(Rendering courtesy of Heart of Oregon Corps)
Youth Organization Set to Expand Operations in Redmond, Beyond
Heart of Oregon Corps (HOC), a local organization focused on youth and young adult development through hands-on programs and career training, has announced their Legacy 25 capital campaign to raise the final $2.5 million needed for the newly planned permanent campus in Redmond.
HOC has been looking for the right opportunity to expand their services with the addition of a permanent campus, and the right opportunity came from another valued organization in the community, the Opportunity Foundation of Central Oregon (OFCO). OFCO provides work skills development, community job coaching, residential care giving and more to Central Oregonians with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Leanna Williams, the development director at HOC, said the following about the new campus: “For 25 years, Heart of Oregon Corps has stretched aging, borrowed service spaces across the region as far as we can go. Purchasing this land allows Heart of Oregon to build Central Oregon’s first Youth Workforce Development Campus so that we can amplify support services for young people and provide job training to solve the region’s greatest challenges: housing affordability, childcare shortage and wildfire risk reduction.
Continuing, she said, “The Central Campus will be located in Redmond, but will remain strongly connected to satellite sites to ensure access for rural youth. This campus provides Heart of Oregon youth with a space with resources, educational opportunities and community, similar to their peers attending high school or college.”
The 3.4-acre, $7.3 million campus will support existing programs and give HOC room to grow trainings, certifications and youth-support services. “The campus will feature youth-centered cultural elements and trauma-informed design that create a sense of belonging, camaraderie and an inspiring place to learn,” said Williams. “A new 6,600-square-foot central Campus Center building will offer classrooms, offices and meeting spaces. A renovation of an existing 14,000-square-foot training warehouse will become the go-to place for hands-on workshops and trainings. Six equipment bays across 10,000 square feet will provide space for special projects and housing for HOC’s large equipment inventory. An amenity-filled courtyard will give youth places to gather for events or quiet moments of reflection and study. Connections to small satellite sites for rural youth will ensure everyone is able to participate.”
Through the facilitation of Aligned Commercial Real Estate, HOC first inquired about leasing a piece of land from OFCO, but later landed on the idea of purchasing the property instead.
“We were approached to evaluate the lease with HOC,” said Karen Koppel, CCIM, broker at Aligned Commercial Real Estate. “They were already onsite, interested in doing a land lease with OFCO to build a permanent building for themselves. We looked at the existing lease, gave our evaluation and after some consideration from the respective boards of each organization, we came to this win-win scenario.”
Ken Streater, founder and principal broker at Aligned Commercial Real Estate, echoed this statement. “HOC and OFCO have been working together for quite some time, in sharing space. HOC decided to build a more sophisticated headquarters and a training center. They talked to us to find a space, and over the course of a year it came to be believed that it would be best if they bought the land instead of leasing.”
Lindsey Dulian, the executive director of OFCO, called the transaction a “partner-like deal that benefits everyone,” stressing the importance of organizations like HOC and OFCO to come together and collaborate for the greater good of the community. “There are so many benefits to fostering a positive relationship with HOC,” said Dulian. “Good relationships come from these interactions, and they can help organizations like ours get ahead of things to make solid change in the community. Holding the hands of others who are working on similar issues makes us all stronger. We saw a chance to help each other help the community, and said ‘why not?’”
Streater said that deals like this encapsulate the mission of Aligned Commercial Real Estate: “It’s a foundational characteristic of our company to take on projects that benefit the community. In our mission, it’s who we are as brokers. All members of society are worthy of advocates who can improve the community and their lives. We are called Aligned because we all want to be aligned in the betterment of our communities. In this case, it is for the benefit of our whole Oregon community.”
