Home development to resume on land with sweeping Birch Bay waterfront views. Here’s why
Development of homes on 219 acres with sweeping waterfront views of Birch Bay and the Canadian Gulf Islands is expected to resume this year.
The Birch Bay/Semiahmoo project, dormant since the national financial crisis a decade ago, has been purchased by Harbor Custom Development for $14.3 million.
Horizon at Semiahmoo was originally envisioned as a 650-home subdivision by developer Fred Bovenkamp, but fell into foreclosure and the property ended up at Union Bank in 2010. The bank sold it to North American CC Chan Jian Investment in 2013 for $5.8 million.
Included in the sale to Harbor Custom Development is about 37 acres near the Semiahmoo Golf Course known as Inverness. It has about 80 potential residential lots, with about 20 right next to the golf course.
The company plans to update county and Blaine permits and start building homes on about 71 residential lots of the Horizon property that are nearly ready to go, Sterling Griffin, CEO of Harbor Custom Development, said in a phone interview.
“We’re really looking forward to this,” Griffin said, noting this is the first time the Gig Harbor company has done a project in Whatcom County. “I’ve always been fascinated with the Semiahmoo area because it is such a gorgeous piece of property.”
Griffin said they are currently working on an overall plan for the area, but he expects the total build-out to be substantially fewer than the original 650-home plan. A news release from the company indicates it will probably be in the range of around 270 homes across the 219 acres. With residential home inventory low, Griffin said they want to get started on the first 71 homes that have lots in place and see where the market takes them.
Griffin believes these homes, which are expected to be in the $600,000 to $1 million price range, will attract a mix of buyers. He thinks workers based in Seattle and the Vancouver, B.C. areas will be attracted to the homes, noting that the pandemic showed how easy telecommuting is for many office workers.
Harbor Custom Development is a publicly-traded company, with offices in California and Texas as well as the Gig Harbor headquarters. It is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council as well as having LEED and NAHB Green certifications.
Patrick Starr of John L. Scott and Keith Cook of RE/MAX were the selling agents, while Ron Branch of Branch Marketing Group worked with the buyer.
In a phone interview, Starr said the sellers of the property, who are Canadian, intended to develop the property in 2013 but felt the market wasn’t right at the time. With Harbor Custom Development’s track record of developing projects, Starr said he expects this to be a big boost to Birch Bay’s economy.
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
