The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

When Pat Thompson and his partners purchased Sisters Rental in 2007, they also purchased a lot along Barclay Drive at the corner of Pine Street in the Sisters Industrial Park. The plan was to build a purposefully designed new shop and showroom to replace the small facility the business had operated out of since the early 1990s.

The economic downturn that struck hard shortly thereafter put those plans on hold for more than a decade — but now they’ve come to fruition.

Sisters Rental opened its new 6,400-square-foot steel facility built by Kevin Spencer last week, and Thompson — though very busy — is a happy man.

“We’re really happy to be here; happy to reinvest back in the community of Sisters,” he said. “The whole idea was to build a space that works for the kind of business that we do — both retail and service.”

The project was originally designed by the late Jerry Bogart, and updated and completed by Chris Mayes of Design Strategies. The parking lot was designed to coordinate with the neighbors to provide for safe one-way flow of trucks and trailers.

The improvements that the new facility brings are evident. First of all, it’s highly visible.

“People aren’t having a hard time finding us,” Thompson said with a grin.

The purpose-built facility is “a lot more user-friendly space for the mechanics and technicians,” Thompson said.

“We hope to carry more product, have quicker turnaround of repairs, have more rental equipment. Efficiency is the name of the game.”

The old office, showroom, and shop space at the original location will be converted to storage space. Decomissioning the old space is the most burdensome aspect of the project right now.

“We’ve got two decades of stuff to move over,” Thompson said.

The economic crash of 2008 put the brakes on the original plans for the move, and a booming economy over the past few years revived them. Thompson noted that the current economic crisis around the COVID-19 pandemic is different.

In 2007-2008, the building industry was hit first and hardest. In the current crisis, building has continued — and the quarantine has put people to work on their homes.

Home repair and yard work “has kept us going,” Thompson said. “We’ve definitely seen an uptick in people working on their homes and yards.”

Thompson said that he plans to host a grand opening at the new location as soon as the level of restriction allows for it.

“We’re practicing COVID-19-safe protocols right now,” Thompson said.

That includes a lot of deliveries of equipment and “no contact” rentals.

The building is also set up for 2,000 square feet of build-to-suit office space upstairs.

The new Sisters Rental facility represents a long-term commitment to serving the greater Sisters community — and the fulfillment of a vision.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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