Future still fuzzy for Bend’s Juniper Ridge

The spotlight returned Wednesday night to the big dreams and the struggling reality of Juniper Ridge, a 1,500-acre mostly vacant city-owned parcel on Bend’s northern outskirts where the future is as rocky as the terrain.

City councilors got an update on the decade-old project, which still needs a lot of work and funding to live up to the lofty pre-recession visions.

There are currently seven parcels of land up for sale at Juniper Ridge, at $7 a square foot. They are in the roughly500 of the 1,500 acres already within the city’s urban growth boundary.

City staff said the parcels haven’t sold to this point because of the demand, size and sale price.

City Manager Eric King said, “The bigger vision for Juniper Ridge is to try to have amenities, to have a town center, to have a mix of uses and the employment zone that currently exists allows a range of industrial sites.”

The land was given to the city by Deschutes County in 1990, and very little development has happened so far. Currently, Les Schwab Tires’ corporate headquarters is located there, as well as two schools.

The city still pays about $700,000 on outstanding debt, which was allocated for roads and other needs in that area.

Staff highlighted some key barriers stalling the development ,including tens of millions of dollars in long-standing sewer and transportation needs that are crucial for making the site more attractive for developers.

City leaders say it all comes down to money, if residents want to see the project move forward.

Councilor Doug Knight said the city will need to take an investment in the project so it can fully flourish.

“It’s difficult to convince people to be that partner or to even purchase parcels when we’ve got such limited sewer and transportation infrastructure that it makes investment or further investment for the city to have that kind of attraction,” Knight said.

The council directed staff to work on updating the area;s urban renewal plan and look for ways to fund the needed sewer line. They also directed staff to work with Business Oregon on site certification in a bit to make it more attractive to developers.

There is no timeline on much more than that, and King said he didn’t hear much direction from councilors to make it a higher priority.

“We’re always open to entertaining someone who wants to buy a piece of property or be a master developer,” he said. “But it’s hard to get a master developer until we get more clarity on those big infrastructure issues, so we’re not looking to go above and beyond a holding pattern.”

Councilor Victor Chudowsky said, “I think a lot of our thinking about juniper Ridge has been created by the amount of time and effort we’ve put into it, rather than what the market wants.”

City Economic Development Director Carolyn Eagan did offer one note of hope, saying that as land prices rise in Bend, the asking price at Juniper Ridge is “now comparable to other (industrial) lots selling in the city of Bend.”