What: Carl’s Jr.

Where: Sunset Center, 2795 S. U.S. Highway 97, Redmond

Owner: Randolph Industrial Park LLC, Corvallis

Project engineer: Stability Engineering Inc., Corvallis

General contractor: Dickerhoof Construction LLC, Corvallis

Contact: 541-754-3630

Details: Renea Hutchings, who owns and operates the two Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Bend, is opening a third in Redmond.

Hutchings said she’s wanted to expand for some time and believes Redmond is the ideal place.

“Redmond has a good population base,” Hutchings said. “Carl’s Jr. probably should have gone in there four or five years ago.”

The restaurant will occupy 2,900 square feet of a roughly 3,800-square-foot building being constructed in the Sunset Center in south Redmond by developer Darren Dickerhoof, who owns the center through his company, Randolph Industrial Park LLC.

Dickerhoof originally negotiated with Sonic Drive-In to build a restaurant on the site, but he said Sonic dropped out after the site’s development was delayed by the Oregon Department of Transportation. ODOT had traffic concerns regarding the development that were eventually resolved with the construction of a median on U.S. Highway 97 in front of the mall, Dickerhoof said.

Sonic eventually built its restaurant near the Wal-Mart Supercenter in north Redmond. It opened in November.

Construction on the Carl’s Jr. building is slated to finish in October. Hutchings said she hopes to have the restaurant open later that month.

The remaining 900 square feet of the building is a separate retail unit that is available for lease. Other tenants in the center are Big 5 Sporting Goods, Dollar Tree and Rent-A-Center, which opened last month.

— Andrew Moore, The Bulletin