The Colorado Springs, CO-based developer is partnering on the project with JRC Financial Inc., also based in Colorado Springs, and local landowner Bob Zimmerly. The trio has formed Pioneer Estates LLC to develop the project. JD White Co. Inc. of Vancouver is providing planning support.

The site is currently zoned industrial, so a rezone would have to occur to allow for the other uses. To convince the city to make the appropriate zoning changes, the companies have put forth figures that show property tax revenue from the built-out project could annually generate more than $800,000 for the city, while a pure industrial development would generate closer to $490,000. For the school district it would mean the difference between $1.2 million and $750,000, they say. On the jobs side, they say it would mean the difference between 25 jobs per acre and eight jobs per acre.

The developers hope to time completion of the project to the city's completion of a new water treatment facility in the area. They hope to have product for sale in 2002. The development is being likened to Schuck projects in and around Colorado Springs, including Mountain Shadows and Castle Oaks, two 1,200-acre mixed-use developments that include housing, commercial, retail, and emergency services.