QuickTake:

A Georgia-based firm has contacted Eugene city planning officials about potential plans to build a five-story residential project with more than 500 units. Its location is within the PeaceHealth property up for sale in the Eugene’s University District.

A portion of PeaceHealth’s property up for sale in Eugene’s University District may turn into a five-story residential development, according to public records filed with the city by a Georgia-based firm with a history of developing off-campus housing projects. 

Landmark Properties of Athens, Georgia, filed an application for a consultation meeting with city planning officials, which happened July 16. That’s an initial step that entities can take to get more information and ask questions before filing building permit applications. 

The documents, obtained by Lookout Eugene-Springfield through a public records request, detail a two-phase project on the site of the former PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center, University District, on 13th Avenue just a block west of the University of Oregon campus.

The first phase would consist of a five-story, approximately 359,000-square-foot building with about 261 units on 2.6 acres at the southern end of the site. The second phase, also a five-story building, would have an estimated 265 units in a 382,875-square-foot structure on 3.28 acres on the northern end of the site.

The project would be built on nearly 5.9 acres in all. The concept site plan filed with the city places the project at 791 E. 13th Ave. along the north side of 13th Avenue between Hilyard and Alder streets.

In its filing, the company said it anticipates submitting a demolition and foundation permit in February 2026 for the first phase, with a building permit submitted the next month. 

Those timelines are fluid. Amber Allan, a spokesperson for the city, said project consultation meetings allow companies to determine if a project is feasible. 

There’s no deadline after a project consultation. The company hasn’t filed any applications for building permits, which triggers deadlines, Allan said.

Landmark Properties, a real estate firm that develops residential properties, says on its website that it first developed and managed off-campus housing communities and has since expanded and provides single-family and traditional multifamily housing development, whether for college students or others.

“We’re excited by the opportunity to revitalize a portion of the PeaceHealth University District hospital campus site, envisioning a vibrant community hub for both students and the West University neighborhood,” Landmark Properties said in a statement. “Our plans feature high-quality housing integrated with an activated, welcoming streetscape designed to enhance the neighborhood feel for everyone. The former PeaceHealth campus will comprise a variety of uses including offices, structured parking, and residential. Our contribution to this mix will largely focus on residential.”

Landmark Properties already has experience with Oregon projects. The company’s website lists three Oregon properties built since 2015: The Standard at Eugene, a 703-bed off-campus student housing community, and two projects in Corvallis for Oregon State University students.

The company’s proposal only encompasses a portion of the area PeaceHealth has put up for sale. 

The PeaceHealth property for sale encompasses 1.2 million square feet of building space spread across 12.53 acres in several buildings and parking garages, according to its listing. The firm handling the sale is accepting bids for part or all of the property. 

PeaceHealth said negotiations are continuing for the entire site. 

“PeaceHealth is still negotiating with multiple interested parties regarding the University District property,” a spokesperson for PeaceHealth said in a statement. “We are excited about the potential redevelopment opportunities for an important piece of land in the core of Eugene.”

In March, PeaceHealth announced it was putting its University District property up for sale. PeaceHealth built Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield in 2008 and moved most of its services there, with an eye toward turning that site into a regional health care hub that includes a rehabilitation hospital and a psychiatric hospital. 

PeaceHealth closed its emergency department at University District in December 2023, though the hospital’s behavioral health unit and other clinics will remain at the University District site.

PeaceHealth has said that after the sale, it plans to lease back the space it uses for behavioral health care and other clinics that remain there.

PeaceHealth also broke ground in March on an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Springfield with the area’s first traumatic brain injury unit.  

PeaceHealth — based in Vancouver, Washington — is a nonprofit Catholic health care provider with a footprint that includes Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

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Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.