Issaquah Highlands is a planned community and mixed-use neighborhood in Issaquah, a suburb of Seattle, Washington, United States. The neighborhood, located northeast of downtown Issaquah at Grand Ridge on the Sammamish Plateau, was planned in the New Urbanism style and opened in 1998 after a decade of planning and construction.
The Issaquah Highlands occupy , of which are incorporated into the city and are preserved as public open space. It plans to have approximately 3,250 residential units, of commercial space, and of retail space upon full build-out. The neighborhood has an approximate population of 9,000 people .
History
The Pine Lake Plateau, like most of the Eastside region, was a productive coal harvesting area in the early 20th century. The Grand Ridge Mine, located north of Issaquah at the future site of the Issaquah Highlands, was in operation from 1909 to 1934 and sporadically produced coal until its full closure in the 1950s. The heavily forested area was partially turned into an undeveloped park by the King County government in the 1960s, and was sought after as a site for suburban development in the late 1970s. The county park was acquired by developer Glacier Park in a land-swap deal for portions of Cougar Mountain and Ravensdale.
Real estate developer Ken Behring, partnering with Port Blakely Tree Farms, acquired the Grand Ridge area from Glacier Park in May 1990. He planned to build 6,000 homes on Grand Ridge, which was zoned to support lots, in a move opposed by county officials and environmentalists. The city of Issaquah considered annexation of the entire East Sammamish Plateau in 1990, including the Grand Ridge area, but was stopped by the King County Boundary Review Board in June of that year.
A new plan was formed in 1992 by Port Blakely Communities, a new division of Port Blakely for real estate development, centered around sustainability and affordability following New Urbanism principles. The King County Council failed to approve the rezoning of Grand Ridge to support housing and commercial development, also rejecting a compromise from County Executive Tim Hill that would allow immediate development on the western edge. An urban growth boundary, required by the Growth Management Act of 1990, was set in 1992 to exclude the Grand Ridge area, preventing further development without county action. Behring pulled out of the partnership in 1993, leaving Port Blakely as the sole developer for Grand Ridge.
In May 1994, new County Executive Gary Locke announced a compromise agreement between the county government and Port Blakely Communities that would allow the development to move forward. The agreement allowed the development of high-density housing, offices and retail on of land in exchange for a donation of for public open space, including parkland and nature reserves. The compromise was approved by the King County Council in December 1995, including 3,950 housing units (of which 60 percent were to be townhomes, condominiums or apartments), retail space, office space, and $33 million in private funding for road improvements.
In early 1996, Port Blakely proposed scrapping the urban village plan after costs increased by $10 million, but was saved by the county accepting responsibility for funding costly road improvements. The Issaquah City Council approved their portion of the Grand Ridge project, including $16.7 million in road funding and annexation of the area, in May 1996. The final agreement between Port Blakely, the county and Issaquah was signed on May 29, 1996, allowing for construction to begin. The site was also briefly considered for a National Football League stadium for the Seattle Seahawks by team owner Paul Allen, who bought the team from Ken Behring.
On September 5, 1996, Port Blakely and the county broke ground on the Grand Ridge development, amid controversy and a picket protest over potential traffic impacts in the area. Port Blakely renamed the Grand Ridge project to "Issaquah Highlands" in April 1997, to better identify with the city of Issaquah. The open space portion of the development was officially accepted by King County in November 1997 and designated as the future home of Grand Ridge Park, to become the fourth-largest in the county parks system at .
The first homes in the Issaquah Highlands were completed in 1998. Development was limited to approximately 1,000 homes until the construction of a new access road and $157 million interchange with Interstate 90 that opened in 2003. The first retailers began moving to the Highlands in 2005, after the development's population reached 3,000 residents.