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There are many ways to measure success, but Nan Laurence likes to eavesdrop on grocery checkout conversations about downtown Eugene.

Laurence, the city’s senior planner, said she usually hears only positive things.

鈥淭hat shows we’ve turned the corner,鈥� she said.

Laurence said city officials have pumped close to $200 million via development loans and other incentives into downtown revitalization. The result has been something of a renaissance, and the area is overdue for one, she added.

It had one in the 1970s. That’s when city planners closed off streets to cars and bicycles, and pioneered the concept of the downtown pedestrian mall. It worked for awhile, Laurence said. Emissaries from towns as far away as Mason City, Iowa, came to Eugene to study the mall with hopes of emulating it.

By the late ’80s and early ’90s, the dream was dying. The department stores that anchored downtown left to join Valley River Center and other suburban malls. Buildings sat vacant, and downtown became known for vandalism and other petty crimes.

Laurence said planners overlooked an important concept.

鈥淎 street that’s accessible to everyone works better for everyone,鈥� she said.

Willamette Street reopened in 1996 as a north-south thoroughfare serving downtown. Revitalization efforts were sluggish at first, said Laurence, but now they are truly a sight to behold.

Planners started with the old department store building at the corner of Willamette Street and Broadway. It was built in the 1930s and hosted a series of retail outlets until becoming vacant in the ’90s.

鈥淚t was mold and asbestos,鈥� Laurence said.

Renovating the building 鈥� an $11 million project handled by Beam Development of Portland 鈥� literally became the cornerstone of downtown revitalization, she said. The building is smack-dab in the geographic center of downtown Eugene.

鈥淭here were so many problems, so many issues, so many stakeholders,鈥� Laurence said. 鈥淲e decided to start in the absolute middle. The idea is that the ripples from that building would spread throughout downtown. If we started (with) the most important building, it would be a positive catalyst for the development around it.鈥�

The building’s ground floor now features a restaurant and assorted small retailers, while the upper floors hold offices.

鈥淚t was a challenging project,鈥� said Pete Eggspuehler, director of real estate for Beam. 鈥淲e got the project from an RFP (request for proposals) with the city of Eugene. We tried to get historic tax credits, but there wasn’t enough original material left on the building. We also had to do some hazardous material abatement.鈥�

Nonetheless, Eggspuehler said, the project was rewarding.

鈥淚t was great working with Highland Construction, and I don’t know if they usually do this, but the city of Eugene assigned a project team. That was very helpful.鈥�

Laurence said Eggspuehler and the team at Beam should be proud of the new Broadway Commerce Center.

鈥淭he project took an empty pit and built a Class A business complex,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e now have a restaurant that’s just going gangbusters.鈥�

That is the Barn Light. Owner Dustin Kinsey said he and his partner Thomas Pettus-Czar started the restaurant three months ago based on an establishment called the Bourgeois Pig in Lawrence, Kan.

鈥淲e’ve had tremendous success,鈥� Kinsey said. 鈥淲e run the gamut dawn to dusk, ashes to ashes, dust to dust as a coffee shop slash bar slash slingin’-slop-at-you hangout.鈥�

The Barn Light provides the kind of meeting place vital to life in a college town, he said.

鈥淎s important as the product is the environment,鈥� he added. 鈥淣ot that what you are serving the folks is not important, but the environment is as important as anything.鈥�

Laurence and Senior Development Analyst Denny Braud were extremely helpful in streamlining the permitting process and clearing the bureaucratic path for the business, Kinsey said.

鈥淎ll across the board, we’ve had a great experience,鈥� he said.

Braud said the Barn Light is just the beginning. Other new eateries are coming, such as Sizzle Pie of Portland as well as Soubise and Off the Waffle. City planners also would like to see more downtown housing, he added, like the apartments being added above the First National Tap House, an English-style pub.

At least 1,300 University of Oregon students are expected to live in an $89 million housing complex that Capstone Collegiate Communities is developing near downtown. Another complex, Titan Court, is now housing 85 residents.

Another downtown revitalization project is a $55 million Lane Community College expansion. The building, completed this month, boasts a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum rating and a student housing complex with 256 beds.

The Woolworth Building reopened this year after an $11 million restoration by Bennett Management Co. The Inn at Fifth, a new hotel near the Fifth Street Public Market, was built for $11 million. First on Broadway, a $4 million mixed-us complex with 19 apartments and first-floor retail space, is expected to open by the end of the year.

Also, a $3 million, 24-unit residential complex, Park Place Apartments, is expected to open by the end of the year.

The buzz at grocery stores is warranted, Laurence said.

鈥淲e wanted a place that is authentically Eugene but incorporates modern design principles,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have taken a very hands-on, entrepreneurial approach to building our downtown. We work closely with new tenants and welcome new business. We would never have enough money to do the building ourselves. We have to engage the private sector.鈥�