Oregon town is yours for $3.5M

TILLER, Ore. (AP) — In the tiny, dying timber town of Tiller, the old cliche is true. If you blink, you might actually miss it.

But these days, this dot on a map in southwestern Oregon is generating big-city buzz for an unlikely reason: Almost the entire town is for sale.

The asking price of $3.5 million brings with it six houses, the shuttered general store and gas station, the land under the post office, undeveloped parcels, water rights and infrastructure that includes sidewalks, fire hydrants and a working power station. Tiller Elementary School, a six-classroom building that closed in 2014, is for sale separately for $350,000.

The listing represents a melancholy crossroads for Tiller, a once-bustling logging outpost that sprang up after the turn of the last century deep in what is now the Umpqua National Forest, about 370 kilometres south of Portland. The post office opened in 1902, and miners, loggers, ranchers and farmers flocked to the community along a pristine river.

Then, nearly three decades ago, logging on the federal forest lands that encircle Tiller came to a near standstill because of environmental regulations. The timber mill closed, and families moved away. One longtime resident began buying up properties. When he died three years ago, the family owned much of the town.

“Between the dying economy and the dying owners, Tiller became a new opportunity that had never been available before,” said Richard Caswell, executor of the estate. “I started getting inquiries from all over the world, essentially, ‘What was it? And what could you do with it?’ It’s the buyer and their imagination that’s going to determine what Tiller can become.”

The listing includes more than 256 acres (one square kilometre) in 29 distinct parcels, water and timber rights and a variety of zonings, from residential to industrial.

About 235 people still live in the unincorporated area around Tiller.

Potential buyers have said through the seller’s broker that they intend to turn the school into some type of campus and create a “permaculture” development that respects the town’s remaining residents and its picturesque setting in a bend in the emerald-tinted South Umpqua River.

“The buyers understand that they only have one shot at a first impression,” said Garrett Zoller, principal broker for LandandWildlife.com, the seller’s realtor. “They understand that this is a community of people who live here and that it could be a sensitive subject. . . . They want to address this project with the community in mind.”

Residents gather at the church for coffee and cinnamon rolls on Fridays and collect their mail at the oneroom post office — when it’s open. Some have a sense of humour: A small, weathered sign affixed to the market reads, “Last one out of Tiller turn out the light.”