Finding A Market Deer Park Developers Face Skeptics And Delays Getting Project Off The Ground

Spokane developers traditionally move cautiously, platting a small amount of land and moving forward as they sell lots.

The Seattle-based developers of the 350-acre Deer Park Golf & Country Club make no small plans. With aspirations for 27 holes of golf, almost 700 home, RV and condominium sites, the development could double the size and population of Deer Park in 10 years and create a new suburb.

The investors envision using the adjacent Deer Park airport to market homes to private pilots, and anticipate the need for a major storage complex for boats and RVs to serve retirees traveling between Canada and the Pacific Coast.

They’re also trying to ignite interest in a 150-room hotel and conference center, and boost a high-tech industrial park that would attract engineers who would then purchase nearby homes.

But since the project was unveiled in 1991, the grand plans of developers Ted J. Morris, James V. O’Connor, Tod J. Lasley and others known as Quantum Five Inc., have been eclipsed by setbacks.

Many around Deer Park believe the developers were cash starved from the beginning and the project could not have continued if not for the intervention of Bill Warren, 70, who purchased the 18-hole golf course and more than 400 unfinished lots two weeks ago.

Warren, a Chehalis, Wash., businessman who made his fortune wholesaling chainsaws, was one of the initial investors and believes the project is in the right place at the right time. His sole ownership means he’s putting his retirement money where his mouth is and he alone is responsible for bringing the development to fruition.

Growth “is moving this way,” Warren said last week. “Where else is Spokane going to grow except here.”

Still more dirt than housing development, Warren said the road paving on the front half of the project will be done in six weeks and the first nine holes of golf will be open by late summer.

That will go a long way toward winning back confidence in the Deer Park Golf & Country Club, he said.

“There came a time last winter when things came to a halt because of lack of funding,” said Deer Park Mayor Bob Dano. “It seems things are pretty well ironed out right now.”

City council member Fred Nuffer has already signed up for golf lessons and passes by the golf course daily. He has no doubt it will be ready for play later this summer.

The skepticism around town, he said, is because others have come to Deer Park with big plans that soon evaporated.

“Deer Park is a skeptical city and we tend not to believe things until we see them,” Nuffer said.

Missteps by the developers, whose locator map of the project shows the freeway through Spokane as Interstate 5, have only fed the concerns.

There’s no doubt the group has spent a lot of money on the project: $4 million on the golf course, $250,000 for a well, $340,000 to the city of Deer Park for sewer lines, millions more on paving, design and engineering.

That’s all the more reason the delays have been costly as higher interest rates have slowed home sales - especially on upscale property. New homes built on speculation across the northern part of the county are selling slowly as buyers find themselves priced out of the market.

The original members of the Quantum team are still in Deer Park working as salaried employees. From the beginning, Laigo said, Quantum investors bought the land, got it annexed into the city, petitioned for zoning and approval, and said it would provide infrastructure. Quantum never intended to build anything itself and, he quickly added, is willing to sell its share in the remaining portions of the project.

Quantum is still bullish on Deer Park and with improvements to U.S. Highway 395 and U.S. Highway 2, believes the city will become a Spokane suburb, Laigo said.

State growth management laws are going to drive development away from many areas of northwest Spokane and the Spokane Valley because of concerns about traffic, air quality and sewerage.

None of those problems exists in Deer Park, which Laigo described as a blotter able to absorb as much growth as its residents want.

Laigo said he saw much the same thing happen in Issaquah and Bellevue, once farming communities that are now thriving Seattle suburbs.

“Ten years ago you’d think Issaquah was way out, now its in the middle of town,” he said. “We think Deer Park can do that, too. We’ll be the cornerstone of the north county.”

What Quantum is proposing is hardly a revelation, he added. Recreational property has always been a good investment and people are looking for something more than just a house in the country.

He added that the Deer Park Golf & Country Club has enough land to offer buyers more than a house in the middle of a subdivision. There’s the golf course, views of Mount Spokane, proximity to British Columbia, the air field, and a rural area with a low-stress lifestyle.

“The easiest thing in the world is to build a subdivision: you buy a lot, stick a house on it and sell it, There are people who are experts at that.”

Still, he said, the biggest obstacle is convincing Spokane builders and developers who believe Deer Park, 20 miles from the North Division Y, might as well be Canada.

One real estate agent who markets homes in the Deer Park Golf & Country Club said there is interest in lots from dual-career families where one spouse works in Metaline Falls or Addy and another in the Spokane Valley or downtown. Bob Zeimer of James S. Black said that to those people, Deer Park is centrally located.

“Many come back two or three times, and a lot are waiting for the golf course,” said Zeimer. “There is interest but they want to wait until others get into the site.”

And boosterism aside, no matter how much research Quantum has done, no matter how good the golf course or how affordable the lots, it is the overall economy that has the greatest impact on home sales, said Buster Heitman, whose Landmark Builders, 8205 N. Division, does the bulk of its business in North Spokane.

“I don’t think you can just build a golf course and build a subdivision around a golf course and expect everything to work,” he said. “The market is the most important factor in any subdivision and no matter how hard you try and do everything right, if the market changes, through no fault of your own, that’s the way it is.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: DEVELOPMENT ENCOUNTERS HURDLES Since Quantum Investments announced plans to develop the Deer Park Golf & Country Club in January 1991, there have been several setbacks. Here are a few: Fred Erickson, who sold his 303-acre farm to Quantum, filed a lawsuit after a dispute over a $149,000 penalty for withdrawing the property from the federal Conservation Reserve Program. Erickson also owed Spokane County $64,000 in back taxes because the land was placed in a program that reduced taxes in exchange for protecting areas from development. Although Quantum promised to pay all penalties and back taxes on the land, the payment to the federal program was never made. Court papers indicate the developer thought both programs were “one and the same.” The lawsuit was settled two weeks ago, though terms were not disclosed. Quantum tried to market lots using its own real estate agency, P&G Brokers, only to find out that Spokane firms would not bring prospective buyers to Deer Park, 20 miles away, without having their own listings and a chance at higher commissions. “When you own something, you get to set your own rules,” said Ed Laigo, a Quantum investor and marketing director. “Sometimes the rules were not in the best interest of the project.” Option and purchase agreements on adjacent land have expired or been extended several times. After two extensions, Quantum now has until June 23 to buy city-owned land along Deer Park-Milan Road that Quantum said it intends to use for an industrial and commercial park. A hot summer and low water tables last summer forced the city of Deer Park to cut off irrigation to the golf course, and Quantum was not able to seed or fertilize fairways and greens as extensively as planned. Likewise, a cool spring this year is slowing the growth of new grass. Quantum is supposed to deed a new well to the city in exchange for one where the water is high in nitrates. That well would be perfect for the golf course, which may need 1 million gallons a day during the summer. But Quantum’s well also pumps sand, which can clog up plumbing, Mayor Dano said. Quantum said that problem is now resolved and the transfer will occur shortly. Bruce Krasnow