LA PINE, OR -- La Pine is a step closer to attracting manufacturers and traded sector businesses, thanks to $1.5-million approved by the 2023 legislature for the La Pine Incubator Project.

“We are in desperate need of industrial space to help manufacturers or traded sector businesses to locate in the community,” says Patricia Lucas, Executive Director of La Pine - Sunriver Economic Development, “What we're proposing to do is to construct a 9,000 square-foot multi-tenant building to help companies through primarily their initial growth stages.”

Lucas tells KBND News there is a county-owned industrial park in La Pine’s city limits where the new building could be located. There are a variety of industries they hope to attract. “Specialty beverage, advanced manufacturing…We have some technology firms that we're working with. The whole goal of an incubator is to work with businesses and provide them with assistance that will help them to become more successful as they go through their growth cycle,” says Lucas.

The city of La Pine thanked Representative E. Werner Reschke for work in Salem to get the capital funding request. “Through this funding, the City will be able to increase these efforts through facilitating the shared goal of fiscal stability for our region, and the improvement of quality of life for its citizenry”.