By Stefanie Donahue
The gears are finally turning on the Horizon at Semiahmoo development project and this time the firm that owns the property is promising a more affordable price tag for single-family homes the developer plans to build over the next few years.
Horizon at Semiahmoo was acclaimed as the area’s first residential mixed-use development project to use building and land-use strategies that combine contemporary architecture with sustainable design, according to early site plans from 2008.
Horizon at Semiahmoo home and sales center. Photo by Stefanie Donahue.
Seventy-five lots ranging 2,000 to 4,000 square feet in size were set aside for the construction of single family homes. Condominium, cluster houses and mixed-use retail would occupy the remaining portions of the property.
A model home and sales center was built after the plans were released in 2008 and has been vacant ever since. Over the years, the development was swallowed by overgrown foliage and hit by vandals.
At one point, the property was listed for $46 million with $35 million indebted against it. After the U.S. housing market crashed, it was sold to Everett-based Frontier Bank, which went under in 2010, and later San Francisco-based Union Bank. North America CC Chang Jiang Investment, LLP, a Canadian firm, purchased the property for $5.88 million in January 2013.
Now with the market on the mend, the owner believes it is the right time to set plans for the site in motion, said Keller Williams Western Realty realtor, Judy Bracken-Commissaris.
North America CC Chang Jiang Investment, LLP intends to maintain ownership of 31 lots to build single-family homes, said Bracken-Commissaris, the owner’s representative. The remaining 42 residential lots will be sold to interested buyers.
The vacant model home on the site is still owned by Union Bank and will go on the market as a foreclosure, she said. Developing the remaining portions of the property that are zoned for mixed-use will come later.
North America CC Chang Jiang Investment, LLP will re-write architectural and design plans for the single family homes, which Bracken-Commissaris estimates will be priced between $550,000 and $750,000. The firm is also in the process of rewriting covenants, conditions and restrictions, which govern and restrict new construction.
In August, Blaine-based Augusta Lawn Care Services removed more than a decade’s worth of brush and debris from the site.
The owner intends to gradually sell the 42 residential lots on the site, which are connected to utilities, Bracken-Commissaris said. Over a month ago, North America CC Chang Jiang Investment, LLP put five lots on the market. Two were sold after receiving several offers. Bracken-Commissaris predicts an influx of interest after the CC&R’s are approved in just a few weeks.
“It’s going to be a beautiful development,” she said. “The location of this is ideal.”
