Press Room

March 06, 2007

Randi Bjornstad for The Register Guard

Interest builds for housing development

If 500 people coming through the door during a three-hour open house is any indication, home buyers in the Eugene-Springfield area may be signalling their interest in the sophisticated "urban village" way of life unfolding in northeast Eugene’s Crescent Village.

"It was absolutely nonstop," said Todd Bardwell of Oregon Estates, co-developer with his wife, Jill, of 64 town homes and row houses along the eastern edge of the 40-acre project. "Lots of times, when you have an open house, you’re lucky to have 10 people show up in an afternoon."

Visitors during Saturday’s open house "were really mixed, from families to single baby boomers," Bardwell said. "They’re interested in a no-maintenance urban lifestyle, and the huge draw of having a ‘town center’ right next to them. They like the idea of being able to walk somewhere nearby for a cup of coffee or to go to a restaurant."

The adjacent town center, which is being developed by Arlie & Company, features four buildings with retail businesses on the first floor and apartments or office space on the three floors above.

Bardwell and fellow builder Chad Ruhoff plan to have five of their three-story town homes finished in two months, with a 15 ready three months from now. The 40 units of freestanding town homes will come first, with 24 units of tandem row houses across the street to follow. Bardwell said the last of the homes should be finished by mid-2008. Prices for the row houses have not been set.

The town homes range from 2,260 square feet to 2,700 square feet on 4,000 square-foot lots and sell for $485,000 to $550,000, depending on which of the eight floor plans and various upgrades - which include an elevator built into space otherwise occupied by pantries or closets on each level - that buyers want.

Despite a price tag of about $35,000, the elevator is proving to be a popular option, Bardwell said. "Some people want it because it’s a neat feature, and some because they either need it now or think they will need it in the future," he said. For both reasons, the elevator clinched the deal for Blue River residents Chuck and Joan Parker, who have signed a purchase agreement for one of the upscale town homes.

"We’re thinking about what happens as we grow older, but we also like the idea of being able to come in through the garage on the ground floor and take groceries up to the kitchen in the elevator," Joan Parker said. "It’s expensive, but it’s worth it - we won’t have to worry about the future."

While the for-sale units will be high-end - Bardwell has described them as "urban metropolitan design with a ‘cool’ factor" - the rental units in Arlie’s town center will be a bit more affordable, says Sadie Dressekie, marketing director for Arlie & Company.

Studio apartments will run $600 per month, with one-, two- and three-bedroom units going up from there. A two-bedroom, two-bath apartment will rent for about $1,200 per month, with a three-bedroom penthouse topping out at about $2,000, Dressekie said.

The first retail-residential building, with 18,000 square feet of retail space and 51 apartments above, will be ready in September, with a second, similar building finished two months later.

Dressekie said she "can’t mention names," but Arlie has commitments so far for "a coffee shop, a small day-care center, day spa, pan-Asian restaurant, lunch-style restaurant and a fine dining restaurant."

In addition, "we have signed up a wine bar/wine shop, a pizza place and a dessert place," she said. "We have about 50 to 60 percent of all the retail in the town center committed already, and about 75 percent of the spaces in the office building." The company is still negotiating with a grocery store to occupy about 50,000 square feet of space in the town center, she said.

While buildings in the whole Crescent Village project will be as "green" as possible, emphasizing energy efficiency and sustainability in the materials they use, Dressekie said, construction of the office building will go a step further, in pursuit of a gold-level LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.