The economic recession of recent years seemed to hit Snoqualmie hard, most noticeably the building industry. Quadrant Homes went from having a waiting list for new home lots to consistently lowering starting home prices to entice buyers to build in the Aster Creek neighborhood.
In one year, the starting price on my home own home, which we began building in 2007, was lowered by about $50,000. Aster Creek felt like a ghost town for 1-2 years, with more empty lots than homes built on them.
Last spring, though, there were signs the housing market was slowly starting a recovery. Homes started to sell – and some sold within days of being listed.
Aster Creek is no longer a ghost town. Two new home builders entered the scene and people started buying again. The neighborhood still has plenty of empty lots, but they’re selling at a faster pace, putting more contractors back to work.
Drive along Snoqualmie Parkway and you can see other signs…
Motion Water Sports is putting a roof on its new company headquarters in the Snoqualmie Ridge Business Park; scheduled for completion next fall. A couple blocks away, the former Philips Oral Care Headquarters will no longer sit empty. Spacelabs Healthcare purchased the vacant building to be its new headquarters. The company will relocate from Issaquah.
Just down the hill, Camwest finished the streets and utilities for the final phase of its Kimball Creek Village housing development. The builder will soon be selling 30 more home lots across from the Snoqualmie Fire Station, totaling 85 homes when the development is complete.
Back up the hill, on the corner of Snoqualmie Parkway and SE Swenson Drive, the foundation is going in for the new Morning Star Montessori School. The school will move to its new location this winter. There is also the possibility of a 100-unit “market rate” apartment complex going in across the street from the new school, on the opposite corner at the Deer Park neighborhood entrance.
City of Snoqualmie Planning Director, Nancy Tucker, said that she’s had a couple of pre-application meetings regarding development of an apartment complex on the land parcel, but added, “We have not received any permit applications for the project, however.”
Closer to I-90, the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital District had the engineering plans approved for its new hospital site located off Snoqualmie Parkway. Roadway and utilities construction began this week. The building permit for hospital construction has yet to be issued.
And lastly, this week Chase Bank should begin construction on a new Snoqualmie branch in the business park. The new building will be located at the corner of Center Blvd and Snoqualmie Parkway. Chase plans to open in February.
But wait. Have you driven through the new Eagle Point neighborhood lately? Lots of new streets are completed, some located on the highest points of Snoqualmie Ridge at 1,100 feet above sea level. The majority of Ridge neighborhoods sit at about 850 feet.
The Eagle Point neighborhood is also the location for a future park, named after former mayor Jeannie Hanson. This will be the largest park in Snoqualmie Ridge Division II. No word on when construction will commence, but I saw the plans for it while serving on Snoqualmie Parks Board. The multi-acre park will be big, beautiful and boast amazing views.
Comments
In retrospect, just as many looked negatively upon the apartments going in over by Eagle Run, this seems to be an even worse idea. The whole purpose for moving to Snoqualmie into Deer Park was to get away from apartment complexes and condos and to live in a community of home owners. A large Apartment complex intermixing with a beautiful and amazing community of Single Family homes is just asking for trouble. It is statistically proven that Apartment complexes bring higher amounts of Social and Economic related issues to communities, more traffic (and anyone who goes to work at 8am knows we DON’T need more of that), and added load on the cities resources. [Urban Land Institute] This means you bring more people in who don’t pay for the city’s resources from taxes and other forms of city revenue. We need fight against this type of movement in the future. Who do we contact?
I agree with Lou. Nancy Tucker, should really not even consider such an application to this already overcrowded school area! This area is not set up for such a complex. This type of housing development needs to be in an area that can handle the amount of people, children, cars, police force, shopping etc. This area cannot!
The Morning Star Montessori School is an amazing idea! There is one issue that will be a large factor for the community. Traffic! Currently the entrance to Deer Park is already very cramped. The turning lane (left) only has room for 3 cars. Imagine a line of 30-40 cars after dropping their kids off in the morning, and picking them up in the afternoon. Nightmare! Parents who have gone through drop-offs at schools know that drivers are crazy no matter what the age of their children.