The owner of a property on Division Street north of downtown Bend would like to transform the area with a high-end office building taking advantage of river views.

Cliff Brooks does not consider himself a developer, but the former Microsoft Corp. manager would like the property to become a ”lead horse for revitalization of Northeast Division” Street, he said.

The existing Waterside Building, a four-story structure located south of Riverview Park and adjacent to the Deschutes River, was built in the 1970s in a neighborhood now dominated by used-car lots, various commercial buildings and a few homes.

On the back side of the building, the Des-chutes River makes its last bend before the First Street Rapids spillway.

”When I saw the property, I saw what Bend used to be 25 to 30 years ago,” Brooks said, referring to the tranquil setting, which includes a lazy river, waterfowl and rimrock.

The building will be torn down in the spring when Brooks begins his plans to create Ponderosa Pointe, a 25,000-square-foot, 30-foot-tall office building. Plans call for modern steel-frame construction on the street side and construction that reflects the river on the other, he said. He also would maintain the old- growth ponderosa pines.

The $8 million project would not obstruct river views, Brooks said.

Ponderosa Pointe would become a professional home for software companies, graphic designers, financial and legal services and would boost a neighborhood in need of redevelopment, said Brian Fratske, a broker with Lowes Commercial Properties.

”This is an area in flux with a high number of vacancies,” Fratske said. ”It will be a destination building that is three minutes from downtown with freeway access. You can’t get a view like this anywhere else.”

The building’s makeover could help lead to a transformation of Division Street, said Mark Radabaugh, regional representative in Central Oregon for the Department of Land Conservation and Development.

”It would be a natural economic transition for that area that would make sense,” Radabaugh said.

Bend’s economic development process has already occurred north of Franklin Avenue on Third Street, Radabaugh said.

”If you go back to what Bend was 30 years ago, it was very different to what Bend is now,” he said. ”It’s a natural part of economic development as the population continues to grow. But these things don’t happen overnight.”

Given the area’s proximity to downtown, Mel Oberst, the city of Bend’s community development director, would expect neighboring property values to go up as well with the construction of a high-quality building.

”If someone does a good development with good frontage, it will benefit all adjacent property owners,” Oberst said. ”It gives added value and it sets the tone.”

Brooks has notified some of the existing tenants, which include financial services and dental businesses, that the Waterside Building is tentatively slated for demolition in March, he said.

”We sent them a letter and my management company has worked with each of them individually,” Brooks said. ”Some will relocate and some may be interested in coming back when the new building is completed.”