GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Stanwood Condominium Development Under Way

STANWOOD, WA-Lindstrom Development Group broke ground earlier this month on a four-story, 54-unit condominium project at its 55-acre Stanwood-Camano Village mixed-use development on Highway 532, the route from Interstate 5 to Camano Island. Completion is slated for September 2005.Lindstrom principal Sol Baron tells GlobeSt.com that 11 units have been pre-sold for the $15-million project, which will feature four stories of condos wrapped around a large interior courtyard. At approximately 24 units per acre, the project will be one of the densest in North Snohomish County.Unit sizes will range from 895 sf for a studio to 1,950 sf for a two-bedroom, two-bath unit that includes a den. Prices for individual units within the development will range from $162,500 to $350,000, which equates to about $178 per sf, well below comparable projects in the Seattle area, which sell for between $200 and $300 per sf. Zions Bank of Salt Lake City is providing construction financing. Compass Construction Management of Seattle is orchestrating the project. Windermere Camano Island Realty has the marketing/sales assignment. Stanwood-Camano Village is about 80% built out with a 60,000-sf grocery store, a 28,000-sf office building, a dozen eateries, a movie theater, an athletic club, a health clinic, an assisted living community and 50 other retail and professional businesses. The condominium project is rising on land previously held for office development and, if the project goes well, other planned office parcels could have residential on them as well. In the 1990s, when rents were skyrocketing, Baron focused on the office market to fill the vacant lots, and attracted Index Sensors and Controls from Totem Lake, WA, for whom the company built a 28,000-sf flex-office building. The company was reportedly attracted by the mixed-use atmosphere, the reverse commute and the low housing prices. Then the office market fell apart, and Baron began re-examining the area’s demographics and mulling options. With residential-over-retail showing the most potential, Baron in late 2002 began the process of adjusting the city’s general commercial zone to allow for more than just assisted living in the housing arena. The new allowances became official in May 2003.