Hillside homes located near parks, shopping

ISSAQUAH -- West Highlands Park, a hillside neighborhood of single-family homes within the Issaquah Highlands master-planned community, is poised to become more pedestrian-friendly.

Construction began recently on Grand Ridge Plaza, a retail center that will open in 2013. It will be a short walk from the homes at West Highlands Park and will include a supermarket, restaurants, a multi-screen movie theater and a gas station.

The neighborhood is located west of the High Street Retail Village, and the new development will bring more amenities to homeowners' doorsteps, says Stephanie Shurtliff, community sales manager at West Highlands Park.

"We are only about a five- to seven-minute walk from the boutiques and restaurants already at the High Street Retail Village, and Grand Ridge Plaza will add to the urban-village lifestyle," Shurtliff says. "You can just park your car in your garage and walk everywhere."

West Highlands Park features two- and three-story homes with four or five bedrooms built by CamWest, a Toll Brothers Company. Six homes are available for sale -- two are complete and ready for occupancy, and two will be move-in ready later this summer or in early fall.

Buyers who purchase a presale home have the opportunity to customize their spaces to fit their own needs through the homebuilder's CamYes! program.

Purchasing a presale home is what new homeowners Jim and Laura Wright did -- albeit unexpectedly. In fact, they weren't planning to buy a new home at all until they visited West Highlands Park.

"We had lived in our previous home for 15 years and thought we'd just renovate it, but driving through Issaquah Highlands we saw the CamWest signs and thought we'd take a look," Laura Wright says. "We absolutely loved the homes, and came back the next day and made an offer."

The couple sold their previous home in two weeks and began working with project manager Tim Breaux to customize their new home.

"We worked with Tim and a design consultant to choose the color of the flooring and the cabinets," Wright says. "Tim even had a tree removed from our yard that we didn't want, no questions asked. And when the granite was installed, there was a natural streak of brown in the stone that we didn't like, so he replaced it for us at no charge."

Homebuyers at West Highlands Park can choose from four designs, including two daylight-basement homes that back to a greenbelt and have views of Lake Sammamish and Cougar and Squak mountains.

"CamWest is very passionate about the architecture of its homes," Shurtliff says. "The exteriors here are very charming, which adds to the homes' value. The design also incorporates a lot of windows on all four sides of the homes so that you get a lot of natural light."

The Issaquah Highlands master-planned community includes 1,500 acres of parks, open space and trails. The community was designed to foster interaction by incorporating a park within a quarter-mile of every home to encourage residents to get out into the neighborhoods.

"Like the larger community, West Highlands Park is a very socially interactive neighborhood -- a lot of lifelong friendships have been formed here," Shurtliff says.

Toll Brothers is among the nation's leading builders of luxury homes. Its recent purchase of CamWest Development, LLC -- which has been building homes locally for more than 20 years -- expands the company's reach to the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1967, Toll Brothers is now building homes in 20 states.

Toll Brothers was rated No. 1 in 2011 and 2010 for Financial Soundness, Long-Term Investment and Quality of Products/Services in the homebuilding category of Fortune magazine's annual World's Most Admired Companies survey.

Content provided by West Highlands Park