Bend advisory board reviews $8.9 million draft core-area investment strategy after property owner describes site troubles

Property owners and planning staff laid out competing views of opportunity and barriers in Bend’s central district on a meeting agenda dominated by a draft investment strategy that would direct $8.9 million over five years toward private development incentives, public activation projects and administrative capacity.

Connie Peterson, identified in the meeting as the property owner of 355 Northeast Second Street, and Christie Schmidt, identified as a broker with Compass Commercial, described a 1.5-acre parcel containing a 20,000-square-foot commercial building that they said has been difficult to sell. Peterson said the property has experienced increased houseless encampments, drug activity, graffiti and waste in the last 18 months, and that the owners have paid for private security and biohazard cleanup. Schmidt said an engineering detail in a prior platform-development decision depicts a future street connection that would bisect the property and remove roughly one-third of usable development land, which they said reduced buyer interest and required price reductions.

"We still believe this is an extremely unique opportunity for the city of Bend given its size and location," Christie Schmidt told the advisory board, asking the board to consider the site's potential as a catalyst for central-district redevelopment. Connie Peterson described personal and estate constraints, saying the family has tried leasing and owner-financing options and that maintenance and cleanup costs have been significant.

In the meeting's primary presentation, city staff (presenter identified in the transcript as Jonathan, staff member) outlined a draft core-area investment and economic-development strategy that groups proposed actions into four buckets: create place and foster vibrancy; move the market (incentives and catalytic development); strengthen brand and marketing; and leverage capacity and build internal support. The staff summary projects a five-year program of investments totaling $8,900,000 that aims to leverage at least three private projects with a combined private investment target of $100 million.

Key proposals in the draft strategy included a high-value-property map and activation map to identify catalyst sites, conceptual block and site-design renderings, a core-area revitalization (facade) program renamed "Care for Our Core," a green-rebate program to encourage interim greening by existing property owners, a core-area small-business loan product, an affordable-housing loan program (staff said the program targets households at or below 90% of area median income for certain measures and 80%/60% definitions depending on unit type), catalytic development/land-acquisition tools, a branding and annual-investment-summit line item, and funding for an additional urban-renewal staff position. Staff listed proposed funding amounts for the buckets (illustrative): create/place/vibrancy $2,500,000; market/catalyst programs $5,350,000; branding/marketing $250,000; and staffing/capacity $400,000.

Board members and outside stakeholders flagged several issues for follow-up. Questions included how the platform decision’s street-connection requirement applies to the Peterson property and whether the $3.9 million placeholder in the capital-improvement program for sewer work remains appropriate. Parks representatives said activation and park identification work overlapped and urged clearer alignment between parks priorities and the activation map; other board members urged prioritizing near-term greening such as street trees. Staff and board members noted the strategy is a draft and will be refined in coming months with a plan to produce a final recommendation for adoption by the Urban Renewal Agency (Burra) in December; staff proposed returning a more developed draft to the board in October.

Matt Stewart, who identified himself as "Matt Stewart, real estate, facilities and housing," said city staffing and existing programs provide continuity for implementing loan products and emphasized coordination across departments for administration.

Multiple board members said they support the overall direction and the strategy’s North Star — leveraging modest public investment to catalyze substantially larger private investment in the Bend Central District — while asking staff for additional detail on individual projects and funding allocations. Councilor Mike Bradley (identified in the transcript as a councilor) reminded attendees of upcoming work sessions and joint meetings related to midtown/Franklin decisions that will factor into funding choices.

Staff announced next steps would include a refined draft for the October meeting, continued engagement with the Bend Central District Business Association and other partners, and scheduled joint meetings with the city council and traffic/business oversight committees to review the Franklin/platform design and capital priorities. No formal vote to adopt the investment strategy took place at the meeting; staff said the board will return recommendations to Burra and the council for policy decisions and potential budget adjustments.