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Suncadia's evolution: Slowly established resort continues to grow

By JUSTIN PITTMAN staff writer

Barb Owens
Mar 16, 2013
Mar 16, 2013
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The sun rose slowly over Kittitas County’s largest development.

Multiple developers struggled for years to bring their vision of a 6,400-acre master planned resort to fruition in Upper Kittitas County.

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Creating a sense of place at Suncadia

By JUSTIN PITTMAN, staff writer

Suncadia’s proximity to Seattle may have helped with the resort’s success, but the people who run the resort want to make sure there’s separation, says Suncadia senior vice president Paul Eisenberg.

“Fifty miles is close enough that it could feel like a suburb of Seattle, and we work really hard to make sure it doesn’t,” Eisenberg said. “The intent is that it feels like its own place.”

Open space

Eighty percent of the resort will remain open space, said Eisenberg, and conservation easements ensure 3,400 acres of the property will stay natural.

“We’re really creating a place that is very permanent, and very grounded, and very carefully planned, and that is all about preserving and enhancing the place,” Eisenberg said. “That is what drives its success at the end of the day. It’s a very well thought out, integrated, comprehensive, rooted concept that is all about this place and all of its varied histories … That resonates with people. It makes them want to come here and be a part of it, participate in it, have a home here. And those are the things that ultimately drive success. It’s not just a place for a house. It’s a deep, rich community that we create.”

Cougars, black bears, eagles and salmon can be found in the area around Suncadia, and Eisenberg calls the local plant life “incredibly diverse.”

The resort offers guests miles of trails that can be biked or hiked in summer or traveled via snowshoe in the winter.

Native American spiritual history also permeates the area around Suncadia, which Eisenberg says is important to the Cle Elum band of Native Americans and the origin of Native American creation stories that spread across the nation.

“A lot of things happened right along this area and where the resort is today,” Eisenberg said.

Coal mining history

Coal mining took over the Upper County’s economy in the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries, and Suncadia weaves that piece of history into numerous aspects of the resort, such as the names of golf courses and rooms in the Suncadia’s lodge, architecture at the Swiftwater Cellars winery and interpretive information at the resort.

“We’ve just tried to build these things into the fabric of who we are,” Eisenberg said. “All of those things together define what this place is, and they’re all very real and genuine. So the extent to which we celebrate those, and embody, and respect those is the extent to which we become a really rich and special place for people to come and spend time and become a part of.”