A Spokane, Washington, couple who own and operate Best Western hotels have purchased property in Bend with plans to build a hotel.

Rita and John Santillanes Jr. purchased two adjoining lots on the northeast side of the roundabout at SW Mt. Washington, SW Yates and SW Century drives. The purchase price was not disclosed in the deed recorded Dec. 1 by the Deschutes County Clerk.

The Santillaneses operate two Best Westerns in Washington and are building a third in Nampa, Idaho, estimated to cost $5 million. Valerie Santillanes, marketing director of Peppertree Hospitality, Spokane, said the company plans to build a Best Western Premier hotel on the Bend property, but it has not finalized plans nor filed an application with the Bend Community Development Department.

She said the hotel could have 120 rooms, a bar and lounge, pool and spa. She estimated a summer 2017 groundbreaking, depending on the speed of the city permitting process.

“I think that market’s pretty hot,” Valerie Santillanes said Thursday. “There are a lot of new businesses coming into that area. We went to Bend (prior to the sale) and honestly love it.”

The new hotel, located at the last roundabout in Bend before the 20-mile drive to Mt. Bachelor ski area, would cater to skiers and snowboarders, she said. “I don’t know exactly what or exactly how just yet, but that’s in the plan.”

The Peppertree Hospitality plan brings to five the number of hotels planned, built or opened since June 2015 in Bend. Most recently, the city issued a building permit Jan. 15 for a Marriott Springhill Suites hotel, a project with an estimated value of $10.4 million, on SW Industrial Way on the site of the old Brooks-Scanlon crane shed. A My Place hotel, part of a South Dakota-based chain, opened on SW Bond Street near SW Bluff Drive in the Old Mill District, in December. A Hampton Inn & Suites opened on SW Columbia Street in September. And InnSight Hotel Management Group in July filed a preliminary plan with the city for a 100-room hotel on property it purchased for $2.1 million on NW Wall Street across from Pioneer Park.

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