Olympic Property Group’s Harbor Hill development has been in the works for a long time. The 244-acre property, situated on either side of Borgen Boulevard near Costco in Gig Harbor North, is a planned community that, once it’s complete, will include retail, residential, recreational and office facilities – a new neighborhood on what was once a large tree farm.

“Our company has owned this property since Ulysses Grant was president,” said John Chadwell, Harbor Hill’s general manager who has worked on the development for nearly 20 years.

OPG’s parent company, Pope Resources, farmed trees on the land for more than a century before it turned it over to the Poulsbo-based subsidiary once the land became more valuable for development.

“It takes a long time to get a project this size done,” Chadwell said.

The project took a leap forward last month after OPG sold 11.5 acres of the Harbor Hill site designated for residential use to Landmark Development Group LLC, a consulting firm from Auburn, that will build a large multi-family apartment community.

The sale marks an important step in Harbor Hill’s development, Chadwell said.

“We need sales of land to help us fund the infrastructure and the roads and all the things we need to build,” he said.

Some retail facilities already are open, while other retail, business and residential facilities remain either under construction or in the early stages of development. More retail and office buildings are planned.

“That will happen as the market recovers and is ready for them,” Chadwell said.

OPG secured entitlements from the City of Gig Harbor to develop 200 acres of the property for residential use, including two multi-family parcels. The second already has been sold to a senior-living community.

The remainder of the residential property is zoned for single-family lots, Chadwell said, with 79 units already under construction and 63 ready to start in the spring.

Landmark was drawn to the project by the diverse development plan at Harbor Hill, said Brett Jacobson, a development member of A New Gig LLC, Landmark’s subsidiary which is handling the project.

“When we scope out a project, we try to locate a spot that we would want to live in,” Jacobson said.

“Then our mission is to create a great-feeling community that’s unlike anything else in the area.”
Chadwell said OPG, in turn, liked Landmark’s commitment to own and manage its facilities once construction was complete.

“Someone who develops and builds it because they plan on keeping it for a long time will do a higher-quality job,” he said.

The apartment complex will be a mixture of one- , two- and three-bedroom units and will include amenities such as a swimming pool, walking pathways and a connection to Harbor Hill’s retail space.

All units will be offered at market rate.

Chadwell said he envisions the complex as a home for middle-class families, possibly including employees of the nearby St. Anthony Hospital who lack residential options in Gig Harbor.

“It’s your proverbial, ‘Where do your teachers, firefighters, people who work in your community live, besides 30 miles away?’ ” Chadwell said.

Jacobson said Landmark’s goal was to make living at Harbor Hill blend easily with the development’s other features.

“We think this is a great fit,” he said. “Everyone lives in the community and is just a short walk to daycare, coffee, any kind of retail. People can drive home, and then walk to anything they need.”

In addition to helping OPG with infrastructure construction, Chadwell said he hopes a large residential project will spur other parts of Harbor Hill’s development.

“The more people that are out there will drive the demand for more retail space,” he said. “It will create activity and life in the area.”