Forest Service optimistic about sale

The Sisters real estate market may be slow, but the Forest Service is optimistic that by mid-August their 62-acre headquarters site on the west side of North Pine Street will be sold to the highest bidder.

Rod Bonacker, Special Projects Coordinator with the Sisters Ranger District, has been shepherding the process for a couple of years now.

"The actual sale parcel is 62.46 gross acres, 50 net acres with right-of-ways, etc. There's been interest from folks ranging from a guy wanting to make it an in-town horse ranch to local and national developers," said Bonacker.

The present tight credit market and real estate slowdown has not inhibited interest in the parcel.

"I get a call a week from new people plus lots of calls from local people interested in an update on the sale, or simply wanting more information. The economy does not seem to have affected people's interest in the parcel," Bonacker said.

The listing price of the parcel cannot be established because the property must go through a competitive bidding process.

"There will be a competitive auction for the property and we will set a minimum bid price for the parcel. Basically, the minimum bid price is based on what it's going to cost us to build and move into our new office (located just north of the present site)," said Bonacker.

The opening of the bidding process is likely to start approximately June 23.

"We contract with the GSA (General Services Administration) to conduct the auction, handle the bidding and do the final processing. It's all done online, not unlike the way eBay handles bidding; you register as a bidder and enter your bid online," said Bonacker.

Generally the bidding process takes a month to six weeks and the GSA monitors the process closely through their Web site. Basically anyone can bid on the property.

"Federal law requires us to sell the property for market value. In this economy you can't really appraise the property and set a value, the market price is what it sells for," said Bonacker.

This also means that the Forest Service cannot reject any company or individual who wants to bid on the property.

"GSA cannot reject Wal-Mart for example," Bonacker noted.

The City of Sisters knows that residents are very interested in who purchases the property and how they plan on developing it. The city hosted an extensive "community input workshop weekend" several months ago to gauge the community's ideas about the development of the property.

As a direct outcome, the city has summarized the community input in written form to provide guidance for a prospective buyer of the property.

"If a prospective bidder is smart they'll want to sit with the city even before they start bidding to see what the city's objectives are for the property," said Rod.

So what price is realistic, given present economic conditions?

"A year ago I would have said $30-40 million was very reasonable for the parcel; it's a different market today, the pool of prospective bidders is much smaller today, too," said Rod.

The Forest Service is looking forward to breaking ground on their new headquarters, located just north of the present site. Architectural plans are ready to go.

"We're just finishing up the final design drawings for the new office complex (office, warehouse, and barracks) now," said Bonacker.

The Forest Service could break ground on their new complex later this year if the sale is completed in August or September.

For more information contact Rod Bonacker at 549-7729 or e-mail [email protected]