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Finally, five new homes are complete and ready for move in at Channel Cove, at the south end of Park Street in south La Conner. Construction started last December on the one duplex and four single homes, but it has been four years since Home Trust of Skagit Executive Director Jodi Dean announced that funding had been assembled for the project.

The two story homes, pre-sold to buyers qualified by Home Trust, are priced at $260,000, but appraised at $500,000, Dean wrote in an email. They are "similar to custom homes," she says, with "great detail and quality given by Grandview Homes" the Arlington-based management services company that was contractor.

Grandview Homes manages some 20 housing complexes in western Washington from Bellingham to Olympia. They run at least one project in the Phoenix area.

The five families moving in "who have stayed the course through the ups and downs of the economy, pandemic and more," Dean noted. Some applied as early as 2019. Each had to qualify for a private mortgage. Applicants enrolled in "one-on-one, state sponsored and bank sponsored first time home buyers classes," she explained, with "each going through a process just like anyone buying a home." Qualifying families are first time home buyers living in Skagit County for at lest a year earning up to 80% of the area median income.

Dean did not provide specific information on family sizes or demographics of the households.

The homes are three bedrooms with two baths with similar floor plans. Dean wrote they include "solid wood cupboards, and finishes, great flooring and the countertops are quartz." All appliances are included.

The townhomes are about 80 square feet smaller. The four structures are grouped at the north end of the Channel Cove campus.

Project funding includes government grants from federal Housing and Urban Development and Community Development Block Grants, and the Washington state Housing Trust Fund. A full SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) review was required in 2019. Further delays came from the coronavirus pandemic and the shocks to the economy with supply chain disruptions, labor costs increases, supply chain disruptions and inflation.

Dean praises Grandview Homes principle Scott Wammack for building "without fees" without defining the savings he provided. There was a "small amount of community donations," she notes.

Dean called the completion of Channel Cove a "very good example of how partnerships work. I had the pleasure of working with Grandview Homes, Town of La Conner, Skagit County HOME Consortium, BYK Construction, Washington state Housing Trust Fund and the volunteer board of directors of Home Trust."

She also extolled Catherine Wyman and "the good intentions of townspeople several years ago, (in the) mid-90s who started this project."