BEND, OR -- Companies looking to expand in Bend continue to struggle with a lack of available land for new construction. 

“With the realignment of Highway 97 on the north end of Bend, we wiped out a number of industrial buildings on Nels Anderson. Some of those businesses just closed up. Others relocated - Redmond, wherever. But we have got less than 1% available out of 4.6 million square feet,” Pat Kesgard, with Compass Commercial Real Estate, says there is some building happening, “These are projects that were started as long as three years ago. And so, these were well in motion. There were either owners or strong financial tenants going into the building. So those are moving forward.”

He says the problem is more widespread than just the North Highway 97 Corridor, “We really don’t have, right now, much in the way of inventory for sale; be it office, retail, or industrial, or even land. People are sitting on it, they’re tight. It’s going to be an interesting year.”

For the few small vacant parcels available, Kesgard says, prices are skyrocketing, due to the lack of inventory. “The big challenge in Bend is land. There’s no industrial land available in Bend. People say, ‘well, what about Juniper Ridge?’ Well, the city opened up some of the property and two developers bought the majority of it that they’re willing to sell at this point, so they have tenants or they’re going to build buildings for rent. “

Kesgard doesn’t see the situation changing any time soon.