Peace Village Co-op
About the Project
In 2022, SquareOne Villages purchased 3.6 acres of land and roughly 9,000 sq. ft. of existing buildings from Peace Presbyterian Church in Eugene, and began plans for developing a 70 permanently affordable, resident-owned homes known as Peace Village Co-op.
Pastor Glenn Edwards explained, “Peace Presbyterian Church is a relatively small congregation and yet we are committed to making a big impact in our neighborhood and community. Given that there are a large number of religious institutions with extra land that is developable, we hope that this type of partnersthip provides a replicable model." While the Church played a critical role in making this housing opportunity possible, and continues to use the sanctuary on site for its Sunday service, it is not directly affiliated with Peace Village Co-op in any way.
Completed in December 2023 with total development costs of just $163,000 per unit, Peace Village exemplifies cost-effective construction, while delivering high quality, deeply energy-efficient homes clustered around a variety of indoor and outdoor common spaces that create opportunities for engaging in community. The 3.6 acre site includes a mix of (14) studio, (48) one-bedroom, and (8) two-bedroom floor plans. The preexisting church buildings on site provide access a community kitchen and dining area, a meeting space large enough to accommodate all of the residents, laundry facilities, bicycle storage, and other flexible use spaces.
Residents of Peace Village collectively own and manage the housing as members of a limited-equity co-op, and SquareOne retains ownership of the underlying land to preserve long-term affordability. This shared-equity homeownership model creates permanently affordable, resident-owned housing that is accessible to households between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income.
Scaling up the village model through the adaptive re-use of a large church property to create the most accessible pathway to homeownership in Lane County.
Project Data
Location: 3060 River Rd, Eugene, Oregon
Type: Limited Equity Co-op
Number of Units: 70
Lot Size: 3.6 acres
Density: 19.1 units/acre
Unit Mix: (14) Studio | (44) 1-bed | (8) 2-bed
Status: Open since December 2023
Permanently Affordable for: 60% area median income or under
“I was in survival mode, I found a lot of commonality with other community members in that sense.
There is a sense of groundedness and safety, to finally be able to rest… living at Peace Village is like a full exhale.”
— Auraleigha, current resident
Village Design & Sustainability
With Peace Village, we aimed to achieve higher density than our previous detatched tiny home developments, while still maintining a village-like setting. Alternating roof lines and color were used to visually break the larger building types—including attached townhomes and stacked flats—to feel like individual homes. Vehicle parking is kept to the perimter of the site to create an evironment that prioritizes a connection to the landscape and neighbors. Each home also features front porch that opens on to a variety of outdoor common spaces and landscaping interconnected by meandering network of pathways.
Peace Village features five unique floor plans to support a variety of small households, ranging from a 260 square foot studio with a 140 square foot sleeping a 788 square foot two-bedroom townhome. Alternating roof lines and color were used to visually break the buildings into individual homes. The compact homes are designed with deep energy efficiency in mind. Sutainability measures include highly insulated 2×8 wall construction, elevated airtightness measures, fully insulated slab construction, and high-efficiency heat pump space heating and water heating.
The preexisting church buildings on the site were already well-suited to provide access to common ammenities that could act as an extention of the compact, private homes. This includes a kitchen and dining area for hosting community meals; a gathering space large enough to accommodate all of the residents, supporting common uses such as a library, play area, food pantry, and resource exchange area; and other functional uses such as laundry facilities and bicycle and tool storage.