John Day Homes of North Bend buys part of Treemont property

Published 11:22 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

FALL CITY – After more than a decade of debate and discussion over its development, a contended parcel of land could have homes on it later this year.

A 100-acre swath of land located east of State Route 202 between Ames Lake and Fall City has been purchased by North Bend-based home builder John Day Homes and Bellevue-based home builder Lexington Fine Homes. Both developers intend to start building on 30, 3-acre plots with the rest of the property being kept as open space.

The land is part of a larger 245-acre plot that was originally set to be developed by Port Blakely Communities, a Seattle-based home developer that planned to build 245 homes on the site. Plans for that development were first submitted in 1988, but were contended by community organizations because of their size and, despite the number of homes being gradually reduced, the development was held up in the approval process for years.

In 2003, the Cascade Land Conservancy (CLC) and the Metropolitan King County Council worked out a deal with Port Blakely to buy the land for $8.8 million. It was agreed that that 145 acres would be preserved as open space under a forest management plan while the other 100 acres would be sold for development. A subsidiary company of the Seattle-based developer that developed the Uplands neighborhoods outside of North Bend, Allen & Co., L.L.C., was set to develop the 30 plots of land. That subsidiary company, Conservation Development, L.L.C., submitted plans for development to King County that were approved this past December.

John Day, president of John Day Homes, said he was always interested in that land and had talked with the president of Allen & Co., Jay Allen, about the future possibility of developing the land. Day, along with Lexington Fine Homes president John Cochenour, worked out a deal that was solidified in the past couple of weeks. The final deal will allow John Day Homes and Lexington to build on 1.5 acres of each of the 3-acre parcels. Land not used for homes will remain forest land.

“I think it’s terrific,” Allen said. “It’s a win/win for everyone.”

Day said he plans to build homes from his company’s Traditional Line, which includes the model the company’s offices on Second Street in North Bend are located in, the Madison. The homes will be around 4,000-square feet and cost around $1.2 million.

Cochenour said he will also build high-end homes. He compared the homes that will go up in Treemont to those in another Lexington development called The Reserve at Patterson Creek, located near Redmond. He said the homes on the Tremont property will be a little larger than the John Day homes and cost around $1.5 million.

Despite the more-than $1-million cost of the homes and building in what has been thought of as a depressed economy, Cochenour said the home-building business is good. While the technological business downturn in 2001 took its toll on the local economy, the home industry has remained strong. With signs of hiring at big corporations like Microsoft and Boeing, Cochenour said he sees good times ahead for building.

“The engine is finally starting to roll,” Cochenour said. “This is a wonderful sign for our industry.”