The town of Harrison, Idaho, nestled on the eastern shore of Lake Coeur dAlene about 45 minutes from Coeur dAlene, has given a green light to the $30 million first phase of an upscale, three-phase residential development that could more than double the towns population.


The development, to be called Stonegate at Harrison, ultimately could include 235 homes and a 200-slip marina. Its being developed by a California company led by the owner of a big wood-products concern.


A smaller project on roughly the same property was proposed by a different developer in 2002, but never materialized. The new owner, Vue de Lac Inc., of Rocklin, Calif., bought the development property last year.


Although the Harrison City Council approved the final plat for the 135-lot first phase of the project in December, infrastructure work there has been under way since the spring of 2003, says Sheila Gustin, Harrison city clerk. It began immediately after the property for the first two phases was annexed into the city of 267 residents. The land for phase three was annexed into the city a year later, says Gustin.


We anticipate selling lots in that first phase by May, says Doug Hanzlick, managing partner of Vue de Lac. Our intent is to bring the infrastructure to the lots and sell them to contractors and homeowners.


Hanzlick is also the owner and president of Pacific MDF Products Inc., a big, Rocklin, Calif.-based manufacturer of medium-density fiberboard products. Pacific MDF Products has manufacturing plants in Rocklin; El Dorado, Ark.; Clio, S.C.; and Edmonton, Alberta.


The land on which the first phase of the Harrison project will be built is located in the southern part of town, east of OGara Road and about a half block from the lake, says Monte Risvold, the Coeur dAlene-based real estate agent whos marketing the project. The property extends to the east up a steep hill with switchback-like roads, Risvold says.


That property is situated very close to the Trail of the Coeur dAlenes rails-to-trails pathway that passes along the lake shore there and runs from Mullan, Idaho, to Plummer, Idaho.


Phase two would include another about 100 lots on a plateau that overlooks the first phase and the lake, and phase three would include the 200-slip marina on 40 acres owned by another Hanzlick company, Coeur dAlene 1961 LLC, of Coeur dAlene, says Hanzlick.


We are working on phase two and have plans to file for a plat with the city of Harrison within the next two months, he says.


Although the city of Harrison gave approval for 135 lots in the first phase, Risvold says the developer plans to develop just 100 of those lots initially. As early as this spring, work on five speculative homes, each of which will be priced at between $500,000 and $750,000, will start, he says. Lots in the development, each of which will have a view of the lake, will be priced at between about $199,000 and $250,000, Risvold says.


The upper lots (on the plateau) have even better views than the lower lots and would be more expensive, he says.


Hanzlick says pricing for the upper lots hasnt been determined yet.


He says phase three is too far into the future to discuss in a meaningful way, and that the Coeur dAlene Indian Tribe must give its approval to any structures placed on the lake there.


We are just starting to negotiate with them about placing docks on the water, he says. We are not going to say anything on phase three until we have something concrete.


Hanzlick declines to estimate what the overall value of the project would be if all three phases were approved and fully developed. He says he believes most of the homes in Stonegate at Harrison will be occupied only seasonally.


The earlier proposal for roughly the same property was for a development to be called Harrison Heights, which was to include 156 lots. It was proposed by Harrison Heights LLC, which was owned by Phillip Gerstner, of John Day, Ore. That proposal triggered the annexation of the property and initial infrastructure work.


Harrison Heights included the same 142 acres that comprise the first two phases of the current proposed project, but not the land being eyed for phase three, says Gustin, the city clerk.


Hanzlick says Stonegate at Harrison is one of many real estate projects hes involved with, mostly in California.