OR: Greyhound sells iconic downtown Eugene building, moves to Springfield

Nov. 23--Greyhound has launched bus service out of Springfield and sold the architecturally iconic downtown Eugene building the bus company built in 1940.

Greyhound recently began daily trips out of Lane Transit District's downtown Springfield station, after signing a lease in September to open a small ticket office in the transit district building, the company said.

"We are thankful to Lane Transit District and the City of Springfield for allowing us to serve from our new location," Ed van Heel, Greyhound Lines, Inc. regional manager of customer service, said in a statement. "We are confident this opportunity will make access to local transit easier for our customers."

Meanwhile, Greyhound Lines, Inc. sold the shuttered downtown Eugene station to a business entity managed by E. Danell Giustina, a member of the Giustina Resources timber company, according to a deed filed in Lane County on Monday. The Giustinas also are prominent downtown Eugene landlords, with property holdings including full or partial ownership of the Patterson Tower apartments, the One East Broadway office building, the land leased by Whole Foods and a multi-tenant restaurant building north of the Greyhound building, according to county and state records.

The Realtors who listed the East 10th Avenue and Pearl Street Greyhound building marketed it in fliers as an ideal site for an apartment tower or other large redevelopment.

The deed doesn't list a sale price, and doesn't specially list the downtown Eugene building as the property sold. But the Eugene Greyhound station is the only building in Lane County owned by an entity called Greyhound Lines, Inc., local property records show.

Giustina Resources chief financial officer David Davini, Greyhound officials and the Portland-based Realtors listing the property didn't return messages seeking comment. A recently updated online real estate flier for the property lists it as off the market.

The flier posted this summer asked for $1.7 million for the roughly 8,000-square-foot building. The property is zoned for "major commercial" use, which allows large developments such as apartments, hotels and office buildings under city code.

The property also sits within Eugene's Multi-Unit Property Tax Exemption program, or MUPTE, boundary. Apartment developers looking to build in the downtown area can apply for up to 10 years of property tax waivers for a project under the city program.

The flier noted the property's "close proximity to errands, best bars and restaurants," with flat streets ideal for bicyclists.

Follow Elon Glucklich on Twitter @EGlucklich. Email [email protected].

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