Pacific Crest (Weekend Sports Festival)

The 14th Annual PACIFIC CREST Weekend Sports Festival will be held June 25-27, 2010 in Sunriver, Oregon.

Each year, during the last weekend in June, athletes, joined by their family and friends, converge on Central Oregon to take part in the Pacific Crest Sports Festival. Last year, we saw a record number of athletes and we are looking to repeat this in 2010! The Pacific Crest is known as the jewel of multi-sport events in the Northwest and has become a destination race for athletes from across the nation as well as internationally.

The Pacific Crest Sports Festival includes the Long Course Triathlon, Endurance Duathlon, Marathon & Half Marathon, Olympic Distance Triathlon & Duathlon, 5K & 10K Run/Walks, and a Kid's Splash Pedal-n-Dash Triathlon & 1-mile and 1/2-mile Dash. The Long Course Triathlon is the TRI NorthWest Long Course Tri Championship. The Marathon is a Boston Qualifier.

June 25-27, 2010 - Sunriver, Oregon CLICK HERE FOR EVENT SCHEDULE

Pacific Crest - Lodging Special
Stay 4 or 5 nights - Receive 10% off nightly rate.
Stay 6 or 7 Nights - Receive your 6th & 7th night free.
"Exclusively For Pacific Crest Participants/Family"

*We are proud sponsors of this event!*

Mountain Resort Properties Celebrates 20 Years!

Mountain Resort Properties Celebrates 20 Years

by Brooke Snavely
Sunriver Scene
September 2009 Issue

Mountain Resort Properties is celebrating 20 years of family ownership and operation of its full service real estate and property management company based in Sunriver. Debbie and Rich Hadley moved to Sunriver in 1986 after years of vacationing here from their previous home in Salem, where Rich worked in finance. Initially, Rich partnered with Jim Quinn to establish the Sunset Nightly Property Management Company. In 1989, Rich sold his share of Sunset and bought Mountain Country Properties from Gary Hughes and renamed it Mountain Resort Properties.

The Hadley’s started out managing about 20 homes and grew to the approximately 70 homes currently in their management program. “We focused on quality homes, not quantity. We really only started promoting and looking to grow our property management the past 18 months,” Rich Hadley said. “Our conversion rate is frankly amazing. We’ve kept the same customers for years and years. Just about the only reason homeowners leave our management program is because they sell or move into them.” “I’ve enjoyed the 20 years,” said Debbie. “I most enjoy the owners and guests. I like taking care of guests. We’ve always been blessed with good staff who convert calls into bookings. We like a hands-on situation, taking care of guests. We have a very high return client ratio. To us every call, every person, is important.” The emergency number for Mountain Resort guests and clients to call is Rich and Debbie’s personal cell phone. They said they still receive and respond to the occasional after midnight call.

The Hadley’s raised their children in Sunriver and have included them in their business. Son Tim has worked for Mountain Resort for 15 years, nine years as a licensed real estate agent and more recently as Mountain Resort’s information technology manager. Tim’s wife, Danielle, has been a key person in Mountain Resort’s cleaning and security services. Tim and Danielle have a 15-year-old son, Brody, and 9-year-old daughter, Taylyn, that Rich and Debbie hope will become a third generation of the family who work for the company.

Rich and Debbie’s daughter, Jennifer, started working for the company after graduation from college. She helped develop the Spring River Plaza on Spring River Road just south of Sunriver. Jennifer was the point person for the Summit Xpress grocery store and Base Camp Grill located in the plaza. Base Camp Grill was sold but Jennifer continues to manage Summit Xpress and works for Mountain Resort Properties accounting department. Jennifer and her husband, Andre Gregorio, have a 2-year-old son, Deacon, and are expecting a daughter.

Mountain Resort employs 12 people full-time and another four to eight people seasonally. Two of the 12 employees are Realtors, with Rich serving as the principal broker. The company has given back to the community through volunteer service. For 15 years Mountain Resort Properties employees picked up litter alongside Highway 97. Rich served seven years on the Central Oregon Visitors Association board and four years on the Sunriver Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. The company has donated to local causes and charities including cystic fibrosis, Shriners and local high school athletics. Rich played in the East-West Shrine game in 1973.

“We are proud to be one of the founding partners of the Mavericks recreation and athletic facilities. We originally encouraged the Sunriver Owners Association to buy the prep school site and when that didn’t happen we stepped up. We felt it was important not to let Sunriver become stagnant and non-competitive in the resort industry. We’ve developed more recreation and a better vacation experience, rain or shine, so more guests will continue to come to Sunriver. We surveyed owners and guests over the years and the number one thing they continued to ask for was an indoor pool. Mavericks delivers that and a lot more,” Rich Hadley said.

Rich said Mountain Resort Properties was one of the companies that started working with SROA to pay recreation access fees “so guests could get a great vacation experience without being charged at every turn.” Mountain Resort Properties spent most of its 20 years in business located in building 11 in the Village at Sunriver. The company recently moved to building 13 to make way for the demolition of building 11. The Hadley’s said business was up more than 10% from 2007 to 2008, though was down for the first half of 2009. “With all the changes taking place in the resort industry and the economy in general, we are striving to create a better value product to keep us ahead of the curve and to remain successful for another 20 years. Thank you, Sunriver, for your continued support,” Rich Hadley said.

Information: http://www.mtresort.com/ or (800) 346-6337.

Sunriver Sunfest Wine Festival

Sunriver Sunfest Wine Festival to feature great wine, food and fun!
Article provided by Sunriver Scene (July 09).

Sunriver Sunfest, Central Oregon’s most prestigious wine festival, will be held July 24-26 in the Village at Sunriver. The festival will kick off Friday night with a wine pairing dinner at Marcellos 6 p.m. Friday, July 24. On Saturday, the festival is open from 12-9 p.m. and will resume on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. More than 30 wineries will attend from throughout the West.

Admittance into the festival is free and wines will be sold by the taste, glass, bottle and case. Signature wine glasses will be for sale at the festival entrance. Local retailers in the Village at Sunriver will be open in addition to vendors selling one of a kind hand-crafted items. Sunfest is a family-friendly festival. Kids of all ages can enjoy the mini golf, bumper cars, face painting and inflatable slide that will be set up for the weekend.

Sunriver Sunfest offers locals and visitors to Central Oregon the opportunity to experience wines from throughout the region at the Village at Sunriver. Tickets are on sale for the wine dinner with King Estates at Marcellos in Sunriver at 6 p.m., on July 24. The dinner and tastings are $100 per person and limited to the first 20 reservations.

Tickets are also on sale for the Saturday, July 25 VIP courtyard event. Tickets are $75 per person or $500 for a table of eight and includes wine tastings from the judged wines and culinary delights from Barking Squirrel. A portion of event proceeds will benefit Newberry Habitat
for Humanity. For more information, call (541) 385-7988 or visit www.sunriversunfest.com

Economic impact on the Pacific Crest weekend events

Information Provided by:
Sunriver Scene-June 2009
Volume XXXV-Number 6

More than 4,000 athletes are expected to descend on Sunriver for the 13th annual Pacific Crest Weekend Sports Festival taking place June 26-28. The Village at Sunriver will be transformed into an “athletes village” with a high tech finish line that automatically records racers’ times, registration center, a health and fitness expo and vendor booths filling the village courtyard to capacity.

Some events, including a kids Splash, Pedal-n-Dash Triathlon, occupy parking areas around the village. All or portions of several races are run on Sunriver’s pathway system. In a word, Sunriver gets busy. Locals and non-resident owners visiting their homes over the weekend should expect to encounter racers on the pathways, crowds of people in the village and traffic congestion around Sunriver’s main entrance and throughout the core area.

“The Pacific Crest is an incredible showcase for Sunriver. As a community, we could never afford to buy such outstanding and widespread promotion of Sunriver as a visitor and vacation destination,” said Dennis Smeage, president and CEO of the Sunriver Area Chamber of Commerce. “Sure, we must put up with the extra traffic on our roads and congestion on our pathways, but it’s a small price to pay for putting the spotlight on Sunriver and all that we have to offer.”

With the crowds comes an immediate economic impact (estimated at more than $5 million) that boosts Sunriver’s lodging, retail and restaurant industry during an otherwise quiet time of year.

The National Travel Association uses a multiplier of $112 per person per day for the impact of guests coming from out of the area. The $112 figure includes lodging, dining, shopping and recreation. “We have averaged over 4,000 participants over the last several years coming from an average of 45 states and five foreign countries each year.

The majority of those participating have brought a very conservative average of two additional people with them. Their average length of stay has increased from two days to four days since the events inception.

“Twelve thousand people multiplied by $112 per day multiplied by four days totals $5,376,000 in economic impact. These figures do not take into consideration the vendors or the volunteers traveling here from outside the area. I would estimate those numbers to be around 100. Using the same formula we could easily justify adding $50,000 to the participant figure.”

Pacific Crest organizers toot Sunriver’s horn at every turn. In their publicity materials, Pacific Crest glows about the marathon race course that “circles Sunriver Resort on widely paved and very scenic bike paths… that will take you through meadows and forests, past rivers and beautifully landscaped golf greens and summer homes.”

Organizers and sponsors entice participants with descriptions of Sunriver’s idyllic early summer weather. "Days range in the mid-seventies with nights cooling down to the lower to mid forties. Sunriver is ideally located in Central Oregon approximately 15 miles south of Bend and within easy traveling distance…” of metropolitan areas throughout the West coast.

The festival begins on Friday morning and continues through Sunday. The weekend includes a health and fitness expo, food, beer garden, live entertainment and award ceremonies.

Central Oregon Tourism Decline

Blockbuster Tourism
By Jeff McDonald / The Bulletin
Published: May 08. 2009 4:00AM PST

Central Oregon’s tourism promoters are hopeful that marketing the region as an “epic” destination for spring and summer travel will turn around an industry that has seen double-digit declines the past four months in room-tax collections, a key indicator of the industry’s health.

The new 30-second ad launches today in movie theaters west of the Cascades, where it will be shown as an ad before previews and movies. The spot depicts Central Oregon as the ultimate spring and summer destination with a voice-over narration that depicts images in rapid-fire fashion, including exploding volcanoes, majestic glaciers, kids playing in a pool, golf, mountain biking, river rafting, fly-fishing, spa treatment and climbing at Smith Rock.

The voice-over narration begins with dramatic music that would make Hollywood proud: “forged by volcanoes, carved by glaciers, a world of wonder, adventure ... and lots of sunscreen.”

The campaign, which also began running this week on Portland-area TV and radio stations, is the sequel to a campaign the Central Oregon Visitors Association ran in 2007-08 called “Real Winter,” which depicted the region as a winter playland with a similar movie trailer-like advertisement.

“Central Oregon is a multitude of experiences,” said Alana Audette, the president and CEO of the Central Oregon Visitors Association, which created the ad with Bend creative firm Citrus. “The object of the spot is to draw attention to the region as a vacation destination.”

COVA spent $500,000 on the spring and summer campaign, which includes print, cinema, cable and television, and online ad placements, Audette said. Roughly two-thirds of the ads were bought in Oregon, where the costs are lower and the rate of return is expected to be greatest in the down economy, she said.
Summer is the biggest time of year for Central Oregon’s estimated $571 million tourism industry. While summer is expected to provide a bounce for local tourism operators, revenues will likely be down from previous years, Audette said.

Recent room-tax data show tourism operators are under stress.

Deschutes County and the city of Bend reported 22.7 percent and 28.2 percent declines, respectively, in March room-tax collections, according to data released Tuesday. Those were the fourth and fifth consecutive months of double-digit declines for the county and city, which are down year-over-year 7.2 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively, since July 1, 2008, the start of the current fiscal year.

“I don’t even get any (visitor) inquiries any more,” said Laura E. Harvey, the owner of Sunriver Retreats, which specializes in corporate retreats and seminars as well as weddings and family getaways near Sunriver. “It’s like we have disappeared from the face of the Earth.” Harvey said any effort to promote the region will help. “Our budget is very tight,” she said.

Louise Montgomery, the owner of Sun Village Rentals in Sunriver, said business is down about 25 percent in the number of visitors this year.

“Any marketing would probably help,” she said. “I have done property management for almost 29 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the market so bad. People want to stay for shorter stays, and they always say, ‘Can you give me a better price?’

Audette said she is keeping her “fingers crossed” that in-state visitors will respond to the ad. The 30-second spot is out in time for the summer blockbuster season, Audette said.

She cited recent reports from the U.S. Travel Association that Americans are still going to travel this summer, but are more likely to drive to destinations closer to their homes than fly or go to more exotic locales.

“We think Central Oregon is very well-positioned to capitalize on closer-to-home travel,” she said. “Folks within the state no longer have to travel to Hawaii, New York or Disneyland. They can have an epic experience just traveling within the state of Oregon.”

The destination marketing organization is running this year’s campaign through July 30 on every screen at virtually every major cinema in Portland and selected theaters in Eugene, Salem and Medford, Audette said.
COVA also bought eight weeks worth of commercial airtime on KGW and Comcast Cable in Portland, which also are broadcast throughout Western Oregon, Audette said. The cable and television ads, which began running Monday, will run 1,275 times through June 26, Audette said.

“Cable allows us to buy networks that are most reflective of our target demographic — above-average income adults 25 to 54, with slightly more emphasis on women,” she wrote in a news release. “The cable buy gives us the ability to target that audience cost effectively and with lots of frequency.”Also part of the campaign, print advertisements will appear in regional publications such as Golf Digest, Sunset magazine and Southern Oregon magazine, Audette said.

Building demolitions in the village could begin late this month

Plans to tear down three buildings in the Village at Sunriver were to be presented at an SROA-required neighborhood meeting April 24 in the village.

Rediscover Sunriver Village LLC(RSV), intends to demolish building numbers 0, 3 and 11. Only building 11 is proposed to be replaced with a possible brew pub and movie theatre. The sites of other buildings will be restored to natural condition or replaced with landscaping.

Shelli Petersen, RSV manager, said the purpose of the meeting was to satisfy SROA requirements to obtain comments, and to incorporate the comments into RSV’s application to the SROA Design Committee for a demolition permit to conduct the work.“The goal is to take them [the three buildings] down after Memorial Day and to present preliminary drawings and proposed color palettes,” of the proposed brew pub/movie theatre. Petersen said the brew pub/movie theatre building would be similar in size to the existing structure.

Petersen said RSV intended to submit an application for demolition the week following the neighborhood meeting, and hoped to be included on the May 15 SROA Design Committee agenda.If approved, the earliest RSV could obtain a demolition permit is May 26.

The May15 Design Committee meeting will be held at 10 a.m. in the SROA board room (57455Abbot Drive). Both the Design Committee’s regular meeting and workshop that precedes the meeting are open to the public.

Petersen said crews have already stripped windows, doors,light fixtures and reclaimable building supplies from the interiors of the three buildings proposed for demolition. She said some of the reclaimed materials have been used to replace windows and doors in other parts of the village. Other recyclable materials will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

This project will also be processed publicly through the Deschutes County Planning Department before SROA’s Design Committee considers its final review.

(May 2009 SR Scene-Article)

Sunriver Mall Makeover Plans Welcomed-Read More!

Article provieded by Cascade Business News
March, 2009 - Volume 16, Issue 5
by Simon Mather CBN featur writer

Sunriver Mall Makeover Plans Welcomed

Hopes are high that new ownership will help restore Sunriver’s Village mall to its former glory as the economic, cultural and social epicenter of the community.

Rediscover Sunriver Village, LLC is set to outline further plans for revitalization of the dated mixed-use complex at an area Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Community Forum at the resort’s Great Hall this Friday, March 20.

The Salem-based group purchased the Village at Sunriver in a cash deal late last year (for reportedly less than half of the $26 million previous owners, Silverstar Destinations, LLC, paid) and has already outlined initial steps to “stop the bleeding” and refurbish some of the aging infrastructure seen among the deteriorating buildings and plazas.

On the short-term horizon, an 18-month window has been touted by Curry Architecture, which is part of the team tackling the regeneration project, to address pressing issues such as tearing down four buildings that are damaged or blocking views; creating entry ways and sprucing up grounds with new landscaping, lighting and restrooms.

Preliminary plans also include expanding the Country Store and relocating tenants to remodeled buildings echoing the design elements of the existing Bank of the Cascades building.

“We are going to keep a lot of the existing mall,” said RSV Managing Partner Cliff Curry in an address to the Sunriver Owners Association (SROA) Board. “The overall character the next 18 months will be similar in terms of roads and pathways.

“But we are going to totally restore it and change some of the visuals, heading towards the Bank of the Cascades design concept. We’ll also replace and repair electrical service.”Curry commented that residential elements, previously the subject of controversy, would be considered two to four years down the road. “The economy is such a mess right now,” he said. “We really don’t know how things are going to settle down.


“Our approach here is to just stop the bleeding. There is a lot of value here and we want to stabilize that.

“During the next year we will be planning. We’ll focus a lot of energy on the Village at Sunriver.”Local community groups like SROA have been encouraged by what they have heard so far, after a number of false starts with previous ownership entities who failed to deliver on transformation promises as empty storefronts proliferated.

“We are very pleased to see what’s going on already in terms of architectural energy and engagement,” said SROA Vice President Tom Ped. “The plans laid out for the next year and a half for items like safety and rejuvenation are encouraging.

“And it seems like the new owners are open to involving the community in discussions on how this core of Sunriver should be renewed.

“Obviously, they don’t have a concrete long-term vision as yet, but they are showing good early signs of credibility in terms of wanting to get the community involved and developing relationships with local merchants.”

One of the more notable moves suggested by RSV involves relocating the Village Bar and Grill to the north end of the mall, with a reshuffling of Sunriver Sports and Sunriver Music Festival within the complex.
Initial overtures to tenants have been enthusiastically embraced, with RSV aiming to create anchor points on both sides of the Village designed to attract more people into the facility.

“We will also make it more inviting by clean-up and maintenance,” added Rachel Rudiger, also of Curry Architecture.

“We’ll make archways, consistent signage and maps where people are entering. We have a landscaper studying problem areas and have had estimates on re-lighting.”

Other near term upgrades planned include updating restrooms to current code, and relocation of the entry closest to the Country Store to the middle of the mall. The short-term redevelopment plans are also set to be posted in storefront windows.

The 18-month master plan calls for inspection of every building; prioritizing repair needs and identifying safety hazards, as well as drainage and grounds areas needing improvement. The initial aim is to increase project “sparkle” with higher standards of cleanliness inside and out and consistency in hours of operation, signage, common area activity/music and window fronts.

Longer-term redevelopment possibilities include a fire pit; more outdoor seating; an amphitheatre; more public artwork/sculptures; communal activity areas and water technology/pool.
Indications are that RSV will also coordinate an increase in the number and frequency of events held at the Village with everything from a monthly art walk, to a micro brew festival and farmer’s market suggested as additional regular attractions.

The Village was originally an integral part of founder John Gray’s vision of Sunriver as a self-contained community, says Citizens for Sunriver, an organization formed to help spur revitalization efforts.From the beginning, the idea was for a mixed-use combination of retail, restaurant, commercial and residential units to serve as the business and social center of the entire community.

Originally, it was named the Country Mall, with the Country Store being one of the first retail businesses to set up shop. It also housed the post office, police department and SROA offices.The mall grew into a vibrant retail hub, with a variety of shops and restaurants attracting throngs of customers. When Portland-based Weston Investment Co. bought the project in 1989 they renamed it the “Sunriver Village” and added four buildings, though relations with the owner later soured after plans for employee housing were rebuffed.

By the early 90s the Village began a slow decline as businesses quit and others curtailed operations. The post office relocated to the business park, while later in the decade SROA and the police department shifted offices to their current administrative building, which saw pedestrian traffic reduced further.
As businesses suffered, so did maintenance of the structures and common areas, with wooden boardwalks falling into disrepair.

Weston sold to Boise investment company DBSI in 2003 and anticipation grew that a new face at the helm could mean a turnaround for the Village in the face of vacancy hovering close to thirty percent.Unfortunately, promised upgrades and marketing plans never materialized, and by December 2006, the Village had been sold again, this time to Silverstar.

Silverstar planned a dramatic new Village at Sunriver, featuring a comprehensive rebuild - complete with shops, restaurants, condominiums, a boutique hotel, plazas and walkways – in a Cascadian lodge-style of architecture to complement the resort’s forest setting.

Members of the community envisaged restoration of the Village as a fun, exciting place to visit and both SROA and CFS were supportive in helping Silverstar persuade County chiefs to approve a special zoning designation – Sunriver Town Center District – to spur development.

However, when the real estate and credit markets slumped in late 2007 and early 2008, Silverstar shelved construction plans and ended up defaulting on its loan.

Enter RSV, which has thus far demonstrated tangible commitment to renovation to the hub of Sunriver’s unique resort community and is putting a full-time manager on the ground.

The group’s backers are said to have ties to central Oregon and the extent of their immediate plans and long-term vision should become clearer in the near future.

“They are committed to enhancing the look, feel and draw of the Village and have ideas on what is needed to enhance this commercial core of Sunriver,” commented Ped.

“We are very supportive of the anticipated progress and would certainly like to see some long-term stability of ownership and execution of remodel plans.

“After all, we are all stakeholders in this community and this would do nothing but enhance the pride of ownership we’ve always felt here.”

For Sunriver Lodging Contact Mountain Resort Properties Today
www.MtResort.com
or
1.800.346.6337