A Portland-area couple has purchased Elk Lake Resort, the getaway on the Cascade Lakes Highway with a restaurant, marina and cabins about 30 miles west of Bend.

Patrick and Wendy Prieve, Newberg residents and former senior directors with Nike and Columbia Sportswear, paid $2.2 million to buy the resort from a group of local owners, according to a deed filed with the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office.

The couple started negotiating with the local ownership group this summer, Wendy Prieve said. They have already started an expansion of the lodge kitchen, and could make other upgrades in the coming months. But they’re mostly looking to keep the status quo at the resort west of Mount Bachelor. Elk Lake Resort sits on land owned by the U.S. Forest Service and operates with a conditional-use permit.

“It’s such a cool place, you don’t want to change anything,” Wendy Prieve said Tuesday.

Bend residents Mitch and Traci Cole, Jim and Nansee Bruce, Frank and Nancy Ring, and another unidentified person bought Elk Lake Resort in May 2006, six months after it abruptly closed for the 2005-06 winter season.

The year-round resort has long been a popular destination for boaters in the summer and snowmobilers and Nordic skiers, who can reach Elk Lake from Dutchman Flat or Wanoga sno-parks. The resort has also provided Sno-Cat service from the sno-parks in the past. Cascade Lakes Highway closes to automobile traffic at Mount Bachelor in the winter.

Mitch Cole said the local group recently decided to find a buyer who would actively manage the property, keeping up with the improvements they’ve made over seven years.

The previous owners renovated the resort’s lodge, first built in the 1920s, and fixed up several of the 10 guest cabins and three camping cabins around the property.

They also expanded the marina, installed new water and heating systems and upgraded some of the nearby roads.

“We didn’t really feel like owners, more like caretakers,” Cole said. “We’ve put every dollar we made into the resort. … It was just time.”

Wendy Prieve is at the resort now, and Patrick is winding down his business in the Portland area before moving down in the next several weeks.

After nearly 25 years working in the city, Wendy said, the couple wanted to move to Bend and enjoy the outdoors more. They plan to split their time between Bend and Elk Lake.