PAGE 2 • HERMISTON HERALD/EAST OREGONIAN
SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015
PENDLETON & HERMISTON
Housing starts bounce back in 2014
BY ANTONIO SIERRA
AND JADE MCDOWELL
EO MEDIA GROUP
For years, Pendleton has been a
home away from home for many
workers in the city.
While Pendleton has its share of
large employers, many workers are
forced to commute into town after
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Efforts from both the public and
private sector attempted to reverse
that trend in 2014.
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the housing market was the Pendle-
ton Heights housing development,
a collaboration between the city
and Cascade Management Inc.
The city loaned Cascade
$973,215 for infrastructural im-
provements while the Portland
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gle-family units of a planned 72-
unit development.
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Heights will be the launch pad for
future housing developments.
“The (city) council has demon-
strated through this project that the
city is open for business,” said city
manager Robb Corbett.
Northeast of Pendleton Heights’
Tutuilla Road location, the Village
Apartments’ 16-unit addition has
already been open for months.
Although the building permits
were issued last year, the addition
to the Southwest Frazier complex
wasn’t completed until last sum-
mer.
Before the apartments were
opened, co-owner Jeff Zimmerman
Housing Permits
Permits issued and value, by month
Month Pendleton
Hermiston
January 3 ($629,556)
2 ($318,603)
February 1 ($235,129)
none
March
2 ($185,000)
5 ($904,817)
April
1 ($138,902)
3 ($509,539)
May
1 ($194,630)
2 ($464,328)
June
1 ($209,430)
5 ($1,025,812)
July
24 ($4,973,756)
8 ($1,487,777)
August 1 ($189,285)
2 ($532,065)
September 5 ($1,527,376)
6 ($1,199,692)
October none
2 ($321,489)
November none
4 ($645,500)
December none
8 ($1,610,023)
Total
39 ($8,283,064)
47 ($9,019,645)
Source: Cities of Hermiston and Pendleton
JADE MCDOWELL PHOTO
A new house goes up on Damsel Court in Hermiston, part of the new Castle Homes development off Highland Avenue.
said his units were perfect for
middle income families.
Last year was a busy year for
housing in Pendleton, and 2015
suggests more activity.
The city recently agreed
with Walker LLC of Portland
to spend $25,000 on designs to
extend King Avenue for a pro-
posed housing development
by Blue Mountain Community
College.
It was also a good year for
Hermiston, which handed out
the most building permits for
new homes since the pre-reces-
sion housing bubble in 2007.
The city awarded 47 permits
for single-family dwellings in
2014, representing a total of $9
million in new housing. That
number was up from 37 houses
and six apartments in 2013.
Permit logs show that most
of the homes were singular proj-
ects spread throughout the city.
The largest cluster was a set of
six homes on Southwest 14th
Street by Castle Homes in the
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by four on Damsel Court, all of
which form a new subdivision
just off Highland Avenue west
of Hermiston.
July and December were the
busiest months of the year, with
eight permits apiece. Hermiston
permit technician Heidi Wilson
said the warmer months tended to
see the most permits, so the up-
tick in December was a surprise.
“Usually December is our
slow month,” she said.
Wilson said contractors have
six months to begin building
once they receive a permit from
the city.
EOTEC construction will continue through year
ceremony took place Dec. 4.
The new EOTEC site is sched-
uled to be complete in time to
After years of planning, host the 2016 Umatilla County
FRQVWUXFWLRQ¿QDOO\EHJDQRQ Fair and Farm-City Pro Rodeo.
the Eastern Oregon Trade and
Barton Laser Leveling,
Event Center in 2014, and the a Hermiston company, was
major buildings are sched- awarded the first construction
uled to be completed in the contract in November to per-
year ahead.
form rough grading at the site
EOTEC Authority Board and install water and sewer lines
member Dan Dorran said the and the stormwater system.
city began the process of pur-
The EOTEC board agreed
chasing the land for the site to begin soliciting bids for the
near the Hermiston airport in design and construction of the
1982, and a ground-breaking event center at its December
BY SEAN HART
EO MEDIA GROUP
meeting, and Project Manager
Gary Winsand, Frew Devel-
opment Group, said he hoped
to be able to recommend a
contractor to the board at the
meeting this month. Accord-
ing to a tentative schedule
from FDG, construction could
begin as soon as February,
with a scheduled completion
date in September.
An FDG report states the
company anticipates being
able to solicit bids in February
for the design and construc-
tion of the other two major
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structures, the rodeo grounds
and livestock barns, for the
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at the site to host the 2016
fair and rodeo. The tentative
schedule shows the barns be-
ing completed in August and
the rodeo grounds completed
in September.
At the groundbreaking
ceremony, EOTEC Authority
Board Chairman Ed Brook-
shier said, even after the ini-
tial construction is complete,
the project will continue.
“What we’re going to be
doing here in the next year
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he said. “It’s a great part. It’s
the anchor, if you will, with
the fair and the rodeo, (but)
the initial development is
only going to take up 20, 25
(or) 30 percent of the whole
site. What this will mean for
decades for this community
and this whole area: We’re
only limited by our vision.”
Published by the East
Oregonian
211 S.E. Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR
97801
541-276-2211
800-522-0255
© 2015
EO Media Group
Stories by the East
Oregonian and
Hermiston Herald staff
Page design by
Doug Sanders,
EO Media Group
M ain Street Service
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