QuickTake:

Terms of the deal stayed under wraps. The two buildings' combined estimated market value is $21 million. Bushnell University plans to use the space to expand its nursing school and other health care programs.

Bushnell University has finalized its purchase of two former PeaceHealth buildings at the University District campus — a combined 125,000 square feet the university will use to expand its health profession programs.

The sale, inked Oct. 21, includes two buildings on 11th Avenue between Alder and Hilyard streets: an 88,000-square-foot building at 770 E. 11th Ave., which currently houses PeaceHealth’s behavioral health unit, and a 36,000-square-foot building at 722 E. 11th Ave.

Bushnell and PeaceHealth both declined to disclose the sale price.

Records show that PeaceHealth transferred the property using a special warranty deed that lists the consideration as “$1 and other good and valuable consideration,” a standard legal placeholder that does not reflect the actual sale price.

PeaceHealth Communications Manager Jim Murez said a nondisclosure agreement covers the terms of the purchase, including the price.

​​Property records show the two buildings had a combined 2025 real market value of roughly $21 million — nearly $13 million for 770 E. 11th Ave. and $8 million for 722 E. 11th Ave.

“PeaceHealth and Bushnell University came to a favorable agreement on the purchase of the properties,” Bushnell Director of Development Corynn Gilbert said. “The two organizations look forward to achieving the shared goal of serving our community’s future health care needs.”

Bushnell also purchased the small parking lot on the corner of Hilyard Street and East 11th Avenue. Bushnell announced plans to purchase the properties in August and aimed to close the deal by the end of September. 

The properties are only part of the 12.53-acre University District site that PeaceHealth put up for sale in March.

PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center, University District closed its emergency department in December 2023, citing underuse and financial losses. The move left Eugene without a hospital, with many patients and providers shifting to PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, in Springfield.

Bushnell will move into the third and fourth floors of 770 E. 11th Ave. “over the coming months,” according to a news release.

The university will continue leasing the first and second floors back to PeaceHealth so the health system can maintain services before relocating to the new Timber Springs behavioral health facility near the RiverBend hospital within three years, Gilbert said.

“We will be good neighbors and make sure that they have a new home to move into before we take that back over,” Gilbert said.

At 722 E. 11th Ave., Bushnell will expand into the first and third floors; the second floor already houses the university’s nursing school.

Keeping graduates close

Gilbert said students will begin using the new building spaces no earlier than fall 2026. Bushnell plans to repurpose and reconfigure the two buildings — which already contain medical offices and lab space — but does not anticipate major operational changes before moving in, she said. 

“We literally just got keys,” she said. “So we’re like, ‘Oh, I wonder what’s in this closet?’”

Gilbert described the purchase as a “homecoming,” noting that Bushnell was the first to establish a hospital on the site.

After founding the private Christian university in 1895, its founder opened Pacific Christian Hospital across the street in 1924.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, the precursor to PeaceHealth, bought the struggling hospital in 1936 and renamed it Sacred Heart General Hospital, which eventually became known as PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center, University District.

The acquisition opens room for Bushnell to grow its College of Health Professions, beginning with an expansion of its School of Nursing and later adding new academic offerings. 

The university aims to train more of the region’s future health care workforce and keep graduates in Eugene, as Lane County faces shortages of primary care and mental health providers.

“We want to grow our own in this community,” Gilbert said.

The university is eyeing new programs for training mid-level providers, like nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants; behavioral health professionals like interventionists, therapists and counselors; as well as public health and social workers. 

“We’ll be working with legislators, with Lane County Public Health, with different stakeholders,” Gilbert said. “They look around and say, ‘These are our biggest areas of crisis,’ and then we look to the demand among students and find that alignment.”

Gilbert said fundraising for the full development of those programs will be part of Bushnell’s next capital campaign. The campaign is still in its early stages, she said, but the university has already received interest from key community stakeholders.

“We’re very optimistic about the community rallying around us to realize the hopes and possibilities of this growth and of this expansion,” she said.

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Grace Chinowsky graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in journalism. She served as editor-in-chief of the university’s independent student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, and interned at CNN and MSNBC. Grace covers Eugene’s city government and the University of Oregon.