A long-neglected block a half mile south of downtown Bend features a 10-foot-high mound of sagebrush, dirt and little else. While it doesn’t look like much now, Marc Coluccio sees an opportunity to build an oasis in the High Desert.

Coluccio is chief operating officer for SolTerra, a developer focused on sustainable urban architecture. This Seattle-based company owns the block of land and plans to break ground next year on a multistory spa and wellness facility.

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The parcel is bordered by Colorado and Arizona avenues to the north and south, and Wall and Bond streets to the west and east. Only two other buildings are on the same block, including one that houses Project Bike.

The Nordic-style wellness club will include multiple hot and cold pools inside a four-story structure. A residential or hotel component is also planned although details have not been formalized. Coluccio said flexible lease apartments are another possibility.

The spa and wellness side of the business will cater to outdoor enthusiasts, said Coluccio.

“We build in places where people have similar interests as us,” said Coluccio, a skiing and hiking enthusiast. “We build what we think we would want to patronize.”

SolTerra has built several LEED Platinum buildings in Portland and Seattle, focusing mainly on mixed-use residential and commercial properties.

Its projects incorporate living walls that appear to have plants growing on vertical surfaces, and green roofs that absorb heat and filter stormwater.

The facility is expected to be similar to Cascada, SolTerra’s soon-to-open spa and wellness center in northeast Portland. That location promises guests mineral pools with different temperatures, sauna, steam, ice and salt therapy.

Coluccio said project costs of the Bend location are not determined.

Renderings of the project show the building taking up nearly an entire city block. The only portion of the block not owned by SolTerra is a 0.2-acre portion of land held by Black Swan Properties LLC. That lot is home to Project Bike. Project Bike owner John Frey declined to comment on the development.

SolTerra’s project is just one of several developments in the Box Factory area. Two blocks east, the mixed-use Jackstraw project developed by Killian Pacific is under construction and when complete will provide more than 300 housing units. An even larger project sitting on 32 acres, known as the Timber Yards, is also in the area and is planned to have 1,600 housing units.

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“The development of the area around the box factory seems to be taking off,” said Katy Brooks, chief executive officer of the Bend Chamber of Commerce. “That part of town will be quite active and look very different in a few years.”

Coluccio hopes the facility will be a destination for people to soak after a day of skiing, biking or hiking near Bend. In addition to the pools, the facility will feature steam rooms and multiple saunas with different themed areas.

It will feature “more plants inside than any other project in the city, also lots of glass for letting in sunlight. But we also have dark areas that will only be candlelit,” said Coluccio.

The minimum age requirement will be 21 in the wellness club.

Design and development work is underway, and the permitting process will take up much of this year, said Coluccio. If all goes according to plan, the facility could open by 2027.