Bulletin E-Edition:
more photosChris Jones stands Tuesday in the future home of Volo, a new restaurant that he plans to open May 1 in the 919 Bond building in downtown Bend.
Devin Wagner / The Bulletin
A splash of upscale in downtown Bend
A new restaurant and a private social club slated for Bond Street
By Jeff McDonald / The Bulletin
Last modified: March 12. 2008 11:37AM PSTA restaurant and private social club are scheduled to be the first two businesses at Bend’s new 919 Bond building in downtown Bend.
Volo, billed as an upscale yet casual restaurant serving contemporary American cuisine, is scheduled to open May 1 on the ground floor of the four-story building, located next door to the D&D Bar & Grill.
The social club, called The Loft of Bend, will be limited to 250 members who each will have their own temperature-controlled lockers for storing cases of wine and access to the club’s facilities, said Adam Bledsoe, the owner and operator. Bledsoe’s brother, former NFL quarterback and fellow Bend resident Drew Bledsoe, also is a partner in the venture, scheduled to open by late June.
The second-floor club will cater to the growing ranks of destination resort residents in Central Oregon who want to meet downtown for a catered business meeting or to entertain guests, Adam Bledsoe said.
“It’s like a country club minus the golf,” he said.
Another partner, Whitefish, Mont., attorney Chad Wold, also founded The Loft of Whitefish and The Loft of Missoula in Montana, Adam Bledsoe said.
The 4,800-square-foot club will become a center for business and charity meetings, private events and parties, Adam Bledsoe said.
Membership rates will be approximately $200 per month plus a still undetermined initiation fee, he said.
The other half of the second floor will have office suites and a common area with kitchen and conference area, copy machines and a central phone system, said Elizabeth Justema, a spokeswoman for Taylor Pickhardt Development LLC, which developed the 919 Bond building.
Second-floor office suite tenants also could have access to The Loft of Bend, Adam Bledsoe said.
The top two floors will have two 2,261- to 2,669-square-foot condominiums on each floor starting at $1.2 million, Justema said.
Guests of private parties at Volo, members of The Loft of Bend and the four condominium owners also will have access to rooftop gardens atop the building, she said.
Volo will occupy a 4,000-square-foot space in the 60,000-square-foot building.
The food will be contemporary American cuisine, said Chris Jones, the restaurant’s owner.
“It will be suitable for San Francisco, but I wanted to make sure it fit Bend’s casual nature,” Jones said of the restaurant he’s been planning for two years.
Jones, a former photographer who moved to Bend three years ago from New York City, has traveled the world twice and wanted to re-create the “hip, sophisticated restaurant” environment that he saw in the world’s cultural centers, he said.
Jones said he moved to Bend for the quality of life and convinced the restaurant’s chef, friend Victor Sommo, to follow him from New York City.
“I’ve eaten at a lot of good restaurants and have always been into really great food,” Jones said. “I wanted to create a restaurant that could provide that food for everyone here in Bend.”
Jones said he’ll attempt to distinguish Volo with its design, food and ambience in an increasingly competitive restaurant environment downtown. It’s designed to be different, he said.
“I’m trying to improve the city and hope that opening the restaurant will make Bend a better place,” Jones said.
Jeff McDonald can be reached at 383-0323 or jmcdonald@bendbulletin.com.
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