A proposed business campus in Redmond will be one of the city’s largest and should attract new companies and jobs to the area, proponents say.

Corporate Park Place will consist of six buildings on a 9-acre site in the Airport Business Center. It will be located at the southeast corner of Southwest Sixth Street and the yet-to-be-built Southwest Salmon Drive, which will be built as an extension connecting to Southeast Salmon Drive.

David Multz, who owns the campus with business partner Gary Schwartz, said the proposed addition to Salmon Drive would serve as a corridor connecting Highway 97 with the Redmond Airport.

The corridor will improve park accessibility and visibility, Multz said.

”This is one of the reasons why we chose that particular site,” he said.

The project is still in its early planning stages and no tenants have been secured. Construction is expected to begin in January.

Redmond City Manager Mike Patterson says the development will be one of the largest in the growing city.

”It’s going to be a great addition to the inventory of the city,” Patterson said.

Airport Business Center developer Jean Wood agreed.

More development in Redmond will help meet the high demand for business space and could spur more development, she said.

”Activity breeds activity,” Wood said.

Currently, T-Mobile occupies the Airport Business Center’s largest building, which measures 77,000 square feet.

Two of the six buildings at the Corporate Business Park will be 20,000-square-foot office buildings. The other four will total 60,000 square feet and can serve as both office and industrial space.

Called ”flex-buildings” for their flexibility in use, the front of the four buildings will look like office or retail space and the back will serve more ”utilitarian” purposes, said Scott Steele of Steele Architects and Associates, the firm designing the buildings.

HSW Builders will head the construction. Bend broker Patrick Oliver is the commercial broker who will secure tenants.

Preliminary rental rates are $1.15 to $1.20 per square foot for office space in the flex buildings, 55 cents to 60 cents per foot for warehouse space in the flex buildings, and $1.50 per foot for space in the office buildings, Oliver said.

Steele Associates Architects began designing the buildings about three weeks ago.

The park is designed to screen the loading and unloading zones for trucks and other service vehicles from view. Garage doors can be removed and office fronts installed if office demand warrants it. Loading areas can double as parking spaces.

The buildings will be masonry.

”Flex buildings in Central Oregon have historically just been steel buildings,” Steele said. ”We want to set the bar and make this very attractive.

”We’re not looking to make like a mushroom-type building or a Frank Lloyd Wright (or) something bizarre that’s out of character for the area,” Multz said.

HSW will construct one flex building and one office building, and measure demand before deciding which type to build next, Schwartz said.

Steele’s firm will preserve as many of the trees in the area as possible, Multz said.

”In other words, we’re not bulldozing the entire property and starting from raw land,” Multz said.

The Bend investment company Pac Equities originally purchased the property, and Multz acquired it and formed Corporate Park Place LLC.

Welcomed by the city, Multz said he wants to ensure the final product meets expectations and fits into its surroundings.

”When people welcome you with open arms, you try to accommodate them,” Multz said.

Corporate Park Place

* The rendering below shows a ”flex building,” which can serve as office, retail or industrial space. Four flex buildings are planned as part of Corporate Park Place at the Airport Business Center in Redmond. Corporate Park Place also will feature two office buildings.