Christian Wihtol

Eugene

Contributor at The Lund Report

Associate Editor, Editorial Department, The Register-Guard, Eugene, OR

Articles

ER in Eugene Again

15 hours ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center’s much-anticipated freestanding emergency department in Eugene will go on a vacant parcel just west of Chambers Street, plans filed with the city show. Many Eugene residents have been awaiting news after the Springfield hospital’s CEO declared eight months ago that McKenzie-Willamette would open an emergency department somewhere in Eugene, without providing specifics. The lack of updates since then led some Eugene residents to fear the project stalled.
Yet Another Student Housing High-rise?!

1 week ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

A Dallas, Texas-based student housing giant is the latest company to target Eugene with a proposed student-housing complex. But it’s too soon to be sure this one will proceed. The Dinerstein Companies, one of the nation’s larger student-housing corporations, is tentatively eyeing the site of the shuttered 66 Motel on East Broadway for an 11-story building — three stories of parking topped by eight stories of student apartments, the company’s filings with the city show.
Polluter’s Dwindling Assets Scrutinized

2 weeks ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

In the last few years, the owners of J.H.Baxter & Co.’s west Eugene wood-creosoting factory seemed destitute. They saved money by not replacing old, broken-down pollution-control equipment for treating the factory’s toxic wastewater. Instead, the company illegally boiled off hundreds of thousands of gallons of the nasty stuff directly into the air, the fumes wafting toward nearby homes in the Bethel neighborhood.
Thieves Looted Royal Caribbean’s Copper

3 weeks ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

In late June 2023, thieves executed a rare and audacious act of copper pillage in Springfield. They broke into the big, vacant former Royal Caribbean call center in Gateway and ripped out copious amounts of heavy-gauge copper electrical system wiring and copper HVAC piping throughout the building, police reports show.
From Printing Presses to Climbing Gym?

4 weeks ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

An elaborate climbing gym is being planned for the long-vacant former The Register-Guard printing press building on Chad Drive in Eugene. The gym would include a first for Lane County’s climbers: an outdoor climbing wall on the exterior of the four-story former press building, preliminary plans submitted to the city show. Old-timers know that as the same wall where an illuminated Santa Claus was hung every winter holiday season when the RG newspaper occupied the building.
Treetops Revisited

1 month ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

As an exec at a private-equity giant, Bill Cornog spent decades learning to avoid bad business propositions. Yet when the University of Oregon put its massive, timeworn Treetops mansion in Eugene up for sale, Cornog jumped at it. Why? Cornog, a very successful 60-year-old businessman, says he loves Eugene and Oregon, and can’t sit by as time wears down the vacant 8,000-square-foot 115-year-old Fairmount-area landmark. From the street, the super-sized craftsman-style Treetops looms impressive.
VA’s Stealth Project

1 month ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

The federal Department of Veterans Affairs plans to build a sizable behavioral health clinic in Eugene for Lane County area vets. But the agency apparently doesn’t want to tell the public — or veterans — about it. Records reviewed by Eugene Weekly show the VA’s chosen developer is already working with city of Eugene planning staff on details for the 20,000-square-foot clinic building to be constructed on Chad Drive in northeast Eugene, next to the existing VA medical center.
Texan Lassos UO’s Treetops Mansion

1 month ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

A Texas-based investment exec has snapped up a controversial old bauble of Eugene real estate. Willam Cornog — a former leader at private-equity giant KKR and a current member of a University of Oregon advisory board — on March 14 bought the Treetops mansion at 2237 Spring Boulevard from the University of Oregon for $2 million, according to the deed. Donated to the UO nearly a century ago, the building in the elite Fairmount neighborhood was fought over for years by the donor’s heirs.
New Owner for 13th and Olive

1 month ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

When an Alabama developer built the labyrinthine 13th & Olive student housing complex in Eugene a decade ago, the place quickly became the butt of jibes. The community did not warmly welcome the first super-sized privately owned student housing complex to be built here. Noise from construction work on the five-story complex drew complaints. When unveiled, the facade proved a stark, bland disappointment.
PeaceHealth Eugene Campus Up for Grabs

2 months ago | eugeneweekly.com | Christian Wihtol

This may be the biggest real estate news to hit Eugene-Springfield in decades. No, we’re not talking about Chick-fil-A opening in Gateway. We’re talking about PeaceHealth’s announcement earlier this week that its sprawling University District campus in Eugene is up for sale, lease, demolition, redevelopment or a mix of all of the above.