Originally a Montgomery Ward, the 80-year old building served as LCC’s downtown campus until the college moved into its new building in 2013.
The City of Eugene purchased it with HUD money earlier this year. Business Development Analyst Amanda D’Souza said the federal funds require at least 51% of the units be affordable for households earning 80% of area median income, around $44,000.
“As you know, there’s overall a housing shortage across the community but these households earning 60-80% AMI don’t have a lot of options.” D’ Souza said.
“They don’t qualify for the typical affordable housing and they can’t afford market rate housing.”
D’Souza said the project will help beleaguered downtown Eugene, which has suffered with the pandemic economic downturn.
The request for proposals is open through February 2nd.