Here’s a bit of marketing print from 2007…
Housing developments in the shadow of the Cascade Mountains are hardly anything new in the Northwest. And sure, increasing numbers of home builders are incorporating at least a few green practices in their craft.
But how about a major development that holistically considers not only environmentally sensitive materials, but the placement of homes in a way that encourages community interactions? Or how about a development intended to be so inspiring that backers hope it will encourage residents to attend symphonies and plays and read Thoreau? Maybe not so common.
“A good lifestyle, and a sense of happiness, that’s what people are looking for,” said Patrick Kuo, developer of Cascadia, the largest planned community in Washington.
Located on about 4,700 acres of land near Bonney Lake, 12 miles southeast of Tacoma, the development is envisioned to eventually be the home of 16,000 or more people. Kuo and his backers hope that Cascadia will likewise be home to companies in a high-tech business park providing up to 10,000 jobs.
Wow, sounds like a fabulous dream world, doesn’t it? Let’s check in three years later and see how that dream is coming along…
*crickets*
Whoops. It looks like breaking ground on a massive 6,500-home planned community 20 miles outside of Tacoma at the height of the housing bubble turned out to be not such a hot idea.
Cascadia, the massive master-planned community in east Pierce County, will be auctioned off Friday after a bankruptcy judge told the developer he could have no more time to restructure the debt.
Owner-manager Patrick Kuo has been working for months to find new financing after HomeStreet Bank foreclosed last year on about $75 million in loans. Cascadia filed for bankruptcy protection after the foreclosure.
On Wednesday, Judge Karen Overstreet sided with the bank. Parcels of Cascadia will be for sale on the steps of the City-County Building in Tacoma at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
No word yet on how the Friday’s auction went.
The property went back to HomeStreet Bank at Friday’s auction: Cascadia property reverts to bank. The bank says they are “committed to finding a new developer” for the property.
Hat tip: RedmondJP
(Kathleen Cooper, Tacoma News Tribune, 09.23.2010)