James McCoy

Owner: 

Housing and Community Services Agency of Lane County

Location: 

Eugene, Oregon

Density: 

27 Units / Acre

Site Area: 

3.05 Acres

Construction Cost:

 $ 6.6 Mil

Cost / S.F.: 

$ 90 / S. F.             

Completed: 

2002

Landscape:

Stangeland & Associates, Inc.

Contractor:

Meili Construction Co.

Surrounded by services, shops, schools, parks and public transportation, the Sheldon Village site is ideally suited for higher density housing. The development of 78 rental units is designed to house families and individuals with incomes at or below 50% of local median income; six of these units serve households at or below 30% of local median income. The development team worked with the surrounding landowners and the City of Eugene to emphasize connectivity within the nodal development of the overall “island” site. Auto and pedestrian paths ring the development and connect to neighboring shopping places.

A primary design goal was to achieve density approaching 30 units per acre without resorting to underground parking or distancing families from the ground. The solution suggested an urban scale and involved placing two story townhouses above ground floor flats. Both townhouses and flats have private entrances, front and back, directly on narrow lanes. Each dwelling also enjoys a patio or deck in the rear gardens. In each unit, generous windows face the front lane and the garden lane. The north-south building orientation ensures direct sunlight into all gardens and all units at various times of the day and year. Special considerations were made for sound isolation and privacy. Sheldon Village is wired as an “e-community” with high-speed internet access through its own local area network and fiber optics are in place for the future.

Green building practices were followed in the selection of construction materials and construction waste management. Energy efficient strategies are evident in the use of energy efficient lighting, Energy Star appliances, insulation above minimums and ventilation systems.

Partnering with EWEB provided an Energy Grant and a Demonstration Grant to install a 12-kilowatt photovoltaic array located on the Community Building roof. The University of Oregon physics department Solar Monitoring Lab is tracking the data and reports that it is working at full capacity, supplying power for the Community Building.