Much of Central Oregon, including Bend and Redmond, has been plagued by a shortage of affordable industrial land. However, the state’s youngest city claims to have a solution.

La Pine City Manager Cory Misley said the city has around 30 lots that are zoned industrial within its urban growth boundary, ranging from a half-acre up to 40 acres. With a new economic development director for the region, Misley said one of the city’s goals is attracting manufacturing development and stable jobs as the area continues to grow.

“I think one of the biggest issues with La Pine is for some reason it’s under the radar,” Misley said. “We get overlooked.”

La Pine currently has little manufacturing activity relative to other cities in Central Oregon. But in a region where rapid growth and high costs make it difficult for manufacturing firms to find space, La Pine has an important asset for developers: cheap, shovel-ready industrial land.

Misley said the going rate for industrial land in La Pine is about $1.50 per square foot, and the only industrial parcel listed on the real estate website LoopNet is at $1.60 per square foot.

Brian Fratzke, founder and principal broker at Fratzke Commercial Real Estate, said these rates were less than half of what a comparable space in Redmond would cost.

Dave Schneider, CEO and general manager of Midstate Electric Cooperative, which has operated in La Pine’s industrial zone since 2005, added that La Pine’s soil is softer than the lava rock that predominates in much of Central Oregon. He said this further cuts down on costs for businesses looking to build.

“I think the big incentive is that the land cost and development cost is so low,” Misley said.

While La Pine is just 30 miles from downtown Bend, its local economy is very different. La Pine is the largest incorporated city in south county, which runs from Sunriver in the north to the Deschutes National Forest to the west. While La Pine itself has fewer than 2,000 residents, the number of unincorporated communities nearby means that La Pine’s ZIP code includes around 11,000 residents, said Damon Runberg, Central Oregon economist for the Oregon Employment Department.

Despite that, south county punches below its economic weight, which Runberg said is thanks to the large number of residents who commute to Bend, Sunriver and neighboring communities in Klamath County.

“I don’t know if I’ve seen a community with outflow that dramatic,” he said.

He added that manufacturing was the fourth- or fifth-largest employment sector in La Pine. Steve Parnell, La Pine manager for Economic Development for Central Oregon, said expanding that sector would create stable jobs to keep south county residents in the region.

“There’s nothing like a good job to lift people out of a cycle of poverty,” Parnell said.

Fratzke said he knew of a few manufacturing firms that were looking at La Pine, though the city doesn’t fit everyone’s needs. La Pine’s relative distance from Redmond Airport makes it a challenge for firms looking to ship using that channel, and he said the city’s higher elevation creates harsher winters than are seen in Bend and Redmond. Still, as the supply of industrial space in Central Oregon continues to shrink, he said companies will begin looking outside the box for affordable solutions.

“Any city that has available industrial land is going to see an increase in demand,” Fratzke said. “The demand is going to come to La Pine.”

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