approved a riverfront plan with minimum and maximum sizes of the apartment complexes proposed for the zone. In lot 3A, the west half of the lot where the Portal is being constructed, they established a 200-unit maximum, which they increased for Atkins Dame in an 8-0 vote.
“We need more housing downtown, and this is an increase in downtown housing,” councilor Alan Zelenka said.
“I think there’s lots to like about this project. I really commend Atkins Dame for the work that they’ve done: the plan, the execution so far. It’s really shaping up.”
Height limitation in Eugene
In 1971, following community response to construction of Eugene’s tallest building, the 212-foot Ya-Po-Ah Terrace, city councilors established a height limitation zone for buildings that could potentially block views to and from Skinner Butte, capping them at 70 feet.
In February, citing a need for more housing density, city council voted 4-2 to alter the zone, allowing Obie Companies to construct two 100-foot-tall mixed-use buildings with storefronts and apartments.
Wednesday, city councilors voted 6-2, with the same dissenters, to grant the same allowance to Atkins Dame’s lot. Supporters favored the increased housing units the increased height would allow. Councilors Emily Semple and Matt Keating said they still are concerned about blocking the butte.
“The butte belongs to all of us and not for the convenience of high-end apartments,” Semple said. “I’m concerned that this is a trend and I think that we are not looking at the big enough effects of it.”
Property tax exemption
In 2015, city councilors revamped the Multiple-Unit Property Tax Exemption, a tax break to incentivize denser housing downtown. Projects that apply for the exemption don’t have to pay property taxes for their first 10 years.
In exchange, developers have two options. They can make 30% of units affordable to people earning area median income, ($55,776 per family according to the census) for the 10 years. Or they can pay 10% of the property taxes they would have paid, in this case $1.53 million, to the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which awards affordable housing projects. Atkins Dame chose to pay into the fund.
In a 7-1 vote, councilors approved the exemption application. City staff shared an analysis from PNW Economics, an independent real estate economics firm, saying that without the tax exemption the project would not pencil out.
Some councilors said that analysis was what decided their vote. “I realize that this MUPTE is necessary to go forward, and I will vote for it,” Semple said.
Others voiced broader support for the exemption system, and said it was a way for the city to encourage housing development at all levels. “Different developers, different contractors, specialize in different strata of the market,” Groves said. “It makes sense to take advantage of that. We have a lot of good low-income housing providers and (MUPTE creates) a fund that we can direct towards that.”
The one no vote came from councilor Alan Zelenka, who usually votes against MUPTE applications. “I don’t like MUPTE as a tool,” Zelenka said in 2022. “If MUPTE is available, people will apply for it and they will probably get it, regardless of if it’s needed or not.”