Historic Conklin's building has a future

A sign to the right of the front door bids "WELCOME" while another sign to the left commands "KEEP OUT."

The landmark residence once known as Conklin's Guest House - treasured by Sisters residents and visitors for its history and charm - has weathered several years of uncertainty. Renovation work was suspended in 2006 when the owners' plans to transform the former bed-and-breakfast into an upscale 85-seat restaurant ran aground.

"I spent quite a bit, purchased plans and equipment to remodel," says Shane Lundgren, lead partner of Dutch Pacific Properties.

His vision, at the time, featured a first-class restaurant with a sweeping view and 25 quaint rental bungalows encircling a large water feature. The small resort would adorn the corner of Barclay Drive and Camp Polk Road, adjacent to his 40-acre Sun Ranch Business Park.

Lundgren engaged the support of the City of Sisters and got rolling, but progress was short-lived.

"I had a deal with a restaurateur and they weren't able to come through," he says. For awhile he fully expected to attract another restaurant to partner with.

"Then we ran square into the (economic) slowdown."

And thus the nearly 100-year-old site - originally a 1911 schoolhouse, then the residence of the Hitchcock family, followed by the Barclay family - began a period of limbo.

The passage of time has taken a toll on the property, which Frank and Marie Conklin gussied up in the late 1980s for a noteworthy stint as a signature bed-and-breakfast. One travel Web site described the inn as "country elegance in a serene pastoral setting," and that is how many residents fondly remember it.

Now, shrouded behind a towering wall of cedar trees and boarded up for security, the house - along with its aging barn - appears frail and forlorn.

Around the back side, bare plywood marks the area where a sunroom was removed to make way for a commercial kitchen. Paint peels, weeds grow.

Nevertheless, Lundgren yet foresees good days ahead for the property, and long-term value in honoring its unique character.

"The last thing I want to do is tear it down and stick in an Olive Garden, as some would suggest," he said.

Having "exhausted any possibilities of a restaurant or an inn" and noting that "more lodging is not an easy sell here now," Lundgren has made a slow but decisive mental shift away from the idea of commercial enterprise altogether.

Instead he is tapping local arts representatives for "creative ideas that would add to the community" and says that he is working on some of those ideas. In addition, Lundgren views Conklin's as "a historic cornerstone of the town" and plans to keep to that theme.

Ideas afoot include a community-based art or cultural venue.

Lundgren lauds the Sisters Folk Festival for invigorating the local arts culture and the tempo of tourism, and seeks a compatible business model.

"It should be something of benefit and interest to the people of Sisters - something for the community to use and enjoy," he says.

In spite of the current economic climate, he hopes it won't take too long to bring about, noting, "there are resources out there for cultural things."

He told The Nugget that he's aware that some residents are growing impatient with the Conklin house's current state of disrepair, responding, "It's all in good-will that people question things."

Lundgren also has "a couple of interesting ideas on the wings" for Sun Ranch - a light industrial park he once hailed for its potential to be "the economic heartbeat of the new Sisters."

With the support of a professor of architecture at the University of Oregon, Lundgren is cultivating a partnership with the school's Sustainable Cities Initiative.

What that may look like in practice is the installment of temporary sustainable buildings, to enhance ongoing efforts to attract niche businesses to Sun Ranch.

"I'm basically open to anything smart and forward-thinking," he says.

Lundgren, wife Wendela and their three children reside in Camp Sherman - where his family history dates back to his great-grandparents.

Now that his primary focus has turned from the ill-fated development proposal for a destination resort in the Metolius Basin, Lundgren hopes to draw on his credentials as a developer of smaller-scale, higher-concept "boutique" projects to benefit the Conklin property.

The overarching goal for Conklin's, he says, is "to enhance it as the landmark that it is."