Deschutes County has a growth spurt

Census estimates say it’s fastest-growing county in Oregon

By Tim Doran / The Bulletin / @Newsinbendor

Published Mar 27, 2014 at 12:01AM

The demand for rental housing in and around Bend is increasing, especially for low-income tenants, Kenny LaPoint, housing and resident services director of Housing Works, said recently.

Housing Works, the housing authority for Central Oregon, helps low-income renters find and pay for housing. LaPoint said the agency received 2,043 applications for government-subsidized housing during the five-day application period in January, 559 more than the year before.

“That’s the highest number we’ve seen apply,” he said. Last year, he said, 1,484 applied.

Housing Works also conducts the annual survey of all rental vacancies for the Central Oregon Rental Owners Association, LaPoint said. Last year, the survey found 46 of 4,618 units in Central Oregon available for rent, a 1 percent vacancy rate. The official results of the survey this year will be released at the association’s annual meeting April 18.

Based on what he’s seen, LaPoint said, he believes the vacancy rate is probably one-half of 1 percent by now.

“This year is going to be very tight,” he said.

By way of example, he said, low-income renters could only use 15 of 60 housing vouchers Housing Works issued late last year, because that’s all that was available.

Property managers have several applicants for every vacancy. Would-be tenants must move quickly when they find a vacant home or apartment, said Central Oregon Rental Owners Association President Kevin Restine.

“The best advice: Look early and look often,” he said.

One apartment complex, the 104-unit Sage Springs off Boyd Acres Road, is leasing units in buildings as contractors complete them. That’s the one multifamily project under construction in Bend, according to the city Community Development Department.

Three others are in various stages of preconstruction work.

Woodhaven, 144 units planned off Reed Market Road, and 500 Bond, 230 units at Southeast Wilson and Southwest Bond avenues, both have planning approval, which is the first phase in the city review process.

The city has approved plans for Mill Quarter, 49 multifamily units proposed near the western junction of Colorado and Arizona avenues, but the developers only have until Monday to obtain a building permit before the approval expires. The project was first proposed in 2006, said Bend Planning Manager Colin Stephens.

The developers of a potential fourth project, 400-unit Aspen Heights, have yet to submit a plan for city approval, Stephens said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.com

A Salem convenience store owner plans to build a four-building commercial development called Boyd Acres Retail in northeast Bend.

Jim Landin of BLRB Architects said the goal is to start construction in May on the project on Boyd Acres Road, north of Empire Boulevard.

Plans call for a cluster of retail buildings totaling nearly 16,000 square feet — two buildings each about 5,000 square feet and two about 3,000 square feet each. He expects the project to be completed in phases, beginning with one small and one large building.

Landin said the look of the development will be similar to the Woodside Plaza, home to Baltazar’s Sea Food Restaurant and other businesses, on the corner of Southwest Knoll Avenue and Southwest 14th Street.

The development is intended to provide shops and stores to nearby neighborhoods. The concept is to minimize driving time for residents.

“These (commercial) zones create these little areas where shops pop up and people can use that as a gathering point, or a place to buy a loaf of bread or a six pack of beer,” he said.

Landin said the property owner, Lal Sidhu, also owns US Market and is considering opening a market in one of the buildings.

Sidhu could not be reached for comment.

Plans for the development have been in the works since 2006, Landin said.

“It was one of those projects that died during the recession,” he said. “The original owner that we designed it for lost the property back to the bank in foreclosure and Lal’s group came in and bought it.”

Landin said his company is working on four projects halted by the recession that are now coming back to life.

“I think banks are starting to lend again,” he said. “Most of the projects that we’re seeing right now have a housing component to them.”

—Reporter: 541-617-7818,

rrees@bendbulletin.com

The message Friday from economist Bill Watkins to Central Oregon’s business community was simple and reserved: Expect continued improvement in the local economy but don’t expect fireworks.

Like the image of a turtle he flashed on-screen as part of his PowerPoint presentation, economic growth in the coming year will be slow but steady, said Watkins, executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University.

That was the cautious part of his hour-long talk.

“Central Oregon is doing better than Oregon (at large), and it’s going to do better than Oregon,” he told his audience at the sixth annual Central Oregon Economic Forecast and Business Conference at The Riverhouse Convention Center, Bend. “It’s going to do better than almost everything.”

However, Watkins described wrinkles in the picture. Deschutes County continues to regain jobs lost during the recession but at a less-than-bristling pace. The county gained 1,920 jobs in the year ending in November, but remains 6,740 jobs down from its prerecession high, according to Watkins. At that rate, 10 years will pass before the county is back at prerecession employment levels.

In Jefferson and Crook counties, Watkins predicts “barely perceptible growth.”

Meanwhile, the Deschutes County labor force is shrinking. Watkins’ data shows a loss in October of about 5 percent of workers from October 2012.

“You’ve got this case where you have people leaving, abandoning the workforce,” he said. “And yet we’re creating jobs in the long term, apparently not creating jobs for people that are here. Something’s causing people to shuffle themselves around.”

Watkins showed data indicating non-farm job growth in Deschutes County as high as 10.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013, over the previous quarter. He forecast more modest growth in the county, between 3.1 percent and 4.8 percent each quarter through 2015.

The housing market is contributing to economic growth in Deschutes County, he said. Once again, the local picture reflects the overall recovery, but with a Bend twist.

Generally, as real estate becomes less attractive to investors, they will make way for other buyers, typically young families starting new households. But as young people burdened with college debt and unable to find work pass on buying a new home, demand for real estate will lessen, he said. Without demand, prices should not rise appreciably.

“For most places, that’s what we expect to see,” he said.

Bend is different, Watkins said. It belongs to a class of small cities like Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Santa Fe, N.M., that “can do well just by being great places to be.”

Bend attracts wealthy people generally untouched by the recession and retirees with the financial resources that enable them to go where they want, he said. Wherever their numbers dominate the economy, they create consumption regions, rather than production regions.

While Bend has a manufacturing sector, it’s mostly a place for consumption. “A successful new Pilates studio on Wall Street is more likely than a new battery manufacturer,” he stated in a report accompanying his presentation.

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.com

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Courtesy Compass Commercial Real Estate A rendering of Neff Place, the commercial development on 1500 N.E. Cushing Ave., will be anchored by Jacksonís Corner restaurant.

Full Page View

Neff Place construction to start

New commercial development in Bend

By Rachael Rees / The Bulletin

Published Feb 1, 2014 at 12:01AM

The future of destination resorts in Central Oregon

Tourism or real estate?

By Rachael Rees / The Bulletin

Published Jan 26, 2014 at 12:01AM

The Central Oregon Community College board of directors voted Wednesday to move ahead with the construction of a new $22 million residence hall funded by the sale of bonds.

COCC used a construction manager-general contractor method to oversee the project, which allowed the school to approve a guaranteed maximum price the manager and contractor, Lease Crutcher Lewis, was able to charge. In October, the board voted to spend $130,000 to fund a portion of the required drafting documents, which allowed Lease Crutcher Lewis to offer a maximum price that incorporated less risk than one based on preliminary documents available at the time. Wednesday, the board voted to accept the contractor’s price for construction of the building itself, which was just below the board’s goal for $16 million.

“I’m delighted to say we made it to the price we had wanted,” said COCC President Jim Middleton. “We established a budget and made sure we got there.”

The residence hall, which the university hopes to have open in autumn 2015, will be located about 500 feet east of Mt. Washington Drive, just to the west of the college’s soccer field. The building will be composed of three wings that step down Awbrey Butte, varying in height from five to three stories. The college plans for revenue from student rent to cover the cost of the full faith and credit bonds and the dorm’s operation.

“The dorm will offer an attractive option to students in-district who want to get out of their houses, something their parents probably want too,” Middleton said. “It will also help us to attract out-of-district students, which is critical to our finances, and will even allow us to attract international students, should we ever decide to do that. Frankly, I think we should.”

“The dorm, in addition to the student center, gym and library, really completes the student experience here at the college,” said board member Charley Miller. “I really think it will be transformational for COCC.”

The residence hall will contain 330 beds, including a resident director apartment and 10 resident assistant rooms. Most students will be housed in one of 70 “quad double” suites, which contain two bedrooms with two beds each, a private bathroom and a small common area. There will also be 10 quad singles, where each student has a private room in addition to the shared space. Construction is set to begin on April 14 and to be completed by early April 2015.

To save costs, principal architect Kurt Haapala, of the Portland and Seattle-based firm Mahlum, said some of the common spaces were “shaved” down from their initial size, but that the reductions “will not affect the student experience.” Another cost-saving measure was the relocation of some building systems from an underground to aboveground location.

The dorm will initially be accessible only off Mt. Washington Drive, though the city of Bend has mandated additional access off College Way by 2018. The university is waiting to complete a comprehensive traffic study before locating the second access road.

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com