March 2007: Dispatches
BEND
The state’s largest Catholic diocese plans to move its
headquarters from Bend to a 37-acre site six miles south of
Powell Butte within the next two years. The Diocese of Baker, which covers
18 counties in Eastern Oregon and serves about 15,000 families,
has looked for a new site for about five years. Bishop Vasa
said the rural, rustic site is large enough to accommodate an
administrative office as well as provide for retreat-like
gatherings. “It is much more readily identified with most
of the diocese than Bend,” he says, referring to the
rural nature of Eastern Oregon as well as its Crook County
location. The diocese, active since 1908, plans to use an
existing on-site barn as a conference center as well as
construct a new chancery office, cabins for retreats, and a
chapel at the new location. While building and funding details
are still in the planning stages, Vasa says he has received
positive feedback from residents.
For upscale flyers, it’s what’s on the ground that
really matters. In an effort to serve these high-class clients,
Desert Sun Industries
plans to be the third fixed-based operation catering to luxury
clients at the Redmond
Airport. Once the 44,000-square-foot facility is
complete, Desert Sun will offer fuel and maintenance services,
a pilot’s lounge and hangar space for corporate and
private planes staying over in Central Oregon. A
fixed-wing school also will get started after a grand opening,
planned for September 2007. RedmondAir and Butler Aircraft Co.
offer similar services at the Redmond Airport but Desert Sun
owner Shannon Egeland says the market is robust enough to
support a third vendor.
Have an opinion? E-mail feedback@oregonbusiness.com
