Location: Bend, Oregon

Susan Kime

01/01/2005

The mountain town of bend, ore., with its dramatic vistas, crisp air, clean water, thriving gallery and culinary scene and every outdoor recreational activity under the sun, is fast becoming the new Aspen. Mount Bachelor attracts world-class skiers, the famed Pacific Crest Trail brings hikers, the National Volcanic Monument lures mountain bikers and rock hounds, and the Deschutes, McKenzie and Metolius rivers reel in white-water rafters and fly fishermen. In addition, Bend is still relatively undiscovered, and it boasts 300 days of sunshine and golf–lots of it.

What started as a timber town in the 1900s matured into one of the nation’s hottest ski destinations. But Bend, with its enviable weather–summer temperatures average 78 degrees and annual rainfall is minimal, unlike nearby Portland–is quickly becoming the Northwest’s premier golf destination with its 25 courses, surrounded by master-planned luxury communities, and its extra-long golf season. No wonder Bend is nationally ranked as one of the best places to retire.

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I’ve never been this busy,” says real estate broker Chuck Overton of Coldwell Banker Morris Real Estate. “We are seeing 15 percent appreciation on bare land compared to the usual 5 to 8 percent. And every month for the last 12 months, we have been up 10 to 20 percent in sales.” In this high desert plateau region, homes and lots ranging from $500,000 to $3 million are as commonplace as the native ponderosa pines and sagebrush.

Sunriver Resort, open since 1968, is the area’s first planned community. Southwest of Bend, Sunriver’s 4,000 homes and condo offerings are 96 percent built out, but home resale activity is bustling (properties range from $300,000 to $2 million). “We have 12 resales on the market–the smallest inventory we’ve had in years,” says real estate broker John Fettig. When a townhome project sold out quickly in 2003, Fettig says, a 12-unit condo project broke ground soon after and garnered 41 written offers in a special one-day offering.

Sunriver guests and residents enjoy three championship golf courses, a country club, a 35,000-square-foot spa fac-ility and racquet club, an executive airport and a shopping village on the 3,300-acre property.

Crosswater, Sunriver’s newest high-end development, centers around a semiprivate golf course that is nationally ranked. At press time, only six of the 117 homesites remained (priced from $350,000 to $600,000). A new Sunriver resort development will open in 2006 across the street, offering 350 homesites and 75 condo units.

Broken Top, a gated golf community 20 miles northwest of Bend, is named after a dormant volcano and has 669 single-family homesites (from $339,000 to $3.2 million) and 201 attached townhomes (from $189,000 to $479,000); 400 of the homesites are for custom homes. Lava outcroppings and deep lakes make its private golf course unusually challenging. The 27,000-square-foot clubhouse, designed by Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Woo, overlooks stunning views of the Cascade Mountains.A sister development, the Highlands at Broken Top, comprises 37 10-acre estate lots, priced from $525,000 to $675,000. At press time, 13 lots remained. “We’ve had such good success selling Highlands, we are proceeding to submit an additional 15 lots,” says real estate broker Cate Cushman of Cushman & Co. Preferred Properties.

West of Bend are the Black Butte Ranch and Eagle Crest developments. Black Butte, originally a cattle ranch, has built more than 1,200 private homes and condos and two golf courses since 1970. Only six homes, two condominiums, four fractional ownership properties and one lot, priced at $525,000, were available at press time.

The developer of Eagle Crest has a huge presence in Oregon with five golf course communities; the sixth development is in the works. Eagle Crest currently has 300 available homesites, from $200,000 to $500,000. Last October, 10 Eagle Crest condominiums sold in a single day.

The gate house at Pronghorn. (Click image to enlarge)

While vacationers and second home buyers from across the nation are snatching up property in Bend, many real estate investors come from Seattle, Portland and California. Even Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio have come to the area, both designing courses in the $150 million luxury community of Pronghorn. In the 640-acre development, estate homesites, priced from $400,000 to $1.8 million, are selling fast; only 119 lots remain.

Surrounded by 20,000 acres of federally protected land, Pronghorn’s third estate home building phase opened in November 2004 with 59 lots, 48 of which front the Fazio course and average $750,000; phase one of the residence club and villas will open in July and November 2005, respectively. The 76 shared-ownership villas will be priced from $140,000 to $425,000, and the 120 villas will range from $950,000 to $2 million.

“The brisk sales don’t surprise me at all,” says Scott Denney, president of Pronghorn Properties Inc.

Developer Mark Chapman agrees. “I often say that the Bend/Sunriver area is just like that of Palm Springs seven or eight years ago. It used to be a secret, but now the word is out.”
FACTS & STATS

BY AIR: Redmond Municipal Airport, 16 miles north of Bend, offers daily flights on Horizon Air (800.547.9308, www.horizonair.com) and United Express (800.864.8331, www.skywest.com), while Sunriver Airport welcomes charter and private jets (888.780.4438). Portland is a 40-minute flight from Bend, Seattle is a 66-minute flight, and San Francisco is a two-hour flight.

COMING SOON: The 1,800-acre Brasada Ranch resort and development broke ground on Powell Butte in late 2004. Sales for its 900 homes and condos will start in the spring (lots are expected to average $300,000). Each home will have a “smart” box, which facilitates lighting, security, HVAC and audiovisual control from anywhere in the world via the Internet. Brasada Ranch’s Peter Jacobsen/Jim Hardy—designed course opens in 2006. The Tribute, another development between Bend and Redmond, will feature Arnold Palmer— and Ben Crenshaw—designed golf courses and 650 home lots on its 1,200 acres. Look for a spring 2007 opening.

MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK: Compared with Sun Valley, Aspen and Jackson Hole real estate prices, buyers can get more for their money in Bend. A 43-acre Bend-area estate, with a 9,490-square-foot, five-bedroom home, is listed at $3.5 million; a 1,825-plus-acre estate with multiple homes, including several two- to five-car garages, is listed at $4.75 million.

DOWNTOWN DOINGS: Bend is reaping the benefits of a $22 million urban renewal plan. The Old Mill District, a 240-acre mixed-use development along the Deschutes River, is a quick walk to downtown and offers shopping, a theater, restaurants, galleries and an outdoor amphitheater. Residential offerings will include townhouses in Otter Run (from $475,000 to $900,000), as well as some condos and single-family homes that are still in the planning stages.

REALTOR 101:
Chuck Overton, Coldwell Banker Morris Real Estate, 888.858.1865, www.chuckoverton.com
Cate Cushman, Cushman & Co. Preferred Properties, 800.382.7690, www.bendluxuryhomes.com
Scott Denney, Pronghorn Properties Inc., 800.541.9424
John Fettig, Sunriver Realty, 800.547.3920, www.sunriverrealty.com

THE PARTICULARS:
Black Butte Ranch, 800.452.7455, www.blackbutteranch.com
Brasada Ranch, 888.244.6015, www.brasada.com
Broken Top/The Highlands at Broken Top, 541.383.7600, www.brokentop.com, www.highlandsatbrokentop.com
Eagle Crest, 800.845.8491, www.eagle-crest.com
Pronghorn, 800.541.9424, www.pronghornclub.com
Sunriver Resort, 800.547.3922, www.sunriver-resort.com
The Tribute, 760.567.5039