Close in, killer view

Published 8:48 pm Friday, July 13, 2007

Drivers on Highway 529 between Marysville and Everett haven’t seen much change on their commute over the years – until now.

Prominent new homes being built on E. Marine View Drive just off Highway 529 are catching commuters’ eyes.

Belmonte Heights sits perched on a hill overlooking the Snohomish River. The views from the model home are fit for a photograph: Mount Pilchuck, Mount Baker and the Snohomish River valley.

“All out of one window,” said Jeff Dye, owner of Bonterra Homes, the company that is building Belmonte Heights.

The site fits in well with the revitalization plans for north Everett and its waterfront projects.

“I thought it was a unique opportunity to put Bonterra on board in Snohomish County,” Dye said.

The company now has a few other projects around the county: one behind Everett Mall and another in the Marysville-Lake Stevens area.

The homes at Belmonte Heights are billed as single-family residences and are attached San Francisco-style, said Gordon Snyder with Sundance Realty Group.

They are three-story homes with the garage on the ground floor and living spaces on the two upper levels. Some walls are shared with other residences.

When all phases of the project are completed in the fall of 2008, there will be 90 units on the site. By the end of July more than 15 deals will have closed and some of the 20 units that have been sold are already occupied.

For the most part people are impressed with the homes’ style, especially when Snyder tells would-be buyers that they are not condos and owners therefore don’t have to deal with condo associations.

“They don’t like the strictness,” Snyder said.

All open spaces and parks are irrigated and owners have their own lot.

When it comes to talking about the land, prospective buyers are fully informed that Belmonte Heights sits on the former Asarco smelter site.

“We have full disclosure,” Snyder said.

The area was home to a smelter that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, spewing arsenic that polluted much of the soil. That soil had to be cleaned up to Department of Ecology standards when the Everett Housing Authority bought the land from Asarco LLC, a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico SA, in 2004. The City of Everett helped with the cleanup and Dye bought the seven acres for $3.2 million.

Snyder said that some people are familiar with the history when they come to view the homes.

Belmonte Heights has welcomed people of all ages, including seniors who are buying down. Part of that draw could be the lower maintenance.

“It has a lot to do with the quality,” Snyder said.

With wainscoting and tile standard in the homes and wide open spaces and views outside, first-time homebuyers looking for a roomy new home can find something from $263,990 to $334,990. The largest home is more than 2,100 square feet.

Classic Northwest colors fit in the landscape and keep the inside of the homes timeless. Dye’s wife, Tina Dye, not only designed the logo and decorated the homes, but also chose the paints and colors.

Jeff Dye said he can finally look back at the project and reflect on how he got here.

“There were some nerve-wracking moments,” he said.

But once the parts and pieces were put together he realized how it would pay off. “It wasn’t until a month ago when we had the grand opening,” Dye said. “I was pretty humbled.”

Dye remembers when he thought Everett was a sleeper town and people would drive by, but not stop. They are stopping now at a site where the smelter once stood.

“It’s neat,” Dye said. “It goes from one extreme to the other.”

Christina Harper is a Snohomish County freelance writer. She can be reached at harper@heraldnet.com.