Willamette Riverfront Development — Part 2 — Friday October 17
This October, Springfield and Eugene City Clubs are teaming up to present a two-part program series exploring the future of riverfront development in our region. The first program of the series was held on October 2. The second program in this series will be hosted by City Club of Eugene on October 17 at Noon at the WoW Hall (291 W 8th Ave, Eugene). That program will feature Will Dowdy, Community Development Director for the City of Eugene, who will discuss the past, present, and future of the project providing additional insights into ongoing riverfront development efforts on the west side of I-5
Will Dowdy is the Community Development Director for the City of Eugene. He started working for the City in 2014 and his work includes supporting the City’s efforts in economic development, Affordable Housing, downtown placemaking, the Downtown Riverfront redevelopment, and the City’s Mapping Value project. Will received Master of Architecture and Master of Architectural Design & Urbanism degrees at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to his time at the City, he worked in the private sector, consulting on projects in urban design and development around the country.
Mr. Dowdy will be joined by James L. Atkins, who will focus his remarks on the development of residential real estate along the waterfront, including some of the significant challenges that have emerged amidst the extraordinary opportunity of building a new neighborhood.
Mr. Atkins is a real-estate development executive whose 30+ year career has been focused on neighborhood scale mixed-use redevelopment projects, many of which have involved remediation of brownfield environmental issues. His leadership and technical expertise have helped create over 10,000 new housing units of all types in markets from Downtown Los Angeles to South Waterfront Portland to Seattle’s new waterfront to now Eugene’s River District.
Both programs are open to the public. The October 17 program will be live streamed on the City Club of Eugene You Tube site (October 17 program).
The featured speaker on the 2nd was Allie Camp, who leads the City of Springfield’s Economic Development team with more than a decade of public and private sector experience across land use, planning, transit, construction, and new development. In this program, Allie walked us through the many puzzle pieces that make up Glenwood’s future — from infrastructure and redevelopment opportunities to partnerships and
community engagement with a deep dive into the Glenwood Master Plan Area — one of Springfield’s highest priority economic development projects — and shared how this area’s transformation could reshape Springfield’s riverfront. That program may be viewed on the City Club of Eugene YouTube site. (October 2 program).