Christian Wihtol

1 day 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.

1 week 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.

2 weeks 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.

3 weeks 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.

4 weeks 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.