Bend won’t renew Mirror Pond Plaza lease

The 500-square plaza in the heart of downtown Bend is known for bikes and beers, but changes might be coming soon.

Crow’s Feet Commons just lost the lease on the plaza. The city of Bend leased the square to Crow’s Feet from May of last year until this January. They were in talks of renewing the lease, but then the city had a change of heart.

“When more and more evidence or complaints or whatever you want to call it came in, we decided to not renew the lease again,” Carolyn Eagan, the city’s business advocate, said Friday.

It does not impact the land Crow’s Feet — a unique Bend gathering spot and mix of, as their Website says, “coffee, bikes, skis, beer and people — operates on, but the owner, David Marchi, said the decision came out of the blue.

“I was surprised, because I felt like I was led on,” Marchi said.

Marchi said he has been contacting the city constantly, trying to figure out what needs to be done to renew the lease.

The city said the lease stipulated that Crow’s Feet Commons provide a lunchtime table service.

“When we looked back at July through December last year, that table service had never materialized,” Eagan said.

Marchi said he has faced constant bureaucratic hurdles, and since the lease expired, he wasn’t able to do much.

“The OLCC would come down here: ‘Hey do you have your permit yet? Do you have your lease yet? Because if you don’t, we have to pull your permit,'” Marchi said.

Despite the hurdles, he said he made the square safer and more family-friendly.

“I’ve been threatened and punched in the stomach way too many times to not take some credit,” Marchi said.

On Friday, the city and Marchi started talks on the future of the plaza once again. Nothing has been decided at this point.