Looking at the Calapooia Commons construction from the corner of Washington and Fourth on Jan. 6, 2025.
Chilly weather this January has not stopped builder Mark Siegner and his carpenters from putting the third floor on the first of the two buildings of Calapooia Commons.
This mixed-use commercial and residential project is rising on the northeast corner of Calapooia Street and Fourth Avenue.
The site is on one of my regular bike routes, and I took these photos on Jan. 13. By Friday, the 17th, the builders were nailing down sheeting on the roof of the first building.
Two buildings are going up. Each will have commercial space on the ground floor and four apartments on floors 2 an 3. When I briefly chatted with Siegner at the building site a few weeks ago, I understood him to say that some code regulation also required installation of a living unit on the ground floor of each.
The vertical part of construction started last October, and at the time I refreshed readers’ memory of this project’s history by repeating something I had written in 2023:
“In the making since 2018 and located in the Monteith Historic District, the project generated opposition among advocates of historic preservation because it replaces three historic but severely dilapidated houses. Before they were eventually demolished, the city had condemned the houses as dangerous and uninhabitable.”
The controversy is in the past but maybe not completely forgotten.
The Calapooia Commons project was designed by Albany architect Bill Ryals and, when first proposed, was rejected by the Albany Landmarks Commission. (On appeal, the city council overturned the Landmarks decision in 2020.)
Now Ryals is a member of the Landmarks Commission, having been appointed by Councilwoman Matilda Novak.
Newly elected Councilman Michael Thomson, who succeeds Novak in Ward 1, is removing Ryals from the commission and replacing him with Jim Hansen, a retired TSA agent at the Eugene Airport who lives in a historic house in the Monteith District.
Councilors are entitled to make their own choices for these volunteer jobs on city commissions, even on Landmarks, which often acts in a quasi-judicial role.
But applicants for Landmarks permission to make exterior changes on their homes will miss Ryals’ expertise in historic restoration and his reasonable approach. (hh)
Checking on progress at Calapooia Commons
Looking at the Calapooia Commons construction from the corner of Washington and Fourth on Jan. 6, 2025.
Chilly weather this January has not stopped builder Mark Siegner and his carpenters from putting the third floor on the first of the two buildings of Calapooia Commons.
This mixed-use commercial and residential project is rising on the northeast corner of Calapooia Street and Fourth Avenue.
The site is on one of my regular bike routes, and I took these photos on Jan. 13. By Friday, the 17th, the builders were nailing down sheeting on the roof of the first building.
Two buildings are going up. Each will have commercial space on the ground floor and four apartments on floors 2 an 3. When I briefly chatted with Siegner at the building site a few weeks ago, I understood him to say that some code regulation also required installation of a living unit on the ground floor of each.
The vertical part of construction started last October, and at the time I refreshed readers’ memory of this project’s history by repeating something I had written in 2023:
“In the making since 2018 and located in the Monteith Historic District, the project generated opposition among advocates of historic preservation because it replaces three historic but severely dilapidated houses. Before they were eventually demolished, the city had condemned the houses as dangerous and uninhabitable.”
The controversy is in the past but maybe not completely forgotten.
The Calapooia Commons project was designed by Albany architect Bill Ryals and, when first proposed, was rejected by the Albany Landmarks Commission. (On appeal, the city council overturned the Landmarks decision in 2020.)
Now Ryals is a member of the Landmarks Commission, having been appointed by Councilwoman Matilda Novak.
Newly elected Councilman Michael Thomson, who succeeds Novak in Ward 1, is removing Ryals from the commission and replacing him with Jim Hansen, a retired TSA agent at the Eugene Airport who lives in a historic house in the Monteith District.
Councilors are entitled to make their own choices for these volunteer jobs on city commissions, even on Landmarks, which often acts in a quasi-judicial role.
But applicants for Landmarks permission to make exterior changes on their homes will miss Ryals’ expertise in historic restoration and his reasonable approach. (hh)
Tags: Bill Ryals, Calapooia Commons, Landmarks Commission, Mark Siegner, Monteith Historic District