This set of some 40 modular office buildings has been set up at 3801 Klindt Drive in the last month, which brought a lot of questions from neighbors and passers-by. While the contractor Whiting-Turner Construction Co. is renting the property from the Port of The Dalles, the utility and other improvements complete with paving, decks and a flagpole have some questioning if there isn’t something more permanent to come. As of now, the property is being rented from the port on a month-to-month basis, and the expectation is it will be there for one to two years as the company work on nearby Google data centers.
Here is what the property looked like just a few months ago before the modulars were installed. Google’s contractors never fail to amaze at how quickly they can construct projects.
By Tom Peterson
The Dalles, Ore., Oct. 23, 2026 — About 30 modular offices have been installed at 3801 Klindt Drive, where Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. is leasing Port of The Dalles property to house employees working on nearby Google construction projects.
The lease is month to month because the port-owned property remains for sale, according to Jennifer Toepke, executive assistant to the director of the Port of The Dalles. A May port commission meeting packet indicated the lease was expected to last at least one to two years.
The temporary offices have raised questions among nearby residents and people using the Riverfront Trail, particularly about the extensive underground utilities and other site improvements completed before the modular buildings arrived.
Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield, a local artist who lives and operates a studio a few hundred feet from the site, said people have repeatedly asked her what is happening on the property. She would like to see more information made available to the public.
“It would be nice to know,” she said.
Pepin-Wakefield said crews spent weeks excavating and installing underground infrastructure before the offices arrived. The scale of the work appeared substantial for a site being used for temporary offices, she said, prompting questions about whether the property might eventually be used for something else.
There is no confirmed plan for another development at the site. Neither the port nor the city has identified a future use beyond the current lease.
Month-to-month lease
The port-owned property remains for sale, Toepke said, and the month-to-month arrangement allows the contractor to use the site without a long-term commitment.
Construction remains in full gear at Google’s Steelhead way site, just a few hundred feet down the street. Google is building a new 77,000 square-foot building at its first data center site.
Whiting-Turner employees at the site declined to comment when asked about the offices and the property's future.
The site has a 277/480-volt electrical connection, a configuration commonly used for industrial and commercial applications. That connection alone does not establish what other uses, if any, are contemplated for the property.
Pepin-Wakefield said her questions are not about opposing industrial activity. She understands that the property is in an industrial area and that construction brings noise, dust and disruption. Her concern is the lack of clarity about the project and what will happen after the offices are no longer needed.
She also described construction activity beginning early in the morning hours and continuing late into the evening during portions of the site preparation. She said she contacted local officials about the noise and the lack of advance notice.
Correspondence she received from the port and city indicated that the port owns the property, while the city regulates construction and land use. The city said the work was an outright permitted use and did not trigger a public notice.
Pepin said a notice to neighbors would have helped significantly in understanding the breadth of the project.
Portion of Greenhouse property also being leased
The Italian basil greenhouse that operated next door is being dismantled and repurposed in Bend as the operator Mark Barton has chosen to downsize. The property could end up providing additional parking space for Whiting-Turner employees.
Whiting-Turner has also leased part of the adjacent property next to a basil greenhouse that has operated since 2004, according to Meredith Martin, who owns the land.
Martin and her husband Ronald operated the greenhouse for 16 years before Mark Barton took over the business in 2017. Barton is now winding down operations, and Martin said the greenhouse is being dismantled.
Barton said the changing surroundings and construction activity have made the location less suitable for greenhouse operations.
When Whiting-Turner approached Martin about using empty part of the property for parking, she agreed.
“It worked out pretty well,” Martin said.
She has leased about half the property to Whiting-Turner for parking and said the company could lease the remaining portion after the greenhouse is completely removed.
Martin said the arrangement has gone smoothly. She described the contractor's operation as organized and said the modular offices and parking came together quickly.
Busses are being used to transport employees related to the Google projects on a regulated loop around the Port of The Dalles. A street sweeper is also continuously sweeping the port streets affected by construction.
The greenhouse itself is being removed, and Martin said the greenhouse structure is being rebuilt in Bend, where it will be used to grow flowers and tropical plants.
Barton said rising operating expenses, particularly fuel costs for transporting basil to Portland-area customers, helped drive his decision to stop growing commercially. He also faces knee surgery next week.
He said Whiting-Turner wanted the property, but leaving the business sooner also allowed him to stop paying rent and utilities.
Barton is considering buying a smaller used greenhouse and growing produce on a limited scale for local sales rather than continuing the larger operation and long-distance deliveries. He has saved seeds from his crops and hopes to keep growing plants for himself and friends.
“I miss it,” Barton said, describing the decision as bittersweet after years of running the business.
The greenhouse's departure marks another change in the industrial area as Whiting-Turner establishes its construction offices and parking.
For Pepin-Wakefield and other neighbors, the outstanding question remains what will happen when the contractor no longer needs the space. The port says its property remains for sale, and Martin hopes Whiting-Turner will lease more of her land, but no longer-term development plan has been confirmed.
“I’m not opposed to industrial development. I live in an industrial area,” Pepin-Wakefield said. “It’s just that there are too many questions about what’s going to happen here.”
