Atlas Hard Cider to open tasting room in Bend

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 10, 2014

Bend’s Atlas Hard Cider Co. plans to open a tasting room at the Old Mill Marketplace, becoming the latest development in the effort to create a business district along the Arizona-Colorado corridor.

Atlas owner Dan McCoy said the tasting room should open next month and will feature gourmet pretzels and ciders from around the globe.

Setting up shop in the marketplace, an old box factory located east of SW Bond Street between NW Arizona Avenue and SW Industrial Way represents a step into the spotlight for the company, which opened its cidery on SE Wilson Avenue in spring 2013.

The 1,800-square-foot suite at the marketplace puts Atlas in proximity to a tour company and roughly between Deschutes Brewery and Crux Fermentation Project, not to mention a stone’s throw from downtown and the Old Mill District.

“It also ties us in much better with the craft tourism that is such a big part of Bend,” McCoy said. “The new owners (of the marketplace) have a really cool vision of making that a new hub of business, to bring a fresh vitality to that prime area. They really like the idea of getting me in there and other businesses that can complement each other.”

In the last six months, Compass Commercial Real Estate Services, which manages the marketplace, has signed Atlas and re-signed existing tenants Picky Bars and Recharge Sport to larger spaces in the building, said Compass broker Russell Huntamer. A fourth tenant, the Longboard Store, is also considering a move to a larger space, he said.

“The current ownership has really excellent timing, coupled with the horsepower to provide tenant improvements and whatever else is necessary to get these tenants through the door,” Huntamer said.

In 2013, affiliate companies of Killian Pacific, a family-owned commercial real estate and investment firm based in Vancouver, Washington, bought the 4.32-acre marketplace property for $6.35 million and nearly 5 acres directly to the east for about $1.23 million, according to county records. The purchases were separate transactions.

Huntamer and Compass brokers Jay Lyons and Krista Polvi said Killian Pacific plans to improve the marketplace and develop the adjacent property. The plan capitalizes on the location in a corridor where other developers have shown interest in creating a “live-work feel,” Lyons said. Eugene-based Market of Choice, for example, plans to break ground on a 35,000-square-foot grocery store in March across Arizona Avenue from the Old Mill Marketplace, company President Rick Wright said Thursday. Other developers have proposed townhouses and condominiums in the area between the Colorado Avenue bridge and U.S. Highway 97.

Polvi said Killian Pacific plans to add a patio on the southeast side of the marketplace and improve the parking lot. Work is expected to begin in May, Huntamer said.

“It’s a major step in this property’s transition from having a kind of industrial or primarily industrial-type feel to something more mixed-use, a livable community,” Lyons said.

The two largest spaces inside the marketplace remain empty, but Compass aims to fill one with a beer hall and the other with a high-tech startup.

Immersion Brewing LLC, an Oregon corporation, in September proposed a “small brew pub” at the marketplace, but the owner, Sean Lampe, said Wednesday he’s not ready to commit to a lease.

— Reporter: 541-617-7815,

jditzler@bendbulletin.com

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected. In the original version, the state where Immersion Brewing is located was incorrect.

The Bulletin regrets the error.