Frequently Asked Questions

What commercial land opportunities are active in Umatilla County?

Umatilla County has become one of Oregon’s most active commercial and industrial land markets outside the Portland Metro. (Nearby Morrow County also hosts major industrial operations at the Port of Morrow and Boardman.)

Within Umatilla County, data centers, cold storage, and potato processing facilities near Hermiston serve the large-scale irrigated agriculture industry. Grain storage and handling operations along rail and river transportation corridors at Pendleton and Umatilla are significant commercial investments. The Interstate 84 corridor has attracted distribution, warehousing, and light manufacturing. The county’s access to the Columbia River provides critical barge connectivity to Portland export terminals.

How has the data center industry affected commercial land values in Umatilla County?

The arrival of major technology data center operations in Umatilla County and neighboring Morrow County (Boardman) has fundamentally changed commercial land pricing near the Columbia River. Companies like Amazon Web Services have heavily invested in the region, attracted by inexpensive Columbia River hydroelectric power and a cool climate ideal for server cooling.

Land prices for industrial sites have risen from agricultural values of $1,500 to $3,000 per acre to commercial industrial values of $50,000 to $200,000 per acre for sites with power, water, and highway access. The tax base created by these facilities has significantly funded local schools and services. Additional large-scale industrial buyers are actively evaluating sites in Hermiston and Umatilla.

What are the logistics and transportation advantages driving commercial development in Umatilla County?

Umatilla County sits at a major transportation nexus that makes it strategically attractive for commercial operations. Interstate 84, one of the major east-west freight corridors of the American West, traverses the county providing direct highway access to Portland, Boise, and points beyond. Union Pacific and BNSF rail lines follow the same Columbia River corridor.

The Columbia River itself is navigable, allowing barge facilities to connect with Portland and Pacific export markets. Three commercial airports serve the county, including Eastern Oregon Regional Airport at Pendleton. The combination of highway, rail, river, and air access in a single county with affordable industrial land and inexpensive hydroelectric power creates commercial location advantages not commonly found together.