QuickTake:

The downtown building is being turned into a youth baseball academy. The Springfield Economic Development Agency is also considering a funding request from the group developing the historic Mill Street School into apartments. 

Springfield’s urban renewal board discussed requests from two developers for financial assistance for projects downtown during a meeting Monday, Nov. 9.

The Springfield Economic Development Agency also heard from the director of Adventure! Children’s Museum in Eugene, which is eyeing the Springfield Motors building as a possible new location.

Renovations for Drifters Baseball Academy

The board approved $277,000 in urban renewal funds for Memorial Building remodeling. The board’s decision was a partial approval of the $348,000 requested by Ike Olsson, an owner of the Drifters Baseball Club who purchased the building from the economic development agency last year.

Olsson and Drifters co-owner Kelly Richardson are renovating the historic Memorial Building, which was previously a Willamalane community center, into a youth baseball academy. Olsson requested the funds for installation of a trash enclosure and riser building (a riser is a vertical pathway between floors), parking lot improvements and a new HVAC system.

The board, which is made up of the City Council and the Lane County commissioner for Springfield, opted not to fund the HVAC, noting they sold the building “as is.”

Funding for historic schoolhouse

The board also considered a request from the group remodeling the historic Mill Street School into apartments, which asked for $550,000 for window restoration and elevator repair, which were damaged by vandalism.

Springfield Economic Development Manager Allie Camp said the developer has spent money to remedy the vandalism.

“Those dollars would have otherwise been spent on the project,” she said. “The dollars requested from SEDA can complete the needs of the project. The needs of the project have been identified as finishes to amplify the historic preservation and character of the building.”

Camp said she did not have details on the historic finishes being considered. 

The board asked staff to return for a conversation about what the funds would be used for and if they could be applied as a loan. 

The historic Mill Street School in Springfield pictured on July 20, 2026. Credit: Lillian Schrock-Clevenger / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

The historic Springfield High School at Mill and D streets was built in 1921 and later became the school district’s administrative offices, which remained there until 2017. The district shuttered the old school at that time and considered demolishing the building before selling it to Red Cedar Capital Partners in 2022.

Springfield architecture firm Campfire Collaborative is leading the design of the project, which is turning the former classrooms into 40 market-rate apartments.

“The success of downtown has been so dependent on a combination of both city vision and putting the pieces in place to help make projects viable in downtown, both infrastructure that you put in and long-term visioning and things like the (system development charges) program,” said Jenna Fribley, an architect at Campfire Collaborative, in a public comment to the board. “But it’s also equally important that we have had so many committed grassroots developers willing to just put it out there and make it happen.”

She said the Mill Street School project “would really be enhanced by having a little bit of extra funds.”

System development charges are city fees local businesses and developers pay to fund public infrastructure improvements. The economic development agency uses urban renewal funds to help developers pay those fees. According to city documents, the Mill Street School project has received nearly $184,000 from the economic development agency for those fees. 

Children’s museum considering move

During public comment, the board also heard from Amelia Reising, founder and director of Adventure! Children’s Museum in Eugene, who said the museum is considering moving out of the Valley River Center and has identified the Springfield Motors building as a potential location.

The urban renewal agency owns the former Buick dealership property on downtown A Street. It is currently vacant.

“I think we would add a lot of value to the area, and we’d be good neighbors to the library and the Drifters and all the other good stuff in the downtown area,” Reising said. 

She asked the board to consider researching the feasibility of having the children’s museum in the building.