The long-planned but never developed Cascadia master plan community is back in the hands of a developer.
HomeStreet Bank, which owned the 4,218-acre property following the 2009 bankruptcy of the original owners and developers, announced Wednesday the property was sold to the Newland Real Estate Group, LLC, a California-based company with a regional office in Vancouver, Wash.
The price on the project was $49.1 million, according to Pierce County tax records.
HomeStreet was originally owed more than $75 million by Cascadia when a federal judge ruled last summer the property would be put up for auction as collateral on the loan. At the auction, the property reverted to HomeStreet.
Newland was selected after a bidding process that included several developers of master-planned communities.
Newland Regional President Dave Wood said the company has wanted to break into the area for a while and is excited to be involved in the project.
“The Puget Sound Market is a market we’ve had our eye on for a couple of years,” he said Wednesday in a phone interview. “When this came up, it just seemed like the right move to make.”
Wood said Newland presently has 40 projects in 14 states in development, many of which are master-planned communities, including Fisher’s Landing, a 2,100-acre master-planned project in Clark County that recently annexed into Vancouver.
The Cascadia project is presently planned for approximately 6,000 homes and includes space for commercial and industrial development.
Wood said the company would begin a closer look at the project next week, but said he did not imagine the plan changing too much.
“We think it’s a pretty good framework to work within,” he said.
Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy called the sale “great news” for the regional economy.
“This development is poised to accommodate a significant amount of the county’s future growth in housing and jobs,” she said in a press release. “This community will be a jewel in the region.”
The project began when Patrick Kuo, Cascadia’s founder and president, purchased the land in 1991. He intended to develop a planned community with 6,500 houses accompanied by commercial properties—in short, a place that people could live and work. Work didn’t begin until 2006.
Though a network of roads to nowhere run through the property, the only development that came to pass was a Sumner School District elementary campus, named Donald Eismann Elementary last year.
There are also about 400 completed lots on the grounds awaiting homes.
Wood said Newland will begin developing the lots this year with hopes of having the first homes completed by early next spring.
“We’re excited about this opportunity,” he said.
