GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Plans In for Retail Piece of 320-Acre Peninsula Project

GIG HARBOR, WA-Publicly traded Pope Resources real estate subsidiary Olympic Property Group has submitted plans to the City of Gig Harbor for the 25-acre retail shopping center component of its 320-acre Harbor Hill development. If approved, 17 acres of the shopping center will be sold to Costco Wholesale Corp. for one of its stores and 1.7 acres will be sold to Northwest Capital Investors, which plans to place a Walgreen’s drug store on the property. The remaining acreage would be built out with multi-tenant space.OPG president Jon Rose says that depending on the entitlement process, construction of the new stores should be complete in 12 to 18 months. Pope Resources Tom Ringo tells GlobeSt.com the retail development will launch the larger 320-acre project. In addition to the shopping center site, the project will include a 10-acre village center that will have more dense residential development, such as apartments over retail; up to 72 acres of business park, including a YMCA branch of up to 80,000 sf on 11 acres; and 200 acres of residential development, which could total about 1,000 units.While Poulsbo-based Pope Resources didn’t reveal the sale price for the Costco and YMCA land in its announcement, Pope Resources has said in public filings that the project’s commercially zoned land “is expected to sell for as much as $25 per sf,” which translates to about $1.1 million per acre. That figure jives with the planned 1.7-acre sale to Northwest Capital Investors, which has a price tag of $1.8 million or $1.06 million per acre.Pope expects the land sales and additional commercial pad sales “to pay for the needed infrastructure investments [the company] will have to make over the next two years” in support of the overall development, according to SEC filings. While it waits on the sales, however, Pope says it will spend a total of $7 million this year on a new water tank and a new access road for the property. Management anticipates using short-term bank debt to bridge the capital need. Pope Resources owns and/or manages about 640,000 acres of timberland and development property in Washington and Oregon. The Harbor Hill property in Gig Harbor is located about five minutes north of the city off Burnham Drive. A City of Gig Harbor planning official did not return a phone call seeking comment.