Real-estate sales 'on fire' in Eureka area

Two huge subdivisions on the drawing board

Is the Tobacco Valley the next Last Best Place?

Real-estate agents and economic-development officials seem to think so. Two large developments with golf courses planned near Eureka and land prices that have roughly doubled in the last year are indicators they may be right.

"We knew it was going to come, with the Flathead growing the way it is," said Buck Schermerhorn, president of the Tobacco Valley Community Development Council. "Eureka is next in line to be discovered."

Terry Comstock, an agent with Tobacco Plains Realty, said what he sees happening to land prices in the Eureka area is "pretty much scary."

"I'm not real fond of it. I don't like change, but we may as well embrace it and do a good job," he said.

Prices for undeveloped land outside the city have doubled over the past year, Comstock said. Lake frontage is likewise spiraling upward.

"In 2003, on some of the better lakes, lake frontage sold for $1,200 to $1,600 a foot," he said. "It's about $3,000 a frontage foot right now."

Glen, Sophie and Dickey lakes are hot spots right now, Comstock said.

While those prices are high by Tobacco Valley standards, they pale in comparison to lakefront prices in the Flathead. On Whitefish Lake, where little undeveloped lakefront remains, the going rate is $20,000 a frontage foot, said RE/ MAX Realtor Joe Basirico.

"That means a 100-foot lot is $2 million," he said.

It was just three or four years ago, Basirico said, when Whitefish Lake frontage "went from $10,000 to $20,000 almost overnight."

In the Eureka area, tracts of undeveloped land are selling for up to $10,000 an acre, sometimes more, depending on the location.

Gary Mason, managing broker for the Eureka office of Coldwell Banker Wachholz & Co., said he has witnessed land prices in the rural areas "starting to skyrocket." That growth hasn't happened yet within the city of Eureka, where Mason said there are few lots and not a lot of growth potential.

"I was born here almost 48 years ago, and the population has been around 1,000 to 1,100 since I was a kid," Mason said.

Most buyers in the Tobacco Valley are looking outside the city. A five-acre parcel that sold for $45,000 to $50,000 six months ago would sell for $65,000 to $120,000 now, depending on location, Mason said.

"I'm seeing Flathead people coming here to buy, and the Canadian market is stronger now," he said. "Baby boomers are getting ready to retire. There's also no zoning here yet. You add all those together and that's why we're on fire."

The Lincoln County Commissioners recently appointed the county's first-ever planning board in preparation of getting a growth policy in place.

Schermerhorn said the lack of zoning may be prompting some developers to be "posturing" themselves before more regulations are put in place.

"There are less limitations on what they can do here," Schermerhorn said. "But we hope developers coming in" have the community's best interests at heart.

The development council drafted a five-year strategic action plan to help guide growth, and the council's housing subcommittee is analyzing how subdivision growth will drive the need for better infrastructure, Schermerhorn said.

THE WILDERNESS CLUB, a 545-acre development planned north of Eureka near the Canadian border, was approved by the commissioners earlier this month. It's bordered on three sides by U.S. Forest Service land and at full buildout will include 272 home sites, 47 luxury cabins, a clubhouse and spa, lake club and Camp Wilderness, offering swimming pools, tennis and other recreational activities.

An 18-hole private golf course designed by renowned British golfer Nick Faldo is a centerpiece of the Wilderness Club. Winner of six major tournaments and the 2008 European Ryder Cup captain, Faldo has designed golf courses worldwide.

The Calgary-based Norcal Group is developing the high-end Wilderness Club, which Eureka real-estate agents compare to Whitefish's exclusive Iron Horse subdivision. The first phase of the Wilderness Club will include 75 home sites and five luxury cabins, with home sites of one-third to two acres ranging from $250,000 to $500,000.

A groundbreaking ceremony is planned May 5, and sales offices are being set up in Calgary and Whitefish.

Norcal executive Barry Cole, president of Wilderness Development and manager of the Eureka project, said the development will be oriented to families who enjoy an active lifestyle and who appreciate having recreational amenities and activities coordinated for them by a "well-trained and attentive staff."

"The idea is you don't have to own your own boat or snowmobile," Cole said. "You'll just pick up the phone and the concierge service will arrange it."

The staff will coordinate horseback riding, skiing, hiking, fly-fishing, hunting or other excursions.

ALSO ON THE drawing board is the 360-acre Indian Springs development two miles north of Eureka. It's bordered by U.S. 93 on the west and Burma Road on the north.

The county commissioners will consider the project on April 19.

Indian Springs is proposed by Dave Rogers of Fernie, British Columbia, and Neil Longhurst of Florida, who have formed Rogers-Long Development Co. The subdivision includes a public golf course and 343 lots ranging from 3,920 square feet to 9.2 acres. Included are 199 single-family, three condominium, seven commercial and 134 townhomes and/or motorcoach lots.

About 187 acres on the property will be set aside as open space - 100 acres for walking trails and 87 acres for the golf course, according to an environmental assessment completed by Schwarz Architecture & Engineering of Kalispell.

Indian Springs will be primarily second homes for its residents, the Schwarz assessment noted. About 22 to 66 of the homes would be year-round.

The subdivision would be built out over 10 years, Longhurst said.

"We've been trying to involve the community," he added.

Longhurst, who's been coming to the Eureka area for some time, said he and Rogers met while skiing at Fernie. They agreed the recreational opportunities of Northwest Montana would be a drawing card for the type of development they've planned.

Both the Indians Springs and Wilderness Club projects intend to use ski resorts an hour away in Fernie and Whitefish as a selling point, along with neighboring Glacier National Park and ample public land near Eureka and Lake Koocanusa.

The lack of a hospital and airport don't seem to be deterrents, Realtors said.

Baby boomers moving to Montana are used to long commutes, and the 80-mile stretch between Kalispell and Eureka doesn't seem as formidable as it once was, said Comstock, who commutes weekly to Glacier Chorale practice.

Eureka is served by two "very good" medical clinics, he added, and the ALERT medical helicopter services the area, too.

PLANS FOR gigantic subdivisions with golf courses seem like deja vu for Eureka residents. Five years ago, RiverStone Ranch was proposed southeast of Eureka by a Canadian developer offering a 550-acre "lifestyle community" with a golf course, business park, hotel and 520 dwelling units.

"That project went away totally," Commissioner Marianne Roose said, noting that the project needed sewer extensions that never materialized.

Mason said the failed RiverStone Ranch has prompted many Eureka residents to view the Wilderness Club and Indian Springs projects with some measure of skepticism.

"Locals are saying, 'Yeah, we've heard this before,'" Mason said.

He believes the time is probably right for such ambitious projects.

"You do see some excitement in the air," he said. "There's not much money in ranching and timber, and with the mill closure [these new subdivisions] will be replacing those jobs with construction jobs and related services like lawn care."

Tracy McIntyre, manager of Eureka Rural Development Partners, said there are concerns about water quality and road issues, but there's hope that job creation and the promotion of the Tobacco Valley will be positives that outweigh the negative factors of growth.

"We see the need to diversify," McIntyre said. "We've been so dependent on timber."

Owens & Hurst lumber mill in Eureka closed last year, leaving 90 mill workers without jobs.

Schermerhorn, who purchased an excavating business in January, said he has hired former mill workers to build roads and do metal fabrication.

AS GROWTH presses down on Eureka, even residents like Comstock and Mason - who stand to profit from the increased activity - are conflicted about the changes coming to their remote corner of the world.

"It's a little confusing," Mason said. "I have mixed emotions."

McIntyre, also a longtime Eureka resident, said she's torn about the change, even though part of her job is to write grants for community improvements.

"Part of me is sad to see change," she said. "On the other side, I see the need to expand and grow."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com