Wilderness Club Press Releases and Information.
New neighbors bring alternate reality to Eureka
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
The club is not, as its name might imply, an environmental group. Rather, it is a very high-end golf course community, trafficking exactly the kind of big-forested views environmentalists worked so hard to protect from Eureka's lumber mills."Some say it's the sparkling waters of our lakes and streams," according to a Wilderness Club sales pitch. "Others are drawn by the way the Canadian Rockies cut across the sky, creating a rugged, dramatic horizon with forested peaks of tamarack, aspen, spruce and ponderosa pines."It's part trees, earth, freedom and possibility. It's a feeling that one might find serenity and truth under the smooth river rocks, or revelation and a new beginning peeking through the morning mist. Whatever it is, you'll soon discover a family bond with this very special place. This is true wilderness."Actually, it's a timbered cattle patch west of town, soon to sprout nearly 300 houses, 50 cabins (the "cabins" sell for about $700,000), a golf course, clubhouse, spa, pools, tennis courts - everything that Eureka is not, or at least, has not been. You'd be hard-pressed to find many old-timers here who've found truth under a river rock, or revelation in the mist."We're farming people now instead of cattle, that's what's happening," said Realtor Joe Purdy. "That's Eureka's new reality, the myth of the West."The old reality is 2,000 modest homes scattered throughout the Tobacco Valley - ranch homes, family homes, homes lived in 24/7/365.Those, however, aren't the folks who will move into the 550-acre Wilderness Club community, where a bare lot might run a half-million dollars, where an outdoor adventure "concierge" service will help members go hunting or skiing or boating or rafting "without the hassles of planning their adventure.""This really is a whole different kind of development than Eureka has ever seen before," said Neil Longhurst.Longhurst, from Florida, is a retired executive recently turned land developer, and he's building yet another new golf-course community in Eureka.Called Indian Creek, his plan caters to "everyday people," with the most modest homes expected to sell in the $350,000 range.Unlike the exclusive Wilderness Club, his golf course will not be designed by champion designer Nick Faldo, and his community won't come with moonlight snowshoeing or an adventure concierge.But it will come with more than 364 homes on 370 acres.Together, the two golf-course communities will build more than 600 homes in the next few years. Other planned developments, such as the gated Eureka Hills project, will add hundreds more.This in a community with only 2,000 homes to begin with."Some things are going to change," Longhurst admitted. "There's no getting around that. We're trying to make this affordable for the middle market, but I don't expect we'll be selling much to the existing population."Nor will Chris Neill, who has taken a decidedly different approach to framing the future of Eureka. Unlike Longhurst, Neill lives here, and unlike Longhurst, he builds things for a living.A cabinetmaker by trade, Neill has been riding Eureka's recent boom, installing custom kitchens in high-end homes. The emphasis is on quality, not quantity, one house at a time rather than 300.Most recently, he and two partners formed CDJ Building Concepts, and began a project of their own. The 4,400-square-foot custom home, now nearly finished, sits on 7.5 acres overlooking Koocanusa Reservoir, rustic on the outside, sharply modern within.There are woven bamboo ceilings, handmade furniture, stone and timbers and a floor plan that literally echoes open space. He calls it his "art project," and it is creatively stunning in both scope and detail."We're getting a couple potential buyers looking every month," Neill said, "and it's not even in what I would call a sellable state yet."They fly in from Texas and Oregon, California and Florida, "pretty much everywhere you can imagine." The price tag is a cool $1.75 million."I guess a million bucks just isn't that much to them anymore," Neill said.But are there enough deep pockets to buy all these new homes Eureka's building? Neill thinks so; he's already got the foundation in the ground for his next big project.Neill, of course, couldn't dream of buying the homes he builds. Nor could his neighbors.And therein lies the rub."It's definitely a mixed bag, for sure," he said. "It's not what I moved up here for, but it does make my work life a lot of fun."Question is, is everyone having fun?"That depends on who you ask," Neill said.He surely doesn't want crowded forests or fishing holes; but he, for one, is enjoying the freedom that comes with opportunity, that comes with the "Eureka!" moment of finally being discovered."It's been good," Neill said. "But I like a small town. If you can't go to the grocery store and spend 40 minutes talking to people you know, that would be a real bummer."Longhurst, for one, hopes not to bollix that small-town balance with his golf-course community, despite the 300 homes and swimming pools and labyrinth of hiking trails."We would like to subtly blend into the landscape," the Florida transplant said.As would the other thousand or so homes, big and small, scheduled for construction where not so long ago Eureka grew cattlemen, instead of concierges.
Real-estate sales on fire in Eureka area
By LYNNETTE HINTZEThe Daily Inter Lake
Two huge subdivisions on the drawing board
Is the TobaccoValley 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." "Im not real fond of it. I dont 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. "Its 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 TobaccoValley standards, they pale in comparison to lakefront prices in the Flathead. On WhitefishLake, 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 WhitefishLake 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 hasnt 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 TobaccoValley 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.
"Im seeing Flathead people coming here to buy, and the Canadian market is stronger now," he said. "Baby boomers are getting ready to retire. Theres also no zoning here yet. You add all those together and thats why were on fire."
The Lincoln County Commissioners recently appointed the countys 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 communitys best interests at heart.
The development council drafted a five-year strategic action plan to help guide growth, and the councils 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. Its 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 CampWilderness, 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 Whitefishs 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 dont have to own your own boat or snowmobile," Cole said. "Youll 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. Its 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. "Weve been trying to involve the community," he added.
Longhurst, whos 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 theyve 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 GlacierNational Park and ample public land near Eureka and LakeKoocanusa.
The lack of a hospital and airport dont 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 doesnt 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, weve 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. "Theres 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 theres hope that job creation and the promotion of the TobaccoValley will be positives that outweigh the negative factors of growth.
"We see the need to diversify," McIntyre said. "Weve 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.
"Its a little confusing," Mason said. "I have mixed emotions."
McIntyre, also a longtime Eureka resident, said shes 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."
