Officials hope a new townhome development will help with Redmond’s affordable workforce housing crunch. But it is just one of several in various stages of development in Redmond.

The 27 Elm development, named for its location at the intersection of NW 27th Street and NW Elm Avenue, will feature 36 units, with half of them two bedrooms and half three bedrooms. Rent will start at $1,295 per month.

The project has been about a year and a half in the making, Mayor George Endicott said. The city was excited to work with Neil Amondson, of Redmond, who is partnering with Nancy and Jeanmarie Kapp, of Chicago. Their company, Hunter Renaissance Development LLC, looks to serve people who are priced out of higher-end rentals, but are still looking for something nice.

“Their expertise and forte is in workforce/affordable housing, so that’s exactly what not only Central Oregon but all of Oregon needs right now,” Endicott said at a Nov. 30 groundbreaking.

With rental vacancy rates near zero in Redmond and Bend, such projects are needed, he said. While Redmond works to add and expand businesses, the lack of housing can make that tough.

“This is really a marriage made in heaven,” Endicott said. “They build the product, we have the demand, so we’re going to come together here starting today.”

As Redmond adds businesses, homes such as The 27 Elm should serve a middle-end market of workers, said Jon Stark, senior manager for Redmond Economic Development Inc.

“They are nice, contemporary homes that serve that middle group,” he said.

Redmond has several levels of housing needs, Stark said. They start with a lack of lower-end needs and go up to the need for executive level developments.

But Redmond has a wide variety of projects in the works. City planning manager Deborah McMahon said 318 single family lots, which includes The 27 Elm as well as larger subdivisions like Hayden Homes’ Obsidian Trails, have been approved by the city in the past 90 days. Another estimated 400 multifamily units are also in the works.

“What it does is provide a greater range of housing choices,” McMahon said.

REDI is trying to lure residents making an average of $43,000 a year, so it deals primarily with the need for higher-end homes for workers, costing between $175,000 and $275,000, Stark said.

With the new subdivisions planned, Stark feels comfortable about middle-income workers being able to find a place to live in the future. He said that some people who move into a new development will either sell their old houses, or rent them out to people who make less money. That should help free up the market.

But those developments now in the works do not appear to address homes for executives who might be looking for houses costing more than $600,000. Stark said places outside the city limits like Eagle Crest and Tetherow have high-end homes, but it’s not the same as having them in Redmond, where residents would pay city taxes.

“At the end of the day, when you have these businesses move in, you want the leadership of the company to be here too,” he said. “You want that money spent in the community, and, if they’re living in Bend, that’s not optimal for us.”

McMahon said some of the demand for more luxurious housing is being met by Bend-based Pahlisch Homes, which is developing subdivisions in the southwestern part of Redmond, near Ridgeview High School.

“We’re really looking forward to their product,” she said. “It is a higher-end product, very well designed and we think it is going to be a great addition to Redmond.”

The 27 Elm project could eventually expand, and Hunter Renaissance is considering building other properties in Redmond and Central Oregon. Amondson said after the ceremony that they are looking at other properties, and could use old shipping containers as frames in future projects.

“We hope to build more in Redmond and meet the burgeoning need of workforce housing in the area,” he said.

The city is still looking at whether parts of shipping containers could be used in future housing developments, McMahon said.

“Our concern is that we want livability and that they blend into neighborhoods,” she said.

The Kapps have been slowly spreading their wings west since their company started in Chicago in 1990, Jeanmarie Kapp said. They broke ground on a mixed use development in North Dakota. This will be their first project in Oregon.

“The city was very welcoming and very easy to do business with,” she said. “There’s a big need for (housing).”

The two-story townhome units include amenities like stainless steel kitchens, decks, bike storage and washers and dryers in each unit. Jeanmarie Kapp said they also have the advantage of being close to downtown, as well as recreational activities just to the west.

Reservations are now being accepted. For more information, visit www.The27Elm.com or call 541-548-2700.

“It seems like a good place to be for so many reasons,” Jeanmarie Kapp said.

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com