Ryan Brennecke / The BulletinAt Woodriver Village, a 42-year-old Bend subdivision across from Farewell Bend Park, work has begun to ready the area for a planned 13 new, custom homes. Some existing homes are being torn down.

Developers have started changing the face of Woodriver Village, a 42-year-old Bend subdivision on the edge of Reed Market Road near the Deschutes River.

Bend builder Larry Kine said he plans a total of 13 new, custom homes on seven lots, demolishing six older homes.

On Thursday, Beau Perrin, 34, eyed the backhoe slicing with its bucket into a stubborn stump on the lot across Alderwood Circle from the mobile home he and his brother shared for 12 years. Perrin had three days remaining to vacate the rental property, he said.

Kine is planning to demolish the home, which belongs to his father, R. Dean Kine, along with two more nearby homes that belong to Dan Mahoney.

Perrin took the redevelopment of his neighborhood in stride.

“I’m happy the guy bought it,” Perrin said. “It gets rid of the old crappy trailers and yards. It’ll modernize it, and give some people some nice homes.”

Larry Kine said he partnered with his father and Mahoney to redevelop the lots. Kine has already torn down three buildings along Southwest Reed Market between Alderwood and Birchwood Drive. He said he plans to erect five new homes there, including his own new residence.

“I wanted to live down there, personally, myself, and I was nervous someone would come buy the property and I wouldn’t have the opportunity,” Kine said Wednesday.

The curbside lots offer a fine view. Just across Reed Market Road are Farewell Bend Park and the Deschutes River. Beyond, bluffs rise abruptly above Riverbend Park. Another, smaller park, Woodriver, lies adjacent to and south of the property being cleared.

“It’s an amazing location,” Kine said

City senior planner Heidi Kennedy said the Kines and Mahoney have filed five applications to partition larger lots into smaller ones.

Expect to see more of that in Bend, said Andy High, staff vice president of government affairs for the Central Oregon Builders Association. With land available to build upon coming into short supply, infill will become the norm, he said Thursday.

The state also wants the city to increase housing density in developed areas before it adds to its urban growth boundary.

“Redevelopment will be more common in Bend,” High said. “In part because the state is pushing us to and partly because of the unavailability of land.”

Kine said the homes he wants to build will range in price from $500,000 to $1.2 million, and in size from 1,800 square feet to 4,200 square feet. He said his construction company, Equity Homebuilders, will build to suit.

“We customize from the ground up,” he said.

Two tenants were moved off the lots Kine cleared, he said Friday. After purchasing the property, Kine returned the tenants’ security deposits and allowed them to live 1½ months rent-free until they found new homes, he said.

“All the people we had in our places easily found other places to live and moved out readily,” Kine said. “We tried to go do what was right.”

Two tenants who rented homes on the Mahoney property had until Sunday to vacate, they said.

“The owner’s been awesome,” said Linda Garred . She’s lived on Southwest Elmwood Place for seven years, she said. “It’s been for sale for five years and then, bam! Everything sold. It’s been really fast.”

She and her roommate, Jeff, who declined to provide his last name, had at least 60 days notice but have yet to find a place. Mahoney could not be reached for comment.

Robert Swagger, a gas station attendant who lives next door to Garred, said he planned to ask Mahoney for an extension.

“Our landlord’s been really cool,” he said.

But finding a new home on what he and his fiancée can afford has been difficult, Swagger said. He said he’d prefer to stay in Bend and keep his daughter at the same school.

“All we’re running into is high rent,” he said. “High rent everywhere.”

The lack of affordable housing coupled with infill development may spell hardship for some low-income tenants, High said. Even during the recession, Bend continued to grow modestly, while housing construction ground nearly to a halt, he said. Builders need to address demand across all income levels, he said.

“We’re focusing on making sure we have enough entry-level and affordable housing,” High said. “I definitely feel for people.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.com