Brooks Resources is a
real estate development company with significant land holdings in
Central Oregon,
United States. The company was formed in 1969 as a subsidiary of
Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company
Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company was a lumber products company with large sawmills and significant land holdings in Minnesota, Florida, British Columbia, and Central Oregon. The company was formed in 1901 with its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnes ...
. It became an independent corporation in 1979. Brooks Resources develops residential neighborhoods, vacation rental properties, commercial complexes, and mixed-use communities. The company headquarters is located in
Bend, Oregon
Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U.S ...
.
Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company
The Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company was founded in 1901. The founding partners were Michael J. Scanlon, Anson S. Brooks, Dwight F. Brooks, Lester R. Brooks, and Henry E. Gibson. The newly formed company had its headquarters in
Minneapolis,
Minnesota with a large milling facility near
Cloquet, Minnesota.
Beginning in 1906, Brook-Scanlon started buying timber land in
Florida. Two years later, the company began buying timber land in British Columbia as well. When standing timber in Minnesota became hard to find, the Cloquet mill was closed and the milling equipment was shipped west to a new mill site in British Columbia.
["Michael J. Scanlon"](_blank)
''American Lumbermen: The Personal History and Public and Business Achievements'' (Volume 2), American Lumbermen, Chicago, 1906, Illinois, pp. 83, 86–87. In 1911, the company began looking at timber resources in central Oregon.
In 1915, the company purchased of timber land in central Oregon. The following year, Brooks-Scanlon opened a sawmill on the east bank of the
Deschutes River Deschutes River may refer to:
*Deschutes River (Oregon)
The Deschutes River in central Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The river provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many ...
on the outskirts of Bend. Within a year of opening, the Brooks-Scanlon sawmill was one of the two largest producers of pine lumber in the world.
[Nokes, R. Gregory]
"Mill Town to Boom Town"
''Oregonian'', Portland, Oregon, 1 September 2002, p. A19.["Brooks Resources Corporation and the Story of Bend, Oregon," ''Building Community Since 1969'', Brooks Resources Corporation, Bend, Oregon, 2019, pp. 6-7.] Over the following decades, Brooks-Scanlon bought additional tracts of central Oregon timber land from other forest land owners.
Real estate development
In 1969, Brooks-Scanlon created a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
corporation called Brooks Resources. The new company was created to develop Brooks-Scanlon property for uses other than timber production. The first project undertaken by Brooks Resources was the development
Black Butte Ranch
Black Butte Ranch is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated private resort community in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is located in the Cascade Range, northwest of Sisters. The population was 366 at the 2010 census. ...
, begun in 1970. Black Butte Ranch is located just off
U. S. Route 20, west of
Sisters, Oregon.
["Mike Hollern’s Influence is Everywhere in Bend, and He’s Not Done Yet"](_blank)
''Bend Magazine'', Bend, Oregon, 16 September 2015. That project was followed by the Mount Bachelor Village resort in 1974. However, when the international oil crisis drove up fuel prices in the mid-1970s, recreational travel became very expensive. As a result, Brooks Resources offered everyone who had purchased property at Mount Bachelor Village the opportunity to cancel their purchase contracts. Every buyer but one took advantage of the cancellation offer. Once oil prices stabilized, property sales at Mount Bachelor Village picked up again and the project was completed as planned.
[McLaughlin, Kathleen]
"Brooks Resources Sells Mount Bachelor Village Resort"
''Bend Bulletin'', Bend, Oregon, 10 July 2018.
In 1979, Brooks Resources was officially separated from the Brooks-Scanlon company.
In the 1980s, Brooks Resources started two new projects, Shevlin Center begun in 1981 and their Awbrey Butte development that broke ground in 1984. Shevlin Center was a office and light industry park located on the site of the old Shevlin-Hixon sawmill. Eventually, the Shevlin Center area included the
Les Schwab Amphitheater and significant public space along the river.
["A Look Back," ''Building Community Since 1969'', Brooks Resources Corporation, Bend, Oregon, 2019, pp. 4–5.] In addition, Black Butte Ranch and Mount Bachelor Village remained profitable during that period. Nevertheless, Brooks Resources lost money on its operations. In 1982 alone, the company lost $8.7 million, reducing the company's equity by approximately one third. Significant losses continued into 1983.
Eventually, the business recovered. Starting in the early 1990s, Brooks Resources' equity began growing ten percent a year.
This was helped by projects like the Awbrey Glen golf community begun in 1993 and Shevlin RiverFront, a 1996 project. The Mount Bachelor Village conference center was built in 1999 and Century Washington Center was developed in 2000. Finally, the joint venture NorthWest Crossing mixed-use community was started in 1999 and began selling homes in 2002.
In 2004, the company moved its headquarters to a new location in downtown Bend.
[Jordan, Joseph, "Where the City Meets the Wilderness", ''Area 97'' (magazine), Bulletin Special Projects Group, Western Communications, Bend, Oregon, May/June 2019, pp. 56–61.]
In 2006, Brooks Resources began developing a mix-use community called Yarrow on a site near
Madras, Oregon. However, work on the Yarrow site was curtailed when a major economic recession hit central Oregon in 2008. Local real estate prices did not begin to recover until 2013. During this period, Brooks Resources remained the area's largest real estate development company. Nevertheless, the company turned over Awbrey Butte common lands to an owners' association in 2008 and sold its Awbrey Glen assets to home owners in that development the following year. Brooks Resources sold its Yarrow property to the Bean Foundation in 2015.
In 2018, the company sold its Mount Bachelor Village assets to the Oksenholt Companies.
Business model
Brooks Resources has been a leading real estate developer in central Oregon for more than 50 years.
["OSU-Cascades receives gifts from Bend Foundation, Brooks Resources toward campus expansion"](_blank)
''www.osucascades.edu'', Oregon State University – Cascades, Bend, Oregon, accessed 31 March 2017. Today, the company develops mixed-use communities, resort rental properties, and residential neighborhoods throughout central Oregon. It also sells homesites and other properties through its Brooks Resources Realty offices. Beginning in 2017, the company began offering real estate development services for private clients.
In 2019, the company began looking for opportunities to develop smaller urban parcels as well as large-tract projects while still focusing its business in central Oregon.
["Company Overview of Brooks Resources Corporation"](_blank)
''Bloomberg'', New York, New York, accessed 21 April 2019.["Brooks Resources Buys Former Murry & Holt Property"](_blank)
''NewsChannel 21 KTVZ'', Bend, Oregon, 7 May 2018.
Brooks Resources maintains its headquarters in Bend, Oregon.
The company has a track record of working with local governments to effectively plan and control growth while meeting community housing and commercial development needs. The company is also known for its commitment to preserving the natural environment as part of its project designs. Its projects typically include natural areas, walking trails, parks, and other public spaces built into environmentally friendly neighborhoods and community-based retail centers.
["Park and Recreation honors for Bend facilities and Brooks Resources"](_blank)
Bend Parks and Recreation District, Bend, Oregon, 20 November 2017.
Philanthropy and awards
The Bend Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company in 1947 to help injured loggers and sawmill workers. Today, Brooks Resources remains a major contributor to the Foundation which currently supports a wide range of community institutions and philanthropic programs throughout central Oregon. The Foundation funds scholarships, public artwork, and a wide variety of other community programs and environmental projects. Brooks Resources often joins forces with the Foundation to increase the impact of their gifts. For example, in 2017, the Bend Foundation gave
Oregon State University – Cascades $500,000 for a new math, science, technology, and engineering building and Brooks Resources gave a separate $75,000 gift for the same purpose.
["Giving Back", ''Building Community Since 1969'', Brooks Resources Corporation, Bend, Oregon, 2019, p. 18.]
In 1982, Brooks Resources helped
Donald M. Kerr establish the
High Desert Museum
The High Desert Museum is located near Bend, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1982, it brings regional wildlife, culture, art and natural resources together to promote an understanding of natural and cultural heritage of North America's high ...
, south of Bend. The company donated of forest land along
U.S. Route 97
U.S. Route 97 (US 97) is a major north–south route of the United States Numbered Highway System in the Pacific Northwest region. It runs for approximately through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, primarily serving in ...
as the location for the museum.
["Brooks Resources Mark 50th with Free Museum Admission"](_blank)
''NewsChannel 21 KTVZ'', Bend, Oregon, 14 March 2018. Over the years, Brooks Resources has continued to support the museum. In April 2019, Brooks Resources celebrated its 50th business anniversary at the museum. To celebrate, the company subsidized a community appreciation day with free admission for everyone visiting the museum.
Today, Brooks Resources gives a minimum of 3 percent of its pre-tax profits to local charities designated by an employee-led committee. Among the local institutions that have benefited from this giving program are the High Desert Museum, Bethlehem Inn (a shelter for homeless families), the BendFilm Festival, Bend's Art on Public Places project, the historic
Tower Theatre, and Oregon State University – Cascades.
In addition, when Brooks Resources began developing its North Rim homes project, it contributed two percent of the homesite sales revenue to the
Oregon Community Foundation
Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) is a non-profit organisation with the mission of improving lives for all Oregonians through the power of philanthropy.
It is the fifth largest community foundation in the United States as ranked by asset size i ...
to help improve the Deschutes River watershed. Over the course of the project, approximately $1 million was contributed to Foundation watershed projects.
The Brooks companies have been working with the Bend community on park and recreation programs since the 1920s, when Brooks-Scanlon donated to the City of Bend to establish
Shevlin Park
Shevlin Park is a park located in Bend, Oregon. It was first established in 1921 by the City of Bend. Notable natural and manmade features include Tumalo Creek, Aspen Hall, and Fremont Meadow.
History
Central Oregon is located on the ancestral ...
. More recent, Brooks Resources helped fund a riverway study along the Deschutes River corridor that identified 54 projects needed to complete the river trail network. The company has also donated a number of undeveloped properties to the
Bend Park and Recreation District The Bend Park & Recreation District is the agency which protects the parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails of the city of Bend, Oregon.
History
Bend formed a recreation department and hired its first director in April 1 ...
that are now Compass Park, Rim Rock Natural Area, Archie Briggs Canyon Natural Area, and Tree Farm (a addition to Shevlin Park).
As of 2019, the company was working with the park district to expand Discovery Park in the NorthWest Crossing neighborhood.
Bend Park and Recreation District, Bend, Oregon, accessed 28 April 2019. In addition, Brooks Resources worked with the City of Bend to improve its traffic roundabouts, providing company resources to landscape and add public artwork to 20 city roundabouts.["Local Companies Step Up to Landscape City Roundabouts"](_blank)
''News from the City of Bend'', City Of Bend, Bend, Oregon, 12 March 2012.
As a result of the long-term partnership between Brooks Resources and the Bend Park and Recreation District, the Oregon Recreation and Parks Association recognized Brooks Resources with its ''2017 Private Sector Partner Award''. The partner award honors an Oregon-based corporation or non-profit organization that has made a significant contribution to community parks and recreation programs.
Development projects
Brooks Resources has developed a number of projects in central Oregon. Those projects include:
See also
* Black Butte Ranch, Oregon
* Real estate development
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
Brooks Resources History
Brooks Resources and City of Bend working together
Real estate companies of the United States
Real estate companies established in 1969
Companies based in Bend, Oregon
Deschutes County, Oregon
1969 establishments in Oregon