One of Central Oregon’s destination resorts has begun work on a three-story hotel that will sit near the core of the development.

Builders have started grading the site that will house Huntington Lodge, a 68,757-square-foot, 104-room hotel at Pronghorn Resort that’s expected to open by the fall of 2017.

“A new product is always appealing to visitors,” said Alana Hughson, president and CEO of the Central Oregon Visitors Association.

Pronghorn, located between Bend and Redmond off Powell Butte Highway, has been planning to build a hotel for some time. Documents filed with Deschutes County show that the resort initially planned to build a hotel in 2004, but an underground lava tube was discovered during utility construction, putting the project on hold. Anthony Raguine, senior planner with the Deschutes County Community Development Department, added that the Great Recession pushed the project further down the road.

Spencer Schaub, general manager at Pronghorn, said the resort revisited plans for a lodge a few years ago. While the resort has townhomes, known as The Residences, that are available for rent, their 48 overnight rooms fall short of the development requirements for the resort. Deschutes County building-permit information value the project at around $10.4 million.

Builders began site work on Huntington Lodge last summer, and Schaub said they’re nearly ready to lay the foundation. Raguine said the project is required to be finished by November 2017, and Schaub added that he expected it to be ready by early fall of that year.

When complete, Huntington Lodge will join an increasingly competitive hotel market in Deschutes County. Central Oregon Visitors Association lists more than 4,000 hotel rooms in and around Bend, including a couple of hotels that have recently been completed. Several prominent resorts and high-end hotels, including Tetherow Resort, have added new features to attract visitors in the last 12 months.

However, Hughson added that one of Central Oregon’s strengths as a travel destination is its variety of different topography.

Schaub said Huntington Lodge will attempt to leverage the resort’s geographic setting, with large windows that feature views of the Tom Fazio golf course in the foreground, with the Cascade Range in the background.

“You’ll have the panoramic view from Mount Bachelor all the way up to Mount Hood,” Schaub said.

He added that Huntington Lodge will attempt to strike a balance between rustic and modern.

“As tastes and palates change, we want to retain the Pacific Northwest feel, but we want to modernize,” Schaub said.

As a result, Schaub said Huntington Lodge provides a way for Pronghorn to attract more families with younger children, while helping the resort keep up with the market.

“As the resort itself has continued to grow, we have more demand than we have supply,” Schaub said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7818, shamway@bendbulletin.com