Skjersaa’s Sport Shop property for sale

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The property at 130 SW Century Drive, home to Skjersaa’s Sport Shop, a west-side Bend landmark, is for sale.

Fratzke Commercial Real Estate listed the two-story building and accompanying lot for sale recently at an asking price of $1.5 million. It’s one of a handful of available commercial properties suitable for retail tenants along Century Drive in proximity to the future site of Oregon State University-Cascades.

Jeremy Nelson, co-owner of Skjersaa’s with Shannon Casgar-Nelson since 1996, declined comment Tuesday when asked how the listing may impact the shop.

Terry and Judy Skjersaa opened the shop, built to look like a chalet, at that location 50 years ago, according to The Bulletin archives. Terry Skjersaa’s parents, Olaf and Grace Skjersaa, opened the first ski shop in Bend on 10th Street in 1938, Terry Skjersaa told The Bulletin in 2013.

The Skjersaa family also opened a ski shop at Mt. Bachelor — Bachelor Butte, at the time — before building the Century Drive shop and moving there in 1965, according to The Bulletin archives. The Skjersaas sold the shop and retired in 1996.

Martha Coker Merrill, the current property owner, decided the time is right to sell the 6,240-square-foot building on a one-third-acre lot, said Brian Fratzke, principal broker with the firm. Two apartments occupy the second floor.

“She’s been watching the market, watching what’s happening with OSU-Cascades, and when the LUBA decision came back, and the market looks good, she decided it’s time to sell,” Fratzke said, referring to the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

The board ruled June 8 that OSU may proceed with plans to develop a four-year university, starting on 10.4 acres on SW Century Drive at SW Chandler Avenue, a quarter-mile from Skjersaa’s.

Construction of the campus could begin next week with tree clearing, the university stated in a news release. It’s expected to eventually cover an additional 46 adjacent acres, according to the plan.

Consequently, interest on behalf of prospective buyers and retail tenants along SW Century Drive is high, said Fratzke and other commercial real estate brokers in Bend. A handful of suitable properties remain available between NW Albany Avenue and SW Mt. Washington Drive.

“Will there be more demand from retailers who want to leverage or capitalize on the university?” Fratzke asked. “The question is, where will they go?”

One vacant property, the 40,853-square-foot former Ray’s Food Place, just south of Skjersaa’s in the Westside Village commercial development, could be leased soon, said Russell Huntamer, a broker with Compass Commercial Real Estate Services. He said a prospective tenant, whom he declined to identify, has signed a nonbinding letter of intent.

Huntamer said nearly every prospect voices interest in leasing space close to the OSU-Cascades campus site, and brokers use the site as a selling point. Pat Kesgard, also a Compass Commercial broker, represents the owners of vacant commercial property across SW Century Drive from Skjersaa’s Sport Shop.

He said the local economy, now flush following the Great Recession, is driving up lease rates, but desire to locate near the campus site and the lack of available commercial property is also driving up rates. Tenants can expect to pay $1.60-$1.75 per square foot for property fronting the street.

“You could say there’s some incremental upward push because of OSU,” he said. “Primarily it’s due to limited retail space in that corridor. Are lease rates up because the economy is better and companies are feeling better? Probably. Those are bigger issues.”

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