By Jack Stubbs
On Wednesday, January 2nd, Texas-based residential and mixed-use development company Forestar Group Inc. acquired 57 parcels of vacant land in Mill Creek for $11.6 million, according to public records filed with Snohomish County. The seller of the 57 parcel-property, 1503 WLD SHR LLC, shares the same address as Westcott Homes, a homebuilder based in Kirkland.
The buyer did not respond to emailed requests for comment about the transaction—which was recorded on January 8th—in time for the publishing of this story.
The transaction was for 57 parcels of undeveloped vacant land, according to public documents. Public records do not list a specific address for the parcels, but they appear to be just north of Seattle Hill Road and 170th St. Southeast, less than one mile from the Bothell Everett Hwy and roughly two miles south of downtown Mill Creek.
Founded in 1955, Forestar Group conducts a wide range of project planning and management activities relating to the acquisition, entitlement, development and sale of single-family and mixed-use communities, according to the company’s web site. As of September 2018, Forestar developed communities in 24 markets across 14 states. The company is primarily focused on developing single-family single-family residential communities for entry-level, first-time and first-time move-up homebuyers, the largest segments of the new home market.
In late August, 2018, the company acquired nearly 80 acres of vacant land in Monroe, Washington—which is approximately 15 miles east of Mill Creek—for $14.2 million from LSA Engineering.
For over 20 years, Westcott Homes has been building homes that make sense for today’s homeowners, according to the company’s web site. The company has properties north of Lynnwood, South of Mill Creek and further south in Issaquah.
One of the company’s properties—The Ponds Townhomes located at 1621 Seattle Hill Rd in Bothell, according to the company’s web site—appears to be relatively near the address for the vacant land in Mill Creek, but it is not entirely clear whether the recent transaction is related to the Ponds Townhomes development.
