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By Hannarose McGuinness
Eugene Register-Guard

A project to turn the former Lane Community College building on Willamette Street into a mixed-use affordable housing project got a big infusion of funding from Eugene’s Urban Renewal Agency Board.

The Eugene City Council approved an additional $8.66 million in funding during a council work session on June 22.

The development includes construction of a six-story, mixed-use, mixed-income building near the downtown Lane Transit District bus station. The building would have 133 apartments, with 68 of those units affordable to households earning up to 80 percent of the Area Median Income, or about $55,000 in annual income for a single person. The other 65 units would be market rate with no income limits.

The building also would include ground-floor commercial space, a public gallery and mural, and help activate a downtown block that has been empty for more than a decade.

The project at 1059 Willamette St. has been stalled due to a funding gap the additional dollars are intended to close. According to a news release, the City and Downtown Urban Renewal District will invest $10.5 million in the project to cover early costs such as permits and system fees and to offset construction costs affected by rising prices and high interest rates.

The City also has supported the project by selling the land to developers for $1 and granting a 10-year property tax exemption through the City’s Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemption, or MUPTE, program.

At the June 22 work session, Mayor Kaarin Knudson said city officials have long wanted to see more city-center workforce housing that is dense, transit-oriented and developed in partnership with local teams to meet the community’s goals. She said, 鈥滻t is incredibly exciting to see this project moving forward as an example.”

Funding comes from tax-increment financing, a method of freezing property tax rates in specific areas in order to reinvest additional revenues into improvement projects in that district.

The total project is expected to cost about $38.7 million.

The city is partnering with developers deChase Miksis and Edlen & Company for this project.

Within the next three months, the city must transfer the property to developers. Construction is expected to begin soon after the transfer is finalized.