Purchase from Heckendorn family adds about 3 acres to land inventory
The Methow Housing Trust continues to build its land inventory for affordable housing with the recent acquisition of 2.8 acres property in the lower Heckendorn neighborhood of Winthrop.
In a press release, the Housing Trust said the land is “the site of a future ‘pocket neighborhood’ of community land trust homes.”
According to the release, the Housing Trust was approached by the C. H. Heckendorn family about the property in the spring. The organization conducted a feasibility study, and closed on the purchase in late June, according to the release.
“One of the Housing Trust’s strategic priorities is land acquisition for future affordable housing, and specifically properties located within town limits with the capacity to support a neighborhood of at least 6-10 adjacent homes,” said Danica Ready, Land & Housing Director for the Housing Trust. “One of the critical ingredients to building affordably is the efficiency of scale. Setting up the general contractor and sub-contractors to build a cluster of smartly designed and relatively similar homes brings our building costs 30%-40% lower than the cost to build one unique home at a time.”
The undeveloped property consists of two parcels at the eastern edge of Winthrop at the corner of Castle Avenue and Perry Street, below the Fulton ditch. One is part of the town, but the smaller parcel is not, Ready said. “We plan to only develop the annexed larger lot,” she said.
The land was originally surveyed, platted and owned by D. E. Heckendorn in 1903. The family recently decided to sell the land and through their real estate broker, Chris Rogers, approached the Housing Trust before listing it on the open market, according to the press release.
“We are pleased to help address housing affordability in the Methow Valley by making the property available to the Trust,” the C.H. Heckendorn family said the release.
Near Larkspur Flats
The newly acquired parcels are not far from the Larkspur Flats property in the upper Heckendorn neighborhood, which is also owned by the Housing Trust.
The Housing Trust plans to develop affordable housing on that property. Larkspur Flats, which is currently being annexed to Winthrop, will not be ready for construction when the Housing Trust’s Cascade Meadows North project is completed in late 2026, the release said.
“The Heckendorn Family Trust property will allow the Housing Trust to continue to meet local housing needs in the year between completion of Cascades Meadow North and the commencement of the Larkspur Flats project,” the release said.
The Housing Trust has built or is developing 56 affordable homes in the valley: Canyon Street and Evergreen Loop in Twisp, Cascade Meadows North and Cascade Meadows South in Winthrop, and McKinney Ridge in Mazama. The Methow Housing Trust’s current applicant wait pool contains 65 local families that are hoping to attain affordable homeownership through the organization’s program.
The organization’s goal is to build a total of 100 homes by the end of the 2030.
For more information, visit www.methowhousingtrust.org.
