Harvest Bluff is a sleeping giant for home construction

The Harvest Bluff housing development along Betz Road in Cheney has taken on a certain look of hibernation under a blanket of snow.

If the Hayden Homes' project had been a bear this last year it would need and deserve the downtime.

Kathy Janus, regional director of the Inland Northwest for Hayden Homes, confirmed that the only current development of new home construction inside the city limits has been a real estate dynamo.

"If I look at data January (2016) through October, there were 173 closings in Cheney," Janus said. Of that number only 36 were for new homes, and 31 were Hayden projects.

Those closing numbers, however, are from the area that includes the city, and other portions of the 99004 zip code. "If you look at Cheney proper, the city itself, we had 100 percent of the new homes building there," Janus said.

The median pricing for homes in Cheney is $200,000 with a Harvest Bluff property listing at $254,000.

There are seven home designs to choose from and base prices in the community range from $199,990 for a 1,408 square-foot, single story, to $274,990 for a 3,195 square-foot two story on what plans ultimately call for 136 homes on 32 acres bordered by Murphy Road to the east.

Harvest Bluff has filled a niche in Cheney and the proof is in how fast the project has moved along since the development first gained approval in 2008. Phases 1 and 2 each consisted of 24 homes. The closings in 2016 are from both phases of construction.

"There isn't a lot of new home building, new construction, "Janus said.

Phase 3 has just been put up for sale, Janus said. Permit applications have been submitted for the first three of a planned 37 homes. One additional phase is anticipated to contain 51 homes, Janus said, adding Harvest Bluff will include a park and walking trail.

"We'll get going on those as soon as possible, again, weather permitting," she said. Build time with winter weather is about six months she added with closing likely in June 2017. When finished, Harvest Bluff will have five phases.

Harvest Bluff was originally a project of Copper Basin Development, a company active in the area of single-family home building in the past decade. They got out of that part of the market to concentrate on their specialty, multi-family.

Hayden purchased that portion of Copper Basin's business, Janus said.

"Cheney is an exciting town for Hayden Homes," Janus said. "It lends itself exactly with what we do."

Hayden builds in secondary, underserved markets that have a need for new home building, Janus said. "You won't find Hayden Homes is downtown Portland, in a Portland metro or Seattle metro," she added.

Hayden has been in business 27 years and is the largest builder in the Pacific Northwest, even though they only build in secondary markets. The Spokane area is Hayden's largest market in terms of the size of the metropolitan area served.

"We look for markets that can really use a builder that cares about their buyers and is able to bring a great value to them," Janus said. Hayden buys home sites that are finished lots and ready to build.

Besides Cheney, Hayden has additional area developments in Eagle Ridge, River Run near Spokane Falls Community College, Taylor Cottages off of Park Road, properties in the far East Valley/Liberty Lake area as well as Northern Idaho.

"Our Eastern Washington division extends quite a ways, as far west as Moses Lake and as far south as Pullman," Janus said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.