TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2022 • Redmond, Oregon • $1
INSIDE » Paint the Town Red:
Art walk expands again, A3
redmondspokesman.com
A special good morning to subscriber D. Evans
@RedmondSpox
As pandemic
winds down,
downtown
businesses
bounce back
Cascade East Transit
to launch pilot bus routes
in Redmond
BY LEO BAUDHUIN
Redmond Spokesman
ALL
ABOARD!
Leo Baudhuin/Redmond Spokesman
A passenger boards a bus in Redmond on Thursday, July 21 to Bend.
BY LEO BAUDHUIN • Redmond Spokesman
R
edmond is slated to launch two bus routes in the city
next year, a first step toward what could soon be a
fully functioning public transportation system in the
city.
“Redmond is growing,” said Derek Hofbauer, the outreach
and engagement administrator at Cascade East Transit and
Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council. “It needs a better
transit system to support the population.”
Each bus will each have 18 seats, with an Americans with Disabilities
Act-accessible ramp that lowers to the ground to allow people in wheel-
chairs to board.
The buses will loop through northeast and southeast Redmond, hit-
ting stops that include Walmart, the senior center, Redmond Hub and
the Redmond Airport. The routes follow a flex model, which means
that drivers are able to deviate up to a half mile from a fixed route to
pick up or drop off passengers who call in to request service ahead of
time.
CET currently provides Redmond with connecting buses to Bend,
Madras, Prineville and Sisters. Within the city, there’s a dial-a-ride, a
shared service that provides rides on demand from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
on weekdays. Although those services are available to the general pub-
lic, passengers must schedule their trips at least 24 hours in advance.
See Bus / A4
City of Redmond
Proposed bus routes.
REDMOND
Expion360 looks to build $450M facility
BY MICHAEL KOHN
CO Media Group
Redmond-based Lithium battery
producer Expion360 Inc. has unveiled
plans for a $450 million facility to be
built close to the company’s current
headquarters on the southern outskirts
of the city. It’s a big bet for a small com-
pany but one that could pay large div-
idends to Central Oregon in the form
of jobs and taxes.
Expion360 plans to produce 250,000
to 500,000 lithium cells a day and oc-
cupy a roughly 100-acre campus, ac-
cording to company founder John
Yozamp. Plans remain tentative as Ex-
pion360 has yet to purchase the land it
needs for the project.
Expion360, founded in 2016, is try-
ing to move its lithium cell production
from China during an unprecedented
era of global supply chain break-
downs. Yozamp says that producing
lithium batteries in the U.S. gives him
a tighter grip on the lithium cell sup-
ply chain, heading off bottlenecks and
delays associated with overseas pro-
duction.
“The focus of our company is to
control our supply chain vertically,”
said Yozamp, who previously founded
Zamp Solar, a Bend-based company
that builds portable solar panels for
RVs and outdoor recreational use.
The proposed facility would also
take a sizable footprint in the city. At
one million square feet, the new build-
ing will be equivalent to about seven
Costcos put together.
After a couple years of so-
cial distancing, mask man-
dates and other COVID-19
regulations, Redmond’s down-
town is bustling and open for
business.
A handful of new busi-
nesses are taking the opportu-
nity to establish themselves in
the community as foot traffic
and indoor dining return.
Redmond economic devel-
opment and urban renewal
manager Chuck Arnold said
the city lost its fair share of
businesses to the pandemic,
both due to a lack of custom-
ers and a change in attitude
among entrepreneurs.
“This happened all over the
world,” he said. “ (It was) an op-
portunity to assess: Is this ex-
actly what I want to be doing?”
For some people, that an-
swer was no. But those deci-
sions offered opportunities for
a new generation of business
owners.
“Conversely, you had a large
group of people that said, ‘I
don’t really want to work for
somebody else anymore,’” Ar-
nold said. “‘Now’s the time for
me to pursue my dream.’”
From food carts to store-
fronts, they did. The new
downtown businesses include
bars and community spaces
like Otto’s Landing and retail
spots like the kitchen store
Arome.
Arnold said about 100
restaurant and retail loca-
tions are currently occupied
in downtown Redmond —
roughly 88% of total store-
fronts.
Otto’s Landing
Otto’s Landing opened its
doors at 652 NW Seventh St.
just under two months ago.
The space features indoor and
outdoor seating, with four
food carts available outdoors
for dining and a bar and tele-
visions to watch live sports
inside. The second floor of
the premises, which includes
some pool tables, are reserved
for those ages 21 and up. The
first floor boasts arcade games
and a children’s play area.
“It’s hard to find a spot for
kids if you’re a young family,”
Otto’s owner Nick Olson said.
“The kid room was my wife’s
idea of having a space where
kids can be kids and play and
have fun,” while still allowing
adults a space to be adults.
The pandemic wasn’t a huge
issue for Otto’s. Owners took
the peak of the pandemic as
an opportunity to plan and
build the space they wanted
— and then open as pandemic
restrictions eased.
See Business / A4
The Spokesman uses
recycled newsprint
INDEX
Calendar ........A2
Puzzles ...........A2
Obituaries .....A6
Classifieds .....A6
Volume 112, No. 47
USPS 778-040
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
See Expion360 / A4 Chris Finlaw processes lithium batteries at Expion360 in Redmond on July 14.
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