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Urban Renewal Agency approves RFQ process to seek developer for North Butterfly Lot near Farmers Market
Summary
On April 9 the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency approved (8-0) a two-phase RFQ/proposal disposition process for the North Butterfly Lot (Oak and Seventh) to pursue high-density mixed-use housing as part of the downtown core housing initiative; staff will launch an RFQ in May and return in the fall with a recommended team.
Anne Fifield, the community development division's economic development manager, and Eric Brown, downtown manager, presented the agency with a recommended two-phase property disposition process on April 9 for the North Butterfly Lot, a half-acre gravel parking site north of the Farmers Market Pavilion at Oak and Seventh.
Fifield described the downtown core housing initiative as a three-pronged strategy that already includes downtown fee assistance (covering SDCs and permit fees for eligible projects) and an accelerated MUFDI property tax exemption that offers a 10-year exemption on taxable value associated with new construction while retaining public-benefit criteria. The third prong is property acquisition and disposition; the agency was asked to approve an RFQ-based process to identify a qualified development team and then work with that team to develop a site-specific proposal.
Brown said the Farmers Market Pavilion has been a catalytic downtown investment, attracting nearly 300,000 visitors to the site in 2024, and that filling the gap at the North Butterfly Lot could increase pedestrian connectivity between the Market District and riverfront neighborhoods. He described a two-phase approach: an RFQ focused on team qualifications (to encourage a broader pool of respondents and avoid early, infeasible promises) followed by a proposal-development phase for the top-ranked team to refine unit counts, ground-floor uses, affordability levels, green-building measures and budget/deal points.
Agency members asked practical questions about community engagement, evaluation criteria and project feasibility. Amanda D'Souza, development programs manager, said the scoring criterion on use of minority- and women-owned businesses is evaluated by demonstrated past use: "it's evaluating that they've demonstrated past use of minority women business," she said. Staff said community interest sessions will be mainly informational with opportunities for feedback; the agency will set RFQ criteria and staff can integrate strong community input into later proposal-phase negotiations.
Councilors raised construction and financing concerns. Staff confirmed the urban renewal district could offer financing tools such as a construction loan program and said no specific agency contribution to a project has yet been identified; Anne Fifield noted the agency currently has about $3.5 million in available downtown urban renewal funds to deploy, and that further financial commitments would be decided during the proposal and negotiation phase. Staff also noted typical development tools and standard contractual remedies (development agreements with performance milestones and clawback provisions) would be used to ensure projects advance to construction or allow the agency to revisit alternatives.
The Urban Renewal Agency voted 8-0 to use the RFQ process and criteria generally consistent with the staff attachment; staff described a tentative timeline to launch the RFQ in May, review submissions in late summer and return with a recommended team in the fall of 2025. Community engagement sessions will be scheduled before RFQ launch to inform stakeholders.
