By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Michael Bratland wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do with the Rock Park Cottages in Yachats he bought Nov. 13.
All it took was one simple Craigslist ad the next day advertising one-year leases at $1,250 a month for a furnished, one-bedroom cottage.
“I ran the ad to see what the interest was. I was blown away,” Bratland said of the dozens of applications and others who stopped by the property that Saturday to look. “The need is so crazy.”
And so for the first time in more than 55 years, the iconic cottages and main house on West Second Street and two other properties on West Third Street have changed hands. They will evolve from a cluster of vacation rentals into badly needed longer-term housing.
“I bought it because I loved the property and not really that I had any set ideas what to do with it,” said Brantland, 48, a dentist based in Eugene but with offices in Lincoln City, Albany, Roseburg and Monmouth. “The ad changed my idea of what to do with it.”
Bratland bought the properties – there are five tax lots involved – from Betsy Price of Yachats and her sister, Anne Bonn of Wickenburg, Ariz. The properties had been in the family since their parents, Earl and Virginia Gillmore, bought the complex in the early 1960s.
The properties had been for sale for 15 months. It nearly sold in March, Price said, but the coronavirus pandemic hit and the buyer backed out.
“Everybody, including me, was worried what the new owner might do with it … including tearing everything down and starting over,” Price told YachatsNews. “It didn’t happen and we’re happy with that.”
Cabins have a long history
Price is not entirely clear on the history of the cottages. She believes the first cabins were built in the late 1920s or early 30s. She has a historic aerial photo taken after World War II showing the dismantled gun embattlement (“I climbed on it”) at what is now Yachats State Park – and two cabins where Rock Park Cottages now sit.
Price grew up in Eugene and her family used to stay frequently in the cottages in the 1960s. As the family was leaving after one visit the owners mentioned the place was going up for sale.
The Gillmores drove off, only to stop at Cape Perpetua. “They turned around and went back and bought it,” Price said.
They had a manager for a while, but Price eventually got a job with the Forest Service and started managing the property, overseeing repairs and rents.
Back then the motel consisted of the main cabin and five one-bedroom cottages. Virginia Gillmore added onto the main house when she retired and moved to Yachats. Earl Gillmore followed after his retirement, eventually serving on the Yachats Planning Commission and City Council.
The Gillmores later added adjoining properties and their two small houses on Third Street.
Price says her parents used to rent the cottages for $6-8 a night to help make visits to the coast affordable.
“We catered to families,” she said. “My parents always wanted the Average Joe to bring their families to Yachats to enjoy themselves.”
In 1997, a travel writer for the New York Times had this to say about staying there:
“My one-bedroom cottage reminded me of the beach houses of my childhood. The bedroom, about 10 feet by 14 feet, contained a high queen-size bed and a bunk bed. Down the hall, past the bathroom, the living room looked west onto a tiny forest of wind-stunted spruce, which, with a low cliff, was all that separated us from the ocean. This room had a television and two sofas that could have slept two people. I used the full kitchen only for making tea, being curious to sample the local restaurant fare; but for the families obviously meant to be accommodated here, it would have been quite convenient. I noticed, too, a selection of board games, jigsaw puzzles and books for the rainy days one had to expect. Being holed up here in the rain wouldn’t be too bad, I reflected, with the sea to look at, the warm wood paneling and the energetic wall heater to dissipate any damp chill.”
Bratland’s family also visited Yachats
Bratland’s story parallels that of the Gillmore family.
He grew up in Eugene. His parents vacationed on the coast and stayed in the Beachcomber Cottages six miles south of Yachats.
“We loved Yachats,” he said.
Bratland graduated from the University of Oregon and went into marketing “but it wasn’t going to pay the bills.” Dental school followed, then a practice in Roseburg before settling back in Eugene.
Now his five general dentistry offices specialize in handling people on the Oregon Health Plan, setting up offices in areas of the state where few dentists accept OHP clients.
“It’s my little niche,” Bratland says.
Bratland and his wife, Jacqueline, have five children, three of whom are in college.
As his dental practice – named Crisdental after a brother who died in high school — matured, Bratland said he began pursuing a second passion — real estate.
“I buy properties with ocean views,” he says. “I literally know all the properties for sale from Florence to Lincoln City.”
Bratland first saw the Rock Park Cottages two months ago.
“I fell in love with it,” he said, but “lost a lot of sleep” debating whether to invest in it. He now says “It will pencil out.”
Plans for the commercially-zoned property are quickly evolving.
A teacher and her family from Waldport are already moving into the main house. The so-called “Hobbit House” just outside the main house has been rented to a Eugene couple.
Ron Vil, who did maintenance for Price and will continue that for Bratland, will move into a nearby house that Price did not sell. Vil’s house on Third Street will then go into the rental pool.
Bratland will have long-term renters in four of the five cottages and use the fifth as a vacation rental in order to keep his city-issued license active.
He’s toying with moving a storage structure to somewhere else on the property and erecting a cluster of “small homes” with foundations on that site.
After that, it’s setting up a laundry room for renters, moving furniture around, cleaning carpets, doing small repairs and figuring out all the quirks of 80-year-old structures that have been remodeled once or twice.
“My plans are changing because of what the needs are,” Bratland said. “There’s such a big need for housing.”
Really highlights the need for more affordable, long-term rentals in this area. I moved here a year ago and am lucky I found a place, but it wasn’t easy/terribly affordable. Are there any real plans to address this omission in the area?