Burns National Guard armory sold to Burns Paiute Tribe

The Oregon Military Department said Thursday it is scheduled to sell the Oregon Army National Guard armory in Burns to the Burns Paiute Tribe for a fair market price of $250,000.

The Burns Paiute Tribal Council will purchase the property at 619 S. Fairview Avenue, once terms of the land sale agreement are completed. The terms of the agreement are $225,000 down and $5,000 each year for the next five years. The tribal council approved the purchase last week.

“We are so grateful for the opportunity to purchase the armory and turn it into a wellness center for our community,” said Eric Hawley, tribal council chief.

The Burns Armory has been vacant since 2013. At that time, there were only eight Oregon Army National Guard soldiers living in Burns, assigned to a 21-person engineer unit. The remainder of soldiers in that unit lived in the greater Bend area. In 2012, the unit began conducting drill training at the Bend Armory and was officially re-stationed there in 2013.

Legislative approval to sell the armory was achieved in 2017 as part of Senate Bill 5506 and the sale was listed under terms defined by the Department of Administrative Services.