[citation needed] It is a controversial high-rise apartment building for senior citizens erected in 1968 at the foot of Skinner Butte.

[2] "Ya Po Ah" means very high place in the language of the Kalapuya Indians who inhabited the Willamette Valley prior to the arrival of the Euro-American settlers.

He built his first log cabin on the western slopes of the butte to avoid the frequent floods of the Willamette River to the north, per the advice of the Kalapuya.

Ya Po Ah also houses a performance hall, library, salon, and convenience stores.

Only within the last decade has Eugene begun to amend some of these measures to promote denser growth within the city's core.