Juniper Ridge, the 1,500 acres of city-owned land north of Bend, not the community of homeless encampments, could soon be incrementally sold for development after more than a decade of uncertainty.

The city is starting the process with roughly 200 acres of light industrial and commercial land that is within the city’s urban growth boundary near Cooley Road. Five tracts were preliminarily approved for sale in a unanimous vote by the Bend City Council on Wednesday. 

A decade ago, Bend City Manager Eric King, who has been in the position for 16 years, argued the city ought not lose its vision for Juniper Ridge. At the time, the plan could have included selling all or part of the land to a master developer, partnering with a private company or hiring outside the city to see the project through, according to The Bulletin archives.

Ultimately, “the city’s traditionally not in the development business,” King said at the time.

That statement still rings true today as the city’s ever-changing vision for Juniper Ridge has finally become realized.

“The city never really envisioned itself as the developer of Juniper Ridge,” King said Thursday.

Pre-2008 recession, when plans to sell the land first took root, the city had aspirations of Juniper Ridge becoming a vibrant business park and university campus with housing, trails and parks.

But the real estate market, the needs of the community and the land uses within Juniper Ridge have all changed since then.

“Expecting 30 Les Schwab headquarters is unrealistic,” said Matt Stuart, the city’s real estate director.

The city has been able to attract a few businesses to Juniper Ridge over the years, including Les Schwab Tire Co.’s headquarters.

Among the others are biotech company Suterra, Pacific Power’s parent company PacifiCorp and mailing service BMS Technologies. The city also approved plans last year to create a new roughly 30-acre, $130-million public works campus off of Cooley Road, which will house five city departments in a three-story building, vehicle storage and fleet storage and maintenance facilities.

The city’s hope and goal is to attract even more development. Ideally, Juniper Ridge will be desirable in a time when regionally-operated businesses are attempting to keep pace with Central Oregon’s population growth while dealing with scarce commercial and industrial land within Bend’s city limits.

“They’re all growing as Bend grows and they all have storage needs, warehousing needs and office needs,” Stuart said.

The city has never gotten this far in previous attempts to develop Juniper Ridge. The property lines have to be finalized and the city must solicit and approve any development proposals.

Once the city kick-starts the process to solicit project proposals, which could begin as soon as next week, the City Council will eventually decide which businesses will be established in Juniper Ridge.

But it’s important the city doesn’t develop in isolation, King said.

Surrounding Juniper Ridge are a confluence of numerous projects, including rerouting U.S. Highway 97, a new Costco Wholesale Corp. and other commercial space and hundreds of units of housing.

“You’re really seeing the emergence of a regional center there,” King said.

It’s not just a big-box store shopping center, he said. It’s intended to be a job center and a complete community, he said. The north side of town can be a major throughput with amenities, he said, and all of it will function alongside the future development of Juniper Ridge.