Central Oregon News Digest
Summer 2010 edition now available
The Summer 2010 issue of The Garner Group’s Central Oregon News Digest has been delivered by e-mail to 1,692 clients, friends and colleagues. Compiled from news reports by our staff, the newsletter summarizes events relative to the Bend area real estate market, economic news, major development projects and Central Oregon growth in general.We have been producing the newsletter since early 2006. Initial issues went out by mail, but we soon switched to e-mail as a more effective means of communicating with our friends and clients. E-mail distribution also permits us to keep our list of recipients fresh and up to date. Response has been gratifying, encouraging us to keep the newsletter in a prominent position among the information services provided by The Garner Group.
Please use the sign-up form at left if you wish to keep abreast of economic news in Bend and Central Oregon. We’ll make sure you receive future issues without obligation. Download a PDF copy of the Summer 2010 newsletter. Either way, you will be able to read the complete newsletter, highlights of which are summarized below.
Here are some headlines from the Summer 2010 issue:
Local housing outlook shines in national survey. A survey conducted for Bloomberg BusinessWeek by Moody's Economy.com and Fiserv, a Wisconsin-based financial services information firm, placed Bend in the No. 2 spot on a list of U.S. markets projected to see housing price gains by 2014. Home prices in Bend (the standard metropolitan statistical area comprising all of Deschutes County) will bottom out in the first quarter of 2010 and begin an upward climb resulting in a 33.6% median price increase over current levels by 2014, the survey projects. The Bremerton-Silverdale metro area in Washington state led the list with a four-year price increase projected at 44.7%. Others were a mixture of urban and small-town venues scattered across the country. Earlier this year, Money magazine listed Bend as No. 10 nationally among housing markets expected to strengthen next year.Current stats show more sales volume. Bend housing statistics through the first half of 2010 showed 39% more transactions and 33.9% more dollar volume than the same period last year, although median prices averaged over the first half of both years were lower in 2010. The Bratton Report, compiled monthly, show the median price in June at $217,000, up from $190,000 in May and $180,000 in April. Figures are for homes on residential lots in the Bend area.
Media recognition: Natural Home magazine listed Bend's NorthWest Crossing as one of America's 10 best green-built neighborhoods. Builder magazine singled out NorthWest Crossing for a feature story that focused on preservation of trees and natural landscape features. Bloomberg BusinessWeek placed Bend No. 4 on a Top 10 list of American cities for new business startups.
Bend UGB expansion: the never-ending story. City officials were awaiting a laundry list of revisions from the state land use agency that will guide local planners in redrafting the urban growth boundary expansion. The city's plan to add 8,462 acres, rejected at the state level, will probably lose 1,500 to 2,000 acres in the process, which will take another 18 months to execute.
Projects: The US Forest Service is building a 46,300-sq ft office building to cost $10-12 million, contract has been awarded and completion expected December 2011...Facebook will add a 160,000-sq ft second phase to its Prineville data center, where the 147,000-sq ft Phase One is now under construction...BendBroadband is converting a 30,000-sq ft industrial park building into a data center to serve the company and outside users, among them St. Charles Health Systems...Deschutes County 911 operations and the local Oregon State Police detachment are sharing a new $8.5 million, 30,000 sq ft building...Walmart plans to bump out its 126,000-sq ft store in Bend, adding 40,000 sq ft and remodeling it into a Supercenter with grocery department...Central Oregon Community College is moving forward with major construction projects financed by a $41.6 million bond measure approved last year plus $11.5 million in state grants, among them a 45,000-sq ft Health Center, a 45,000-sq ft Science Building and a 14,000-sq ft Cascade Culinary Institute.
Airline traffic news: Passenger boardings at Roberts Field in Redmond in the first half of 2010 were 2.4% above last year, totaling 111,206...United Express will add a third daily flight from Redmond to San Francisco in November...Horizon Air is removing nonstop service to Los Angeles from its schedule, over protests from local business and economic development people.
River park site purchase being pursued. Bend's park system along the Deschutes River may expand with purchase of 3.5 acres of riverfront land downstream from the Colorado St. spillway. Originally planned as a townhome development, the parcel has been offered for sale to the Trust for Public Land, which is working with the Bend Park and Recreation District to underwrite the purchase.
More cycling events for Bend. Bend will host the 2011 and 2012 Marathon Mountain Bike National Championships organized by USA Cycling. The event moves from Breckenridge, Colo. The 2011 and 2012 editions of the USA Cycling Masters Road National Championship will also take place in Bend.
There's much more. Download a copy.
