60861 Cultus Drive

Southwest Bend sits on the east bank of the Deschutes River, bounded by Powers Road to the north, the river to the west, 3rd Street to the east, and the Bend city limits to the south. The City of Bend formally recognized it on December 5, 2001, the first of what are now 13 neighborhood districts in the city. Like Bend's other districts, it is governed by a volunteer board rather than an HOA. Membership is automatic for any resident or business owner 18 or older inside the boundary, there are no dues, and the group runs on donations. That matters for a buyer: no assessment, no architectural review committee, no design covenant to clear before a remodel.

The district's north edge runs against the Old Mill District, the 270-acre commercial development built on the site of the Shevlin-Hixon and Brooks-Scanlon lumber mills, both established on opposite banks of the river in 1916. At their peak the mills employed more than 2,000 workers apiece. Brooks-Scanlon's Mill B was the last to close, in 1993, the same year William Smith Properties bought the property. The district that opened afterward kept three of the original smokestacks and nine of the mill-era buildings standing. Today it holds 60 stores and restaurants and the 8,000-seat Hayden Homes Amphitheater, built in 2001. For the homes closest to it, that proximity cuts both ways. It's a walk to dinner and a concert most summer weekends, and it's also concert traffic and amplified sound on Old Mill show nights.