NorthWest Crossing

Bend, Oregon

Project Type:Residential

Case No:C036011

Year:2006

SUMMARY

NorthWest Crossing is a new 487-acre (197-hectare) residential and commercial community adjoining the city of Bend, Oregon. It is laid out according to new urbanist principles, with an average density of five dwelling units per acre (12.6 units per hectare). It will have 1,350 single- and multifamily homes at buildout, expected in 2012. A total of 26.4 acres (10.7 hectares) of neighborhood and community parks are dispersed throughout, and there are 6.9 acres (2.8 hectares) of natural open space at the edge of the development, complemented by specially zoned lots that preserve existing rimrock and natural high desert vegetation.

FEATURES

Planned Community–Small ScaleTraditional Neighborhood DevelopmentPedestrian-Friendly DesignSustainable Development (built according to Earth Advantage standards)

NorthWest Crossing

Bend, Oregon

Project Type: Residential

Subcategory: Planned Communities

Volume 36 Number 11

April–June 2006

Case Number: C036011

PROJECT TYPE

NorthWest Crossing is a new 487-acre (197-hectare) residential and commercial community adjoining the city of Bend, Oregon. It is laid out according to new urbanist principles, with an average density of five dwelling units per acre (12.6 units per hectare). It will have 1,350 single- and multifamily homes at buildout, expected in 2012. A total of 26.4 acres (10.7 hectares) of neighborhood and community parks are dispersed throughout, and there are 6.9 acres (2.8 hectares) of natural open space at the edge of the development, complemented by specially zoned lots that preserve existing rimrock and natural high desert vegetation.

LOCATIONInner Suburban

SITE SIZE487 acres/197 hectares

LAND USESSingle-Family Detached Residential, Single-Family Attached Residential, Multifamily For-Sale Housing,Townhouses, Live/Work Space, Schools, Office Buildings, Retail Space, Parks

KEYWORDS/SPECIAL FEATURES

Planned Community–Small ScaleTraditional Neighborhood DevelopmentPedestrian-Friendly DesignSustainable Development (built according to Earth Advantage standards)

PROJECT WEB SITE

www.northwestcrossing.com

DEVELOPER

West Bend Property Company, LLC2677 Northwest Ordway Avenue, Suite 100Bend, Oregon 97701541-312-6473Fax: 541-312-4440www.northwestcrossing.com

ARCHITECT

Fletcher Farr Ayotte PC708 S.W. Third Avenue, Suite 200Portland, Oregon 97204503-222-1661Fax: 503-222-1701www.ffadesign.com

PLANNER

Walker Macy111 S.W. Oak Street, Suite 200Portland, Oregon 97204503-228-3122

Fax: 503-273-8878www.walkermacy.com

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

Drake Design Group345 S.W. Century Drive Upper Building, Suite 30Bend, Oregon 97702541-948-6028Fax: 541-617-0443

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

NorthWest Crossing was conceived to demonstrate the concept of smart growth in Bend, Oregon, an inland metropolitan area that has seen very rapid development for more than two decades. It extends the existing city street system and connects with municipal utilities. Houses are built with minimal setbacks on a traditional street grid with garages off rear alleys. Mixed-use buildings and multifamily housing line major streets and can be found at some of the most active intersections in the project.

As a dense, mixed-use community, NorthWest Crossing is designed to allow residents to conduct their daily lives without leaving the development, and possibly without using their cars. Schools, workplaces, commercial zones, and parks are all strategically placed. There are no traffic lights in the 487-acre (197-hectare) development. Roundabout intersections ease traffic congestion and reduce the necessary width of well-traveled streets.

Struggling to meet the demand for more roadways and to reduce both the perception and the reality of out-of-control sprawl, the city and surrounding metropolitan area are looking to NorthWest Crossing as a model of evolving planning principles and land use. The city of Bend has changed along with the development of NorthWest Crossing. In addition to new zoning that encourages compact and close-in development, the city has adopted traffic strategies such as the aforementioned roundabout intersections.

Construction of the first phase of residential buildings at NorthWest Crossing began in March 2002, and ten out of a total of 20 phases have been completed as of summer 2006. Buildout is expected in 2012.

SITE

Central Oregon’s economic hub and most populous city, Bend is now one of the state’s largest metropolitan areas.Traditional industries, including ranching, farming, logging, lumber milling, and mining, are giving way to recreationand tourism. Close to the Mount Bachelor Ski Area, a well-known West Coast winter resort, Bend is also a venue formountain climbing and hiking in summer. Just outside of town is the High Desert Museum, which interprets thehistory of the Intermountain West, the vast region between the Rockies, Cascades, and Sierras. The Cascade LakesHighway is a popular 87-mile (140-kilometer) loop south and west of the city that passes the ski area as well as morethan a dozen high country lakes and other viewpoints.

Along with the views, the sunny climate of central Oregon is drawing increasingly more visitors and residents from coastal cities. The area averages 130 days of sunshine per year and an additional 90 days of mostly sunny weather. Average July temperatures range from 41 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit (5 to 30 degrees Celsius). It is cold enough to support nearby skiing in the winter, with more than half of the nine to 20 inches (23 to 51 centimeters) of yearly precipitation falling as snow.

NorthWest Crossing extends in a wedge shape upward along a slope to the north and west from the developed limits of the city of Bend. Covered with native sage, juniper, and ponderosa pines, the land was purchased from a single owner who had converted it from a pumice mining area to a tree farm. Although it is officially incorporated within the Bend city limits, the site is close to Shevlin Park, a 500-acre (202-hectare) forest of old-growth pines along Tumalo Creek, all managed by the Bend Metro Parks & Recreation District.

DEVELOPMENT BACKGROUND AND FINANCING

Over the past two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in demand for homes in the Bend area. That demand originated during the 1980s, when Bend became a destination for resort and timeshare developments. In the 1990s, rising demand for second homes in choice locations from retirees and ex-urbanites intensified the pressure.

But during the same period, growing environmental concerns threatened to put a halt to development. The lines ofconfrontation had been drawn between environmentalists, who looked to Oregon’s 1973 model land use planning lawsto mitigate sprawl, and increasing numbers of developers hoping to enter the market. In the seven years beforeconstruction began on NorthWest Crossing, Bend’s population grew by almost 60 percent, or 32,000 people. Underpressure to meet burgeoning transportation needs, construction of the Bend Parkway, a limited-access bypass forthrough-traffic, began. With its pattern of dense development adjacent to the existing city of Bend, NorthWestCrossing is the first large-scale, mixed-use development in the rapidly growing area.

The vision for NorthWest Crossing comes from a combination of transgenerational land stewardship and enthusiasticembrace of smart growth principles. The partners in West Bend Property Company, developer of NorthWest Crossing,include Mike Hollern and Kirk Schueler. They are officers of Brooks Resources Corporation, the real estatedevelopment arm of the now-defunct Brooks Scanlon Inc., which had significant timber holdings around Bend andonce owned five mills across the United States. Another partner, Mike Tennant of Tennant Developments, is a localhousing developer who had been active in regional politics as a proponent of smart growth. Tennant’s projects includeWest Bend Village and Canyon Rim Village in nearby Redmond. David E. Ford joined the development team as generalmanager in 2001, shortly after the NorthWest Crossing Overlay Zone was adopted by the city. Ford had been involvedin over $150 million worth of public and private development in central Oregon since 1991, including the two schools

located in NorthWest Crossing.

The site was chosen for its topography and scenery; its mature, healthy trees; and its adjacency and direct connection to the town. The project began in 1998 when the partners purchased the 487 acres (197 hectares) from Bill Miller, a tree farmer who had already negotiated with the local school district to carve a site for a new elementary school out of his holdings. Construction on the school commenced even as the development partners started meeting with the Portland planning firm of Walker Macy to form a preliminary concept for a dense development. Brooks Resources had worked with Walker Macy on Black Butte Ranch, a resort community located on former ranch land near Bend. At the time talks began, Walker Macy was completing work on the plan for Orenco Station, an award-winning, mixed-use transit-oriented development to the west of Portland.

While the West Bend Property Company was being formed, Bend faced a development moratorium because of therepercussions of rapid growth and resulting strain on the transportation system. Because NorthWest Crossingrepresented a new way of building that was intended to make transportation much more efficient, the developerssucceeded in winning city approval and breaking a political deadlock between no-growth activists and city boosters. Ina new public/private partnership called the West Side Consortium, it became incumbent upon the developers to startproviding transportation improvements as construction began. It was also necessary for West Bend Property Companyto provide a blueprint for whole new sections of the zoning code applicable to NorthWest Crossing. The municipality’sexisting water and sewer systems could simply be extended to accommodate the new development.

The new NorthWest Crossing Overlay Zone was approved in May 2001. Sales of lots to builders began in March 2002, along with construction on prominent commercial sites with management and sales offices. Sales of homes and leasing of commercial spaces commenced in 2002.

No land acquisition or construction loans were involved in the development of NorthWest Crossing. The project was equity financed through the partners, including off-site infrastructural improvements.

PLANNING AND CIRCULATION

The complex plan of NorthWest Crossing was developed by Doug Macy, Mike Zilis, and David Aulwes, a team fromWalker Macy, all of whom have credentials as landscape architects and urban designers. The design of NorthWestCrossing was preceded by a research phase that included every aspect of the land from physical inventory toeconomic analysis for commercial and employment centers. Major features such as rimrock—an exposed verticalsection of rock—and mining excavation basins were charted, along with underlying hydrology and plant inventory.Throughout the lot layout phase, a thorough inventory and map of large rocks and mature pines influenced theplacement of streets, parks, lot lines, and building setback lines. A large basin resulting from mining operations nearthe edge of the site will eventually become a recreational reservoir and community park.

Bounding the site are two arterials, Shevlin Park Road and Skyliners Road, which fan out from the center of Bend.Another preexisting arterial—Mount Washington Drive—winds through the west side of NorthWest Crossing and is partof a wide loop on the west side of Bend. At the time planning began, there were two preestablished school sites: anelementary school site near the center of the developable land and a large high school site near the southwest corner.

Two areas devoted to commercial, industrial, and mixed employment uses are placed at opposite sides of NorthWestCrossing, one linking with the city and the other acting as a buffer between the rest of NorthWest Crossing and thenew high school at the outer extreme. A total of 52 acres (21 hectares) of land are devoted to commercialdevelopment and mixed employment—including offices and light industry—in these locations. Live/work residences,townhouses, and mixed-use buildings are zoned in other locations along collector streets and next to parks.

Streets are named for people and places associated with the Lewis and Clark expedition to commemorate thebicentennial of this historic event, which occurred around the time of some of the project’s major completion dates.There are no traffic lights; instead, the development has three intersections with traffic circles, and one largeroundabout that circles five-acre (two-hectare) Compass Park, the formal center of the plan from which the twostraight arms of NorthWest Crossing Drive radiate. These are slated to be lined with townhouse and multifamilyresidential and live/work construction. “Community commercial” storefront opportunities are placed in small sectionsalong the drive. The drive is part of a branching collector path through NorthWest Crossing, serving a dense networkof neighborhood streets and alleyways.

In keeping with the principles of new urbanism, vehicular traffic is calmed and is not isolated from bicycles or pedestrians on any street. On-street parking and widened sidewalks line narrowed streets. Bicycle lanes are interrupted only at the circles, where cyclists must choose between car lanes or walkways while negotiating the intersection.

Fletcher Farr Ayotte PC contributed building massing and parking studies for NorthWest Crossing, and Seattle-basedW&H Pacific provided civil engineering services from its Bend office. The character of NorthWest Crossing is largelythe result of a specialized land use code that provides a framework for construction. The city’s overlay zone for thedevelopment was crafted by Deschutes County planner Catherine Morrow, who acted as a consultant to West BendProperty Company. Its departures from the existing land use code were subsequently adopted for other developmentsin the Bend area. Those departures have to do with street standards, accessory dwelling units, commercial parking,and neighborhood overlay districts for mixed-use residential and live/work residential development.

NorthWest Crossing is zoned according to four prototype concepts that determine scale, use, and construction type.The most urban of these is the “town” prototype, in which two- and three-story facades are built out to the sidewalkline. The “village” prototype is just as tall, but includes a “door garden” setback requirement of ten feet (threemeters) from the sidewalk. Within the larger areas zoned according to the “neighborhood” prototype, lot sizes aresmall (4,000–6,000 square feet/371–557 square meters), medium (6,000–8,000 square feet/557–743 squaremeters), and large (over 8,000 square feet/743 square meters). Lot sizes are mixed, and subdistricts impose greatersetbacks or allow buildings to appear more massive. Off-street parking is typically in the alley behind the buildings.Detached or attached garages are permitted, along with accessory dwellings. A fourth prototype, simply called “edge,”occurs where lots are very irregular, extra deep, or located near designated natural areas such as Rimrock Park.

Along “neighborhood streets,” standard ten-foot (three-meter) building setbacks are adjusted on a lot-by-lot basis toaccommodate and conserve the mature pines. The varying setbacks have the added effect of staggering the buildingfacades and bringing complexity into many views. In some cases, trees are incorporated into sidewalks by addingextra width to the standard five feet (1.5 meters).

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

In addition to providing a model for compact, pedestrian-oriented development, NorthWest Crossing was intended to advance the cause of sustainable construction practices by requiring qualified builders to subscribe to the standards set by Portland-based nonprofit Earth Advantage, which is dedicated to bringing the best recycled, energy-saving, and nonpolluting products and practices to market.

The design of individual houses and other buildings is tied to a prototype handbook drafted by Urbsworks, a Portland firm led by Marcy McInelly. The handbook was inspired by the bungalows of the early 1900s, housing types produced with the help of catalog plans from companies like Sears, Roebuck & Co. It allows for interpretation of traditional styles, and the resulting houses include forms and details that recall Prairie, Tudor, and Colonial conventions in addition to typical Craftsman style. Builders and residents choose from a large palette of colors compatible with the natural environment.

To realize the vision through to buildout of NorthWest Crossing, builders are obliged (via sales covenants and restrictions) to submit individual designs to an architectural review committee (ARC) designated by the developer. After preliminary and formal reviews of the design, the ARC and the builder exchange a letter with requirements and suggestions for a conformance agreement, all before construction begins. Builders pay special fees to cover the costs of this review.

Builders choose and purchase lots at NorthWest Crossing through a lottery process. Each of a select group of builders receives the right to buy a certain number of lots at a time. At the lottery event, drawings determine order of choice for each round. As each turn comes, each builder puts a pin on a map to claim a lot for that round. This process is repeated until all of the lots have been chosen.

MARKETING

Marketing began in 2002 through Brooks Resources Corporation, with vice president Romy Mortensen leading thecampaign. The effort included a complete “identity package” created by Bend-based tbd advertising. A series ofcolorful and figurative illustrations by artist Tim Lee was commissioned. Communicating a community vision andlifestyle, they were subsequently used in displays, on television, on the NorthWest Crossing Web site, and inbrochures, stationery, and collateral material.

The full-scale campaign began locally with television ads that took a “mockumentory” tone about reduced commutingand more exercise. One, for instance, featured a staged yard sale of exercise equipment, emphasizing theconvenience and appeal of walking to work and shopping and jogging in nearby natural areas.

NorthWest Crossing was covered in The Oregonian, Portland’s daily newspaper, and in Sunset magazine’s February2006 issue, which described the project as one of the “best places to live” and “burbs we love.”

Partly as a result of the marketing campaign, demand for residences in NorthWest Crossing has exceeded supply through the first five phases of the project, and inventory only began to catch up after the construction of 287 houses on 150 acres (61 hectares) between 2002 and 2006.

Approximately 40 percent of buyers have school-age children, with the elementary school at NorthWest Crossing already operating beyond capacity and the Bend school district having to redraw distribution boundaries. Retirees account for another 20 percent of households. Significant numbers of those retirees have adult children who live in the area.

Buyers in the first completed phase of the development typically moved from homes in the immediate area. Increasingly, however, purchasers from Portland and California have begun to account for the majority of sales. Moreover, a survey of taxpayers in the area shows that investment returns account for 70 percent of the income in the area of Bend that includes NorthWest Crossing.

EXPERIENCE GAINED

As of spring 2006, the value of land in the Bend area continues to appreciate rapidly. However, mounting quantities ofsales and resale data show that the value of land inside NorthWest Crossing is rising at a greater rate than that in thesurrounding area. The uptick can be attributed to the unfolding character of the place, to the public’s appreciation ofsustainable development, and to effective marketing. These factors have all contributed to sales, in tandem withincreasing numbers of Americans who own second homes or choose where they live based on financial independence.Out of 40 respondents to a survey of residents commissioned by the developer in 2003, 95 percent said that theywould recommend NorthWest Crossing to family and friends.

As NorthWest Crossing continues to develop, the following are some of the lessons developers and planners have learned:

A well-crafted plan goes a long way. The appeal of dense, new neighborhoods lies in the dual values of overall harmony and distinction between individual houses, and NorthWest Crossing offers both. In addition to the rhythm and scale established by the zoning, design guidelines and reviews are intended to help provide a sense of community.Schools count. The presence of schools is vital to families at NorthWest Crossing. On a cautionary note, the plan would have worked better if school design and landscape could have been integrated into the community at the civic scale. Instead, district prototype schools interrupt the community with fencing and acres of unused turf around suburban-style buildings.Sell lots in a lottery. Developers of residences in NorthWest Crossing knew that despite well-crafted zoningand guidelines, if lots were sold in blocks the development would be in danger of appearing as a homogeneousbuilder product. NorthWest Crossing’s lottery process for selling land is a way to ensure that builders benefitfrom some degree of economy of scale, yet houses are as close to custom designed as possible.Go slow. Building out in discrete phases has the practical advantage of keeping construction zones confined so as not to inconvenience or annoy existing homeowners more than necessary. But even though phases may overlap, this also has the strategic advantage of realizing the vision in incremental steps, so that the public and potential buyers can see how calmed traffic and mixed-use development look and function.Hide the boxes. Breaking with precedent and tradition in the placement of utility boxes and transformers can be critical to the appeal of a community. City utilities, however, typically resist change. At NorthWest Crossing, the developer convinced the utility company that placing the boxes along the wide alley instead of the front curb was not only feasible, but also safe from the threat of vehicle impact. While alley curbs are gently sloped, there is a six-inch (15.2-centimeter) vertical curb around each utility box.Reclassify collectors. Another convention tested and changed at NorthWest Crossing is traffic engineers’classification of collector streets, which are conventionally treated solely as a conduit for automobiles. WithinNorthWest Crossing, planners envisioned slow-moving thoroughfares with pedestrian-friendly sidewalks. Thedeveloper won important concessions from the city for parallel parking along collectors, thereby maintainingthe traffic-calming effect of residential street character along wider streets.Don’t impose a homeowners association. The developer resisted the convention of holding odd strips and corners of land in common ownership by a homeowners association. Instead, all green space is either part of a city park or privately owned as part of a larger lot or edge area. This precluded the need for a homeowners association, along with the dues and extra layer of government that these organizations typically represent. The lack of such an organization has become a selling point for many buyers. Public space, including alleys, mid-block pedestrian walkways, streets, and parks, are all maintained by the city.Hang on to natural landscape. In retrospect, the developing neighborhood would have benefited from more rigorous promotion of natural landscape and preservation. A continuation of the natural mix of high desert shrubs and grasses on private lots would have complemented the careful preservation of the pines and added to the visual distinction and the sustainability of the neighborhood. Instead, lawns predominate. Native and hardy plant xeriscaping is an alternative encouraged by the developer, with limited success.Act locally. Even when it is understood that the majority of buyers will come from outside the area, it is strategically important to concentrate on the local market, at least initially. If local residents have a sense of ownership of a development, the political climate will be favorable to the interests of the developer. NorthWest Crossing has had nationwide exposure and recognition, but investments in advertising in central Oregon have paid off, resulting in word-of-mouth referrals and awareness among local real estate agents.

PROJECT DATA

LAND USE INFORMATION

Site area (acres/hectares): 487/197 Percentage complete: 56.7Current gross density (units per acre/hectare): 5/12.6Maximum allowable density (units per acre/hectare): 7/18Number of off-street parking spaces: 1,590

LAND USE PLAN

UseCurrent Area* (Acres/Hectares)

Percentage of Current Site

Future Area**(Acres/Hectares)

Percentage of Future Site

Residential 110.8/44.8 40.1 113.3/45.8 53.8

Commercial 47.5/19.2 17.2 22.5/9.1 10.7

Streets 50/20.2 18.1 46.9/19 22.3

Parks 6.9/2.8 2.5 27.9/11.3 13.2

Schools 61/24.7 22.1 0/0 0

Total 276.2/111.7 100 210.6/85.2 100

* Parcels that have been built out or are under construction or planned for construction as of June 2006.** Proposed land plan for future phases.

RESIDENTIAL INFORMATION

Unit Type

Number of Units(Current/TotalPlanned)

Area (Square Feet/SquareMeters)

Sale Prices (Current Average)

Single-family homes

290/924 2,120/197 $346,600

Cottages 15/80 1,158/108 $262,500

Townhouses 32/114 1,830/170 $289,800

DEVELOPMENT COST INFORMATION

Site Acquisition Cost: N/A

Site Improvement Costs: $44,268,000Excavation: $3,472,000Sewer/water: $16,413,000Streets: $11,679,000Park construction: $7,143,000Engineering: $1,894,000Fees: $1,578,000Off-site improvements: $2,089,000

Soft Costs: $3,559,000Holding costs: $2,277,000Master plan: $687,000General costs: $595,000

Total Development Cost at Project Completion: $47,827,000

DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

Site purchased: March 1998 Planning started: April 1998 Construction started: July 2001 Sales/leasing started: March 2002 Phase I completed: March 2002 Estimated project completion: December 2010Estimated buildout: 2012

DRIVING DIRECTIONS

From Roberts Field–Redmond Municipal Airport in Redmond, Oregon: Head south on Highway 97 to Bend. Exit parkway at Revere Street/Downtown exit and head straight on Wall Street toward downtown Bend. At the second light, make a right onto Newport Avenue, which eventually turns into Shevlin Park Road. After approximately two miles (3.2 kilometers), and at the fourth roundabout, exit south onto NorthWest Crossing Drive.

Driving time: Approximately 30 minutes in nonpeak traffic.

Clair Enlow, report authorJason Scully, editor, Development Case Studies

David James Rose, copy editorJoanne Nanez, online production manager

This Development Case Study is intended as a resource for subscribers in improving the quality of future projects. Data containedherein were made available by the project's development team and constitute a report on, not an endorsement of, the project byULI–the Urban Land Institute.

Copyright © 2006 by ULI–the Urban Land Institute1025 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W., Suite 500 West, Washington D.C. 20007-5201

NorthWest Crossing is a 487-acre (197-hectare) new urbanist community comprising a mix of single-family and multifamily homes and commercial uses in the high desert environment of Bend, Oregon.

At buildout, expected in 2012, there will be 1,350 residences at an average density of five dwelling units per acre (12.6 units per hectare).

Recognized as a sustainable project?developed according to the standards of portland-based nonprofit organization EarthAdvantage?NorthWest Crossing has landscaping guidelines that encourage xeriscaping and use of native species.

Located in two major clusters at opposite ends of the development are a combined total of 52 acres (21 hectares) devoted to commercial and retail uses, including offices and light industrial.

In accordance with new urbanist principles, rear alleys and carefully zoned setbacks based on lot size and building type are intended to create pedestrian-friendly streetscapes.

Inspired by the bungalows of the early 1900s and the catalog plans from companies like Sears, Roebuck & Co. during that time period, the design team created a prototype handbook that allows builders and residents to choose from a largepalette of colors and architectural features to create homes reflecting the prairie, Tudor, Colonial, and Craftsman styles.

pictured here is a prairie-style house.

NorthWest Crossing site plan.