The Montgomery

Eugene, Oregon

The Montgomery is a mixed-income, urban infill project at 1059 Willamette. The 93,520-sf building will have 129 units, ranging from studios to two-bedroom apartments, with 51% of the units income restricted. Ten units will be set aside for survivors of domestic violence with support services provided by Womenspace. It is anticipated that many of the residents will be young professionals and seniors, often single, who either work or rely on the services offered by the downtown core. Through the Healthy Homes program, Cornerstone Community Housing will support the variety of residents and work to ensure a cohesive community where all residents are encouraged to connect, collaborate, and build on their own strengths.

Amenity spaces include pet services for singles and elderly who may have pets for companionship, a common conference room for young professionals in the work force looking for training/networking opportunities, and a club room and patio that will serve as a space for the residents to socialize. There will also be an internal ground-level courtyard that will receive south and west sun and provide shelter from rain. It is designed as a pet area allowing owners to bring their dogs outside, day or night, all while staying within the secure apartment complex.

The Willamette façade echoes the scale, craft, and material weight and quality of the original Montgomery Ward building and creates a modern companion to the other historic buildings nearby. It will feature brick in a lighter color to echo the original building, dark windows to reinforce the deep shadows, and a vertical and horizontal rhythm and fenestration very close in character to the original building. The south façade facing 11th will have an entirely different feel. Because the historic context along 11th is less legible in the fabric of the streetscape, there is an opportunity to celebrate our own times and that something “new” is happening in downtown. Eleventh is also a significant automobile, bus, and bicycle street; thus, the building is meant to be read while moving through the streetscape. With large garage doors that open onto the street, the ground-level retail/office suites will add to the vitality of 11th. The suites will continue into the alleyway and are intended to be incubator space for the thriving retail and office starts-ups in the downtown core. The space will be offered at below market rent with flexible terms and will have shared common spaces to foster collaboration between tenants.

The new building also encourages opportunities for art and community creativity through a public gallery in the lobby and a mural wall along the north edge of the building in the alleyway. The art gallery will host a rotation of local artists with the support of the Lane Arts Council and be a featured stop on the First Friday Art Walk by acting as an anchor for the arts at the south end of downtown. The mural will tie into the City of Eugene’s highly successful mural project.