Had a guy in last week from out of town who was a golf course bankruptcy expert.
"Which golf course?" I asked.
"Can't tell you," he laughed.
I was talking about our crazy Bend boom, and later on in the conversation, he mentioned a golf course...."What were they thinking?" he said. I don't feel like I can say which golf course, because I weedled the information out of the guy without informing him that I might post the info on a blog. It probably doesn't matter -- I think it could be ANY of the golf courses.
And frankly...I think it was misdirection, anyway. He caught his mistake, unless I was reading the conversation wrong. I'm guessing, most likely, he was in town because of Broken Top, which has already been in the paper as a possibility. But I don't know.
Add that little nugget with the news in today's paper that Jeld-Wen is has unloaded or is trying to unload their destination resort properties, and you got to figure all these guys are hurting.
Add that to all the news about new retail "malls", and the constant churn of stores in downtown Bend, and the death-defying moves of CACB and....well, I don't know what to think.
My guess, and it's only a guess, is that we existing businesses are only now feeling the full brunt of the downturn -- that enough time has passed, and enough of a less than encouraging future stretches out before us -- that reality, gravity, is setting in.
But, apparently, for Bend the froth continues -- though if you look at it a little more closely, what do we really have? A couple of empty complexes -- which used to house businesses that created good paying jobs, in exchange for a bunch of retail. One of the complexes -- if you don't mind me saying -- is less a mall than a flea market.
Making lemonade. One 0f the new retailers in the Brightwood complex actually touted the "industrial" feel of the place. Well, I understand that. Make if funky, baby.
"Which golf course?" I asked.
"Can't tell you," he laughed.
I was talking about our crazy Bend boom, and later on in the conversation, he mentioned a golf course...."What were they thinking?" he said. I don't feel like I can say which golf course, because I weedled the information out of the guy without informing him that I might post the info on a blog. It probably doesn't matter -- I think it could be ANY of the golf courses.
And frankly...I think it was misdirection, anyway. He caught his mistake, unless I was reading the conversation wrong. I'm guessing, most likely, he was in town because of Broken Top, which has already been in the paper as a possibility. But I don't know.
Add that little nugget with the news in today's paper that Jeld-Wen is has unloaded or is trying to unload their destination resort properties, and you got to figure all these guys are hurting.
Add that to all the news about new retail "malls", and the constant churn of stores in downtown Bend, and the death-defying moves of CACB and....well, I don't know what to think.
My guess, and it's only a guess, is that we existing businesses are only now feeling the full brunt of the downturn -- that enough time has passed, and enough of a less than encouraging future stretches out before us -- that reality, gravity, is setting in.
But, apparently, for Bend the froth continues -- though if you look at it a little more closely, what do we really have? A couple of empty complexes -- which used to house businesses that created good paying jobs, in exchange for a bunch of retail. One of the complexes -- if you don't mind me saying -- is less a mall than a flea market.
Making lemonade. One 0f the new retailers in the Brightwood complex actually touted the "industrial" feel of the place. Well, I understand that. Make if funky, baby.