County purchases Sisters building

Deschutes County now owns the building that houses the Deschutes County Sheriff’s administrative office that serves Sisters and the western part of the county, located on the corner of North Larch Street and West Barclay Drive (across from the post office).

Former owner and Sisters resident Jack Addison notified The Nugget last Friday that the papers had been signed, concluding the purchase of the 6,000-square-foot building for $1 million.

Addison made it very clear that “in no way does the sale affect the other two present commercial tenants of the building.” Black Butte Veterinary Clinic has been in that location for 20 years and they have five more years left on their current lease. With the addition of a new vet, the office is now open full-time.

Addison said, “It was a five-year effort to get Mid-Oregon Credit Union to Sisters and I was especially grateful to get them, with their financial backing, to come to Sisters. A credit union operates differently from a bank and serves to complement the availability of loans in Sisters.”

According to Addison, it took a considerable monetary investment for Mid-Oregon to move into the building, with the installation of their ATM a major expense.

“I feel like Mid-Oregon is my gift to Sisters,” Addison offered.

A former fighter pilot, Addison has spent 50 years buying and selling real estate. He is particularly proud of construction standards to which the building at 703 N. Larch St. is built. Features include clear-span trusses and special air-filtration system that meets residential standards.

The roof has special ice dam shields and the foundation is built to support a second story on the building. Two-by-six flooring is anchored to be earthquake-tremor-resistant foundation and hurricane clips are holding the trusses on.

The sheriff’s office, on the west end of the building, isn’t currently using all their space. Deschutes County Administrator Tom Anderson indicated the extra space could house other County services for the western part of the County such as veterans’ outreach, health inspections, or mental health services.

The County owns buildings in Redmond, Bend, and La Pine that provide a variety of services and the Sisters purchase fills a gap that existed. County employees could be housed in the Sisters office rather than commuting from other locations to provide services in Sisters.

The purchase of the building, made with money from a reserve fund that is specifically for taking advantage of unexpected real estate opportunities, makes sense for the County in the long run as they will now be collecting rent rather than paying it.

(Note: A previous version of this story stated that the building included a diesel-powered back-up generator. That is not correct. There is no generator at the building).