Private developers WERE waiting in line to begin the development. When EWEB put out the initial request for development proposals in 2014, 4 qualified groups responded. Of those 4, 3 were experienced developers of mixed-use projects just like this one- Williams & Dame, Trammell Crow, and Eugene-based Paradigm Properties. 

Trammell Crow is the largest real estate developer in the country, and their resume speaks for itself.

Williams and Dame singlehandedly transformed Portland's South Waterfront from a gritty former industrial area into one of the nicest mixed-use districts in town. 

Paradigm is one of Eugene's most forward-thinking and active developers of market-rate and mixed-use housing.

If the project had limited economic viability as you claim, why were so many sophisticated people lined up to try and make a go of it?