Glenwood Riverfront featured in The Register-Guard
Will Glenwood finally get its glow-up? Decades-long renewal plan takes first big step
By Hannarose McGuinness
May 27, 2025
Key Points
Thirty-two Glenwood properties (21.1 acres) were annexed into Springfield city limits.
Development plans could include some 500 new housing units and other developments.
The Glenwood Master Plan envisions high-density, mixed-use spaces.
The focus is on creating walkable neighborhoods and connecting to the river.
The long-term project could redefine Glenwood’s identity after decades of stagnation.
The swath of properties bordering the river-adjacent lands by the Franklin Boulevard roundabouts in Glenwood may not look like much now, but those underutilized parcels and the dilapidated buildings on them are set to see some major changes in the coming years.
Glenwood has been the subject of decades of planning projects to try and revitalize the area. Now, 32 properties occupying 21.1 acres of land have been annexed into the City of Springfield, marking the first step toward the realization of decades of planning efforts.
Allie Camp, Springfield’s economic development manager, led a walking tour hosted by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce on May 20, allowing visitors an exclusive look. The properties are dotted with underused buildings long past their heydays, open fields and gravel roads pockmarked with potholes. In years to come, these parcels could house brand-new, mixed-use developments.
What could the future of Glenwood look like?
The Glenwood Master Plan area is made up of a patchwork of different property owners all working together to envision a future of high-density, mixed-use buildings along the Willamette River. The land in the planning area spans from Roaring Rapids Pizza Company to Trak Power Sports. Property owners include the City of Springfield and its Springfield Economic Development Agency, Homes For Good Housing Agency and local real estate firm Roth & Roth, LLC. with just over a tenth of an acre of land in the area owned by Lane County.
Camp said the main goal is to connect the community to the river, with a secondary goal to increase the property tax base by building more homes, businesses and spaces for opportunity. She said this project has been in the works for the last two decades, and reaching the point of annexing properties and finalizing a Master Plan has been a long time coming.
“This is a huge orchestra to stitch together over time and it’s such a fun one. I think I have one of the best jobs in the city,” Camp said. “This project is way more than just a roads project, and it’s way more than just a land use project. Hopefully, at the end of this, we will have buildings coming out of the ground.”
Rick Satre, land use planner and landscape architect for The Satre Group, said the Glenwood Refinement Plan, adopted in 2012 and amended
in 2014, anticipates a minimum housing density of around 500 units in the plan area.
“It doesn’t specify what type of dwelling units, but what’s been talked about since then, particularly with the residential mixed-use zone and the commercial mixed-use zone, is that they’re really looking at a broad array of multi-family (housing),” Satre said. “Not just multi-family in terms of apartments, but there could be condominiums, there could be townhomes, there could be walk-ups, all kinds of things, but we’re looking at around 500 dwelling units in the Master Plan area.”
Camp said the focus of the area lies on developing a high-density, walkable neighborhood with commercial mixed uses that allow folks to work, play and live in Glenwood. She said this goal can be accomplished through flexible zoning — a major focus of the project.
She said the project is still about a year away from having the Final Master Plan approved, but that this is as far as the development of this area of Glenwood has gotten in decades of ideation, which is a milestone worth celebrating. While no new construction can be built as close to the river as Roaring Rapids Pizza Company is due to regulations, this part of Glenwood is expected to lean into an identity centered on connecting residents and visitors to the natural wonder of the Willamette River.