‘Cradle to grave.’ Tri-Cities project’s townhouses, homes, apartments for all phases of life

Finding a place to live in Tri-Cities continues to be a thorn in the side of many house hunters. Skyrocketing home prices aren’t slowing and there are precious few choices on the market.

But one developer is trying something different.

Native Tri-Citian Britt Creer hopes to give people a foot in the door with entry-level homes that fly in the face of the idea that most people want traditionally sized houses.

“I get what the market needs and can provide that,” he said.

Even before Creer bought land in West Richland five years ago, he knew years earlier that he wanted to create a community of homes.

He owned about 60 acres at the intersection of West Van Giesen Street and newly expanded Paradise Way, and now is turning his vision into a reality.

He is partnering with builders on projects he calls “cradle to grave” — different types of housing that work for all phases of life.

“Traditionally, you don’t buy the fanciest home on your first house,” he noted.

Homes going up not only include traditionally size houses, but ones that be can be entry-level for some or a downsizing option for others.

Just west of town, in the coming years, the area also will be filled with townhomes and small single-family houses, even a couple apartment complexes and commercial storefronts.

Need for lower prices

Creer said that when he first starting working with West Richland in 2015, a zero-lot line was not permitted in the zoning code. Zero-lot line homes have little or no space between them.

When adjustments to the municipal code were made to allow for smaller lots, it opened the floodgates to the projects he knew the area needs.

While he and his business partners build under multiple companies across all price points from entry-level to multi-million dollar homes, the West Richland project’s focus is on affordability.

His partnership includes Ken Holle and Colton Brady of Urban Street Builders who oversee high-end and multi-family homes and Steve Tarbert who manages the construction of the team’s middle-priced and semi-custom homes.

Creer is in the final phases of the Eagle Pointe Townhomes on Belmont just off Van Giesen. The homes built by Red Mountain Construction share a garage wall, but no shared living space walls.

They range in size from 1,700 square feet for nearly $298,000 to 2,400 square feet for about $345,000.

“In my mind it is as perfect as what we can do,” Creer said.

Eagle Point is just the starting point on the plans for the undeveloped agricultural land on the back roads to Benton City and Red Mountain.

Creer’s company Urban Range is now breaking ground on the Western Ridge single-family home development just below the Eagle Ridge Townhomes.

Zoning records show that the average lot size is just under 12,000 square feet — about a quarter-acre. But the smallest lots are 3,500 square feet for houses designed accordingly

“My goal is to keep them under 1,500 square feet and $350,000,” he said, adding that he hopes some of the homes can sell for as low as $320,000.

In February, the median price of a Tri-Cities home was $338,000 — nearly $30,000 more than just a year ago.

And real estate agents have said that anything priced less than $300,000 in recent months is bought immediately.

Homes are bringing higher prices because there are so few available for sale were just 195 active listings in the entire Tri-Cities market in February, according to the Tri-City Association of Realtors.

Also, tariffs and the demand for lumber have added as much as $24,000 to the average new home price since last spring, according to the National Association of Homebuilders.

So to keep homes affordable, Creer focuses on size.

In February, the West Richland City Council approved a plan for another townhome complex called Ranchland Townhomes at the corner of Paradise Way and the future extension of Keene Road.

Creer’s company will be dividing 17 acres on the west side of Van Giesen into 40 duplex townhomes that will be less than 1,500 square feet on each side.

In additional, two apartment buildings were approved that another developer will spearhead.

Creer says he can keep his cost down, in part, because he has owned the land for five years, making his first purchase just ahead of the surge in demand.

Creer also says that being a full-service company helps cap prices. He owns and develops the land and also builds on it. He sells only enough lots to developers and other builders to finance his business.

Otherwise, he maintains ownership of the property and homes until a key is turned over to the new residents.

“We are different. My group of people are very local — born and raised here.”

One of those sales is 20 acres zoned for commercial uses on three of the corners at Van Giesen and Paradise.

Creer said he is under contract with two buyers and will likely have a third soon. While he wouldn’t give any details, he expects to have a convenience store at the intersection within the next year and a half.

Local investment

Creer grew up in West Richland, and his wife was a Richland High Bomber. Both sets of grandparents to their six kids still live in the Tri-Cities.

While he was working as a project manager consultant for projects across the world, he knew that he wanted to return home and build in his community.

“I’m not a developer by nature,” he said. “I’d drive through and looked at developments in my down time because I knew I wanted to do here some day.”

He returned to Tri-Cities from New Mexico in 2003 and was a longtime board member of the now dissolved Richland Housing Authority.

He knows people need entry-level homes and others want the feel of a house without the work of a full yard.

“We are doing it because we want to,” Creer said. “From a business standpoint, the risk is zero because there always is a need.”