Redmond, City of the Future? Or.............. (Bend, Detroit: city hall, mortgage, hotel)

[skypros]

Redmond, City of the Future? Or is it going to remain where people live and commute to Bend for work?

Look at the City Of Redmond on this google map
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Re...38d260c06b7918

It looks they may be able to cram in 2,000 more homes on the west side of the 97.

The east side of the 97 looks to be 2/3rds vacant.... I know some of the north east side and to the far south east side looks to be residential... but I think the rest is commercial.

And with all that available space....... Does Redmond have a chance to bring allot of industry (jobs) into the area.... It does have the Airport and the train in very close proximity...... so getting goods in and out should not be a problem.

[whirnot]

I would say their chances of attracting major industry are limited because of trucking routes. That drives a majority of Industry location.

[BendLocal]

Central Oregon is probably too isolated for most major industries.

[redguard57]

Except for that northeast area across from the home depot, wal-mart, east of 97 is the scary side.

There were some consequences of diverting 97 the way they did through the industrial area of what was then way outside of town. It ruined the area just west of downtown that backs up to the highway - those houses are super scary now. People have vacated them & squatters & meth-heads live there - it's like a little Detroit in that 6-8 block area west of downtown, just east and south of the Black Bear diner. That was probably a decent neighborhood 20 years ago before it backed up to 97. Once you leave there everything gets better. City of Redmond has re-zoned that area commercial but it has no direct access to the highway except at one awkward point so I don't understand what they're trying to do except scare all potential buyers off.

It also made that area east of 97, north of the airport pretty much untenable because 97 literally cuts it off. There are only a few ways across. All parts of Redmond east of 97 feel isolated.

There are quite nice houses in that northwest quadrant, ie: around that area of NW 19th and NW maple.

[Coniferian]

I live just west of 19th (center/right in this aerial) and it's pretty nice. There's some traffic on 19th because the best ways over Dry Canyon are the Maple Street bridge, Antler/Black Butte and Highland. There are some nice homes overlooking the east side of the canyon and the Post Office, Library, City Hall, etc. are not what I would consider scary areas. As you can see from my thread Redmond Infill, there are a lot of homes being completed on the west side in areas where the developer already had streets and utilities installed.

[Coniferian]

I took this shot in Redmond this afternoon from 31st, looking east. The light roof in the distance is St. Charles. Plenty of room for houses, including many lots with sidewalks and utilities already in. Not sure what employers would want to locate here - perhaps a call center. Redmond Washington did pretty well for themselves.

[redguard57]

The area I thought was "scary" (not really scary but unacceptable to me) was fairly small -

Draw a rectangle with north border NW Dogwood, south border SW Cascade, west border NW 5th, east border Hwy 97, part of NW Canal. It's about an 8 block area 2-3 blocks east and few blocks of downtown. Think directly north of Eberhard's (also south of Eberhards has some houses that need to just be torn down) It looks okay when you pass it on 5th, but if you go up to the houses they are very questionable, especially NW 2nd and 3rd close to Hwy 97. I looked at a house in that area - I would not live there. There's also that neighborhood south of E. Antler that is somewhat questionable on the east side of 97.

I looked at one or two houses that fronted 19th st. They were pretty nice. When you go west on those big roads, 126 or Maple - it gets nice going that direction. Some of those neighborhoods approach Bend prices.

[Coniferian]

Coming from the Denver area, I guess I'm used to bigger swaths of dicey neighborhoods. When I moved there in 1971 we looked at a few houses we thought would be in our price range and quickly decided we needed to increase our mortgage estimate. There are more things happening and a plethora of restaurants in Bend, but again, it's not that far from Redmond. My commute to work in Denver from Conifer was at least 45 minutes, so 15 miles doesn't seem so bad to me. My wife and I used to spend $100 a week on gas because we worked different shifts.

[kapetrich]

To the OP question: I think Redmonds a really cute town. Every time I actually get off 97 and venture in the downtown I'm very surprised. Even after 5-10 visits I'm still like, "wait, what?! This is nice..." That said, I think Redmond will continue to grow because of Bend, not in spite of it. As Bend continues to become more expensive people will pivot to Redmond.

One of the biggest differences in 'Cuteness' is that Redmond doesn't really have a 'cute' river flowing right through it.....that's a big part of what makes Bend 'majestic' and mountain-y. Also, it is farther away from Mt. Bachelor for skiing and lets be honest, we get more winter here than summer

On the plus side, it has the airport, it is very close to Smith Rock and considerably cheaper. I know Redmond does a decent job of publicizing this fact, but Smith Rock is the real deal on a worldly scale. Bend can't much claim the worldly statues unless you take the combination of access to the variety. Though, I guess Bend publicizes it's closeness to Smith so....there's that.

I feel like I could talk about this all day....Redmonds a cool town and I like it more and more each year as more local businesses open up.

---
Confierian, you're not alone. The hyperbole used in equating the area in Redmond, or Oregon/the West coast in general, to that of Detroit is....well. This perspective just lacks perspective. I won't say anything more.

No harm no foul. We all make over the top statements from time to time. I am not immune.

I'm sure that area isn't as nice as the surrounding area. Next time I'm up at Smith Rock I'm going to make a point of driving through it to see what's what.

[redguard57]

What Redmond really needs is one good anchor business downtown. It's downtown has all the complementary businesses already set up, but no real "draw." That old hotel in the middle of it would make a great McMenamins or something similar. From what I've heard, whoever owns it wants way too much money for it.

It's a good town that's been growing on me, though.

Housing costs in rdm are anywhere from 20-50% lower than Bend, so the 20 minute commute is definitely worth it. I used to commute more than 35 minutes and was still in the same city. Quite frankly, the worst part about the bend-rdm commute is getting out of Bend, especially if some of the traffic lights back up.