EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) – As Lane Community College has opened up its new six floor student housing apartment complex in downtown Eugene, a promising wave has washed over the area with several new businesses also joining the new residents.
The “Titan Court” student housing project opened just last week and so far, more than 100 people live in the building. At capacity, 255 people will live in the building.
Titan Court joins a plethora of new businesses that are close to opening their doors.
The newest to announce its arrival is a Portland-based pizza shop called “Sizzle Pie.” The pizza shop will go in a retail space on the first floor of the Broadway Commerce Center (BCC) on the corner of Broadway and Willamette Streets.
Right next door in the BCC, a new bar and coffee shop, “The Barn Light,” is close to opening its doors in the coming weeks. (Read NewsSource 16's feature on The Barn Light here: http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story/New-coffee-shop-bar-to-open-in-downtown-Eugenes/7Vt5vHv2S0KXTPppkFhoDA.cspx.)
A third restaurant is also said to be close to finalizing a deal in another ground floor BCC space as well.
Across the street in the under construction Master Building, the Bijou Theatre is working on putting a small four-screen, 120 seat theatre in the bottom floor of the future high-end apartment complex.
Down the street on Willamette, the popular “Off The Waffle” restaurant will open its second location in a retail space at the U.S. Bank Center.
A neighboring business that's stuck through downtown Eugene's growth, “The Davis” Restaurant and Bar has been downtown for six years.
While many businesses are still in the process of working towards opening, The David owner Tom Kamis hopes the added livelihood and the new Titan Court apartments bring more activity. Kamis says he's not sure if the student population will bring tons of new revenue, but bottom line, he's happy to have new neighbors.
"The best part about it is that if you have more people down here, more businesses down here, it will bring more diverse population down here and not.. Not just the things that are going to bring trouble and if there's enough eyes on the street, then people don't do bad things.. That's just how it goes,” says Tom Kamis, owner of The Davis Restaurant and Bar.
Kamis says he's kept his prices and menu items in mind for the incoming student crowd as well.
The Barn Light is hoping to open in late September to mid-October 2012. Off The Waffle is aiming to open in mid to late October of 2012.
There are no tentative opening dates for the Bijou Theatre or Sizzle Pie at this point.
