Over a five-year period Civic Park in Eugene, Ore. was transformed from a former minor league baseball park into a soccer stadium. Cameron McCarthy Landscape Architecture & Planning donated pro bono design and consulting services to convert it into a 10-acre community recreation and entertainment venue that emphasizes youth and family activities.

The departure of the minor league baseball team in 2009 spurred the sale of this prime Eugene real estate. Over the course of the following five years, it generated offers from multiple private developers and two non-profit groups.

The firm provided gift-in-kind service to the two nonprofits, Friends of Civic Stadium and Eugene Civic Alliance. The two entities ultimately joined forces to acquire the property after completing a $4.5 million fundraising campaign in 2015.

Both nonprofit groups were fully operated by community volunteers with limited financial resources. Neither possessed financial resources to afford professional design services.

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In 2011 and 2012, the firm donated site planning design services and half the cost of service to produce two perspective view illustrations to FOCS (half was funded by a grant from the Historic Preservation League of Oregon). For ECA, the firm has donated over 200 hours of gift-in-kind labor toward ongoing design, consultation and land use due diligence. Cameron McCarthy planned and produced the illustrated site plan and perspective drawings for the successful outreach and fundraising efforts.

ECA vision added the inclusion of Kidsports facilities on the property. Kidsports is a local non-profit that provides sports programs for thousands of community youth.

The margin of victory was extremely narrow in prevailing over private development interests to acquire the property in 2015. This outcome was made possible through the collective effort and willpower of many community volunteers contributing their time, passion, and expertise.

Civic Stadium was tragically lost to fire on June 30, 2015. The event received national media attention. The 6,800-seat stadium was built in 1938 as a WPA project, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

While preservation of the stadium was a fundamental goal of the initial plans drafted for the site's transformation, ECA remains committed to the provision of a prominent stadium integrated with a high performance playfield to replace what was lost.