Local News

Redmond Sees Exponential Growth

REDMOND, OR -- Redmond has seen exponential growth in new housing starts. Mayor George Endicott tells KBND News, "Last year, the entire year, we had 159 building permits. This year, so far, we have 156. So, you know, if that trend keeps up, it would almost double." He says commercial developments aren’t moving quite as quickly, "Right now, it is so expensive to build – you know, land, labor, materials – because of all the demand, we’re having trouble finding speculators, in particular, that are willing to build industrial buildings. But, even given that, our building permits are up 56% over last year."

 

Overall, he says, it points to a booming city, "Total plans, right now, we’ve got 243 actually in our Planning Department that are being approved. So, it is a growing area. And, as our staff said, every house that’s being built is being sold."

 

Endicott also hopes several proposed projects will revitalize downtown. including plans to renovate the New Redmond Hotel into a boutique hotel. And, on Wednesday, several potential developers took part in a tour of Redmond’s former City Hall building, at  SW 7th and Evergreen. Endicott would like to see it converted to some type of housing - maybe condos, "Some sort of a multi-family unit, there; hopefully upper-end. You know, get some people in town for disposable income." He says that could stimulate the creation of more night-time activities in downtown. "There’s more and more of an evening –restaurants and so forth – down there. But, if you get people actually living there, then chances are there’s an opportunity for even more entertainment and things like that." The building was vacated when the new City Hall opened just two blocks away, earlier this year. Mayor Endicott says it could be a couple of months before they secure a plan for the old facility.
 
To hear more of our conversation with Redmond Mayor George Endicott, click HERE or visit our Podcast Page

 

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