New EWEB Building On Time, Under Budget7/20 Eugene Water and Electric Board's new headquarters will be completed in OctoberJULY 20, 2010 -- The new Eugene Water and Electric Board headquarters in West Eugene continues to make progress. After nearly two years of construction, the project remains on-schedule for completion this fall. EWEB says the project is also under budget.
EWEB’s Lance Robertson explains that with the extra $11-million, future rate increases will be less than originally planned.
Robertson says EWEB originally expected that rates would increase by at least 2-percent, but now will only need to climb by 1.5-percent. That amounts to less than $1.50 per month.
The project has been slowly rising from the grasslands of West Eugene near the intersection of Roosevelt Blvd. and the Randy Pape Beltline. Work began on the project in August of 2008.
The new operations center will be large, with three main buildings.
About half of EWEB's workforce will move to the new location; the other half, including customer service and administrative staff, will remain in the current riverfront headquarters downtown. The move to the new facilities will take place this fall.
EWEB purchased the 52-acre site at the southeast corner of Roosevelt and Beltline in 2005.
The Eugene City Council authorized EWEB to issue up to $85.5 million in bonds to finance construction of the Roosevelt Operations Center. The bonds will be paid back with electric and water revenues.
See a map of the new site.
-- Eric Dye
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