Developers plan Yakima Valley resort

Construction will start this summer on a planned $500 million, Tuscan-themed golf resort with views of Mount Rainier and Mount Adams in the Yakima Valley wine country, developers said.

The Vineyards, about seven miles northwest of Zillah and less than 20 miles from Yakima, will target Seattle residents looking for a second home on a championship-quality golf course in Washington's sunny wine country, Rich Barnes, a principal with Colorado-based Eagle Resort Development, told the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Depending on views of the 18-hole course and Cascade Range volcanos, lots will sell for $250,000 to $1 million, the developers said. A total of 582 housing units, including 230 private homes, a 100-room condominium hotel, and a combination of patio homes, town homes and villas are planned on 500 acres atop Rattlesnake Ridge.

The Vineyards would not be as large as Suncadia, which opened in Kittitas County in 2004. Suncadia covers about 6,000 acres, and is expected to eventually include more than 3,000 homes, golf courses, condos and hotel rooms.

Construction of The Vineyards will occur in phases, starting in June with the first nine holes of the 7,561-yard golf course, with play beginning in 2009, Barnes said. The first home sites will be available in August 2008, he said.

Plans call for the project to be completed by 2015.