The City of Eugene is in the midst of its redevelopment project for the Downtown Riverfront Park. Now in the project’s second phase, the Riverfront Plaza is undergoing construction that expects to provide housing in a new neighborhood and a connection between downtown Eugene and the Willamette River. 

Eugene Principal Landscape Architect Emily Proudfoot said the plaza’s construction will cost a little over $5 million, with the cost of the overall park development sitting at around $9 million. Most of the funding for construction is drawn from a $5 million grant from the Oregon State Legislature in July 2021, which was passed to close the funding gap for the plaza construction. 

“We’re extraordinarily grateful to the state of Oregon, our legislators and senators who helped pass legislation to fund this project,” Proudfoot said. “It’s a huge benefit to our community and the entire riverfront project is really a civic elevation for our community.”

Brown Contracting, the company that completed the first phase of the Riverfront Park redevelopment plan, was selected again as the general contractor for the Downtown Riverfront Plaza project. 

So far, the construction has largely been underground work, installing pipes and connecting electrical utilities among other fixtures. Proudfoot said there will be ongoing construction on the redevelopment site and buildings will likely continue to go up for the next five to seven years.

Developers from the Atkins Dame group are concurrently working on the vertical development of neighborhoods, multi-family housing and restaurants next to the plaza. They plan to guide the development of six residential buildings for the new River District neighborhood in the Downtown Riverfront. 

Irene Alltucker is the vice president of real estate at Obie Companies, which owns the Fifth Street Public Market that is located half a mile from Riverfront Park. Alltucker said that downtown Eugene’s reconnection with the Willamette River makes it more pedestrian and bike friendly to walk along the path, and will be a wonderful addition to the city. 

“I think the proximity to the plaza makes it a great place for people to come to the Fifth Street Market and enjoy the many businesses that are here, and be able to walk and explore the many boutiques that we have,” Alltucker said. 

Throughout the park’s design process, the city has been working with the Walker Macy landscape architecture firm to help design and plan details to the Riverfront Park since 2017. Proudfoot said that the firm created a variety of experiences of feelings along the river through their designs.

She said that the plaza’s design is a great addition to welcome more people and families to the Riverfront. Proudfoot added that Walker Macy’s designs for the plaza have provided “this really beautiful setting” and more access to the river. 

“They’re so great to work with and their design vision is exceptional,” Proudfoot said. “I think they’ve done a fantastic job of really listening to the community about what they want along the river, and how it should feel and look.”

The one-acre plaza is planned to consist of a children’s playground area, an open space for events or activities, a tree grove, a “spray play” area, a grassy mountain for movie nights or events and more. 

Proudfoot said the city has had a long-time vision of reconnecting downtown to the river “because it’s such a beautiful resource in our community,” and that vision is slowly coming to fruition through this project.

“We love the connection and we look forward to having that connection to the riverfront, and we’re just very pleased with that,” Alltucker said. “I know already that our businesses are doing wonderful here [at the Fifth Street Public Market] as a result of it.”

Proudfoot said the Downtown Riverfront Plaza is expected to complete construction by June 2025 and become fully open to the public. She expects more vertical elements of the project to come up during the winter and to stay tuned with updates on the construction.

“[The river] is much more apparent these days and it’s much easier to get to the river from downtown Eugene,” Proudfoot said. “We’re really excited about how that connection has been made, and we look forward to a lot more people visiting the Riverfront.”