springbrook

Springbrook, Oregon's New Development Breaks Ground

Wineries are popping up all over Oregon, and now the influx of wine tourism and real estate development is on the rise. This week saw a groundbreaking ceremony for Springbrook, a new development in the the Willamette Valley's Pinot Noir wine region that will include an inn, spa, restaurant and conference center. Future plans include 1,200 homes and a retail village which will be built over the next decade.

At the groundbreaking, businesswoman Joan Austin, her daughter, Loni Austin Parrish, son Ken Austin III and daughter-in-law Celia Austin turned a few shovels full of earth to signify the beginning of construction on the 450-acre Springbrook Properties site, which is one of the largest new developments in the state. The development will have 50 acres of green spaces that includes a small vineyard and recreation spaces.

The inn will be called The Allison, named after the 300-square-mile lake that briefly covered the entire Willamette Valley during the last ice age. Lake Allison was named for the late Ira Allison, an Oregon State University geologist whose work helped prove the existence of the lake. The inn will have a rustic and homey feel centered by a great room with a two-sided stone fireplace and an adjoining 15-seat bar. The 85 guest rooms will range in size from 500 to 600 square feet, to three 900- square-foot suites and one two-bedroom, ultra-deluxe suite with 1,600 square feet. The hotel will open in late spring 2009. A bigger picture of the development plans can be found in the gallery below.

Gallery: Springbrook