Bend, OR Land Sale Proceeds to Benefit Common School Fund

BEND, OR—Approximately 382 acres known as the Stevens Road Tract are being offered unpriced. The property is currently unentitled, but designated for development to a mix of residential, commercial and industrial land uses within the city of Bend comprehensive plan.

“Oregon will benefit tremendously from the sale of these school lands,” says Vicki L. Walker, director of the Oregon Department of State Lands. “Sale proceeds will go to the Common School Fund, which sends millions to Oregon’s public school districts every year. Development of the property also helps meet Bend’s growing housing needs.”

Cushman & Wakefield has been retained as exclusive advisor by Oregon Department of State Lands for marketing the acreage. The Cushman & Wakefield sales team is led by Matt Johnson and Mark Carnese of the firm’s local Portland office in collaboration with Matt Davis of the firm’s specialized land advisory group in San Diego, who is providing advisory service support.

“The Stevens Road Tract provides a very desirable central Oregon location next to the Old Farm neighborhood at the southeastern boundary of the city of Bend and offers a gorgeous view of the Cascades to the west,” said Johnson. “With a recently updated comprehensive plan in place, the property could be builder-ready after master plan and annexation approval for the project. At just over 382 acres, this expansive site presents the opportunity to create a substantial residential community with supporting commercial uses.”

Located at 21425 Stevens Rd., the site is located adjacent to 27th Street and Reed Market Road, major arterial streets serving this part of Bend. Highways 20 and 97 are both conveniently located within a few miles, with downtown Bend nearby. Approximately 369.9 acres of the site offering are zoned urbanizable area and will need to be annexed into the city as part of the project, while 12.15 acres are already within the city boundary and designated as standard density residential.

“Stakeholders see this development as an opportunity to provide much-needed housing with a mix of densities that will appeal to a broad spectrum of the market and to provide commercial services not currently located in the surrounding community,” Davis tells GlobeSt.com. “We are seeing strong initial interest from a range of prospects including local and regional builders, developers with master plan community experience, as well as capital partners interested in supporting a developer with experience in the market.”

The tract is surrounded by residential land uses to the north and west, rural undeveloped land to the east and Deschutes County Road Department facilities to the south.

“The local area boasts an attractive place to live and work, with many public parks and trails that will be further enhanced with the completion of the project,” adds Carnese.

With a population approaching 100,000 people, Bend is the largest urban area in Oregon east of the Cascade Mountains. Bend has been ranked in the top 15 fastest-growing US cities for four of the last five years and in 2018, it was ranked sixth-fastest US city for population growth. In-migration has been the primary factor in the area’s growth with about 7,000 new residents moving to the area every year. Bend serves as a regional service and trade center for Central Oregon, and has also been ranked second for fastest job growth in the US. More than two-thirds of all the jobs in the county are in Bend and many companies are continuing to relocate to the Bend area.

“We believe reasonably priced housing would be a welcome plan to help support the consistent and strong level of in-migration occurring,” says Davis.