News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Paul Pinion saw a need in Sisters for comfortable apartments at a reasonable rental rate – and he didn’t see anybody filling the need. So he stepped up.
The Cowboy Court Apartments Pinion is developing on Adams Avenue are slated for at least partial opening in August of this year — and about half of the units are already spoken for.
Pinion is not a developer by trade — he is the principal of Pinion Property Management, a Corvallis-based company that manages investment properties.
“My wife (Jill) and I… ended up getting a house here about 10 years ago,” Pinion told The Nugget.
Talking to business owners and local folks, he realized that workforce housing — particularly rentals — are hard to come by, and that many people commute to Sisters jobs from Bend or Redmond or points even further distant.
“I kind of threw up my hands and said, ‘Does anybody who works in Sisters live in Sisters?’” he recalled.
Pinion started looking into the possibility of building apartments. He quickly connected with highly regarded Sisters architect Chris Mayes.
“Very fortunate (to) hook up with Chris Mayes here,” he said. “Love him to death.”
The City of Sisters “seemed very enthusiastic about getting some units in Sisters,” Pinion said. “They felt like there was a need for it, for sure.”
Finding a contractor who could bring the work in at a cost that would keep the apartments affordable was a bit of a challenge.
“It’s got to make financial sense with what you’re doing,” he said. “Their numbers changed to where it went from doable to not-doable.”
Kevin Spencer and Empire Construction ended up getting the gig — which has seen its challenges, mostly thanks to the late “snowmaggeddon.”
“That set ’em back a bit,” Pinion said, noting that crews had to clear and haul three feet of snow off the Adams Avenue site so they could work.
That’s all in the rear-view mirror now, as the 22-unit apartment complex takes shape. The units are each approximately 1,000 square feet, featuring mountain views, two bathrooms and a washer and a dryer. They rent for $1,200 per month.
Apartments are rented on a first-come-first-served basis for qualified applicants. Legal constraints do not allow for a preference for people living in Sisters.
For information on application, visit https://pinion
property.com. Paul Pinion can be reached at 541-754-1213.
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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