Forest Service to sell Sisters Ranger District land for new HQ

The Forest Service plans a pre-bid meeting next week for real estate brokers who are interested in bidding on the opportunity to market and sell about 66 acres of the current Sisters Ranger District administrative site.

The pre-bid meeting will be held on Tuesday at the Sisters Ranger District Office on Highway 20 in Sister. It will start promptly at 10 a.m. and will finish by noon, officials said.

For more information about the pre-bid meeting, real estate brokers can contact Peggy Fisher, Contracting Officer Representative, at 541-815-0275 or plfisher@fs.fed.us. Real estate brokers also can look for the Broker Solicitation (#AG-04GG-S-16-0010) in FedBizOpps (www.fbo.gov).

The Forest Service plans to sell about 66 of the 80 acres of its administrative site in Sisters to acquire funding to build new more efficient and accessible administrative facilities on the remaining 13 acres from the property sale.

In Wednesday’s news release, the Forest Service said it “is selling this property now because there is a unique opportunity, with the current real estate market, to obtain enough funds from the property sale to build new more energy-efficient and accessible administrative facilities without additional cost to the taxpayer.”

The agency said, “There is a need to build new administrative facilities because the current Sisters Ranger District facilities do not adequately serve the needs of the public or Forest Service employees.

“For example, the fire warehouse cannot house today’s sized fire engines, the current offices lack wiring for today’s information technology, offices lack accessibility, temporary employees do not have any work areas, locker space or housing facilities.

“In addition, the aging buildings have significant backlog maintenance needs and do not meet current codes for accessibility and energy conservation, especially insulation, heating, and lighting.

“The cost of reconstructing these facilities to meet current standards and operational needs for staffing and equipment as well as completing backlog maintenance is not economically feasible with current budgets.

“Without the sale of the property, there is no funding to accomplish needed repairs and upgrades for the current facilities. Any costs associated with repairing and appropriately upgrading the facilities to meet current regulations would need to be funded by new tax dollars.”