To the casual observer, the site of the roughly 9-acre Harmony Heights residential development in west Kennewick looks like any other.

Recently installed curbing for a future road. Bulldozers and other heavy equipment moving and shaping dirt for 28 future lots. A water tender working to keep the dust down, which was sorely needed on the blustery day of the development’s recent groundbreaking.

“Nothing says new homes and groundbreaking in the Tri-Cities like dirt and wind,” Tracie Boothe, membership director for the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, told the crowd on June 18.

But for homebuilder Prodigy Homes and its owner, Jason Wilkinson, Harmony Heights represents something more – the company’s first development that it has built from the ground up.

“It’s a new phase, a new chapter for our company,” he said. “We’re really proud of Harmony Heights and what we have coming.”

Prodigy Homes regularly features projects in the annual Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities’ Parade of Homes and regularly wins awards for its luxury homes. Wilkinson was named a Person of Influence earlier this year in the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business’ event.

The company has never taken on a project of this scale and there’s still work to do before foundations are poured and framing raised. The lots, which range in size from just under 9,200 square feet to more than 17,000 square feet, won’t be ready for construction until mid-November.

But Wilkinson said this new approach for the company is all about continuing its reputation for quality design and construction while also better controlling costs.

“And I can develop it the way I want,” he added. “The size, the grade, everything.”

Prodigy bought the property, bordered by an orchard and winery immediately to the west, several years ago from a woman who was looking to downsize her home, Wilkinson said.

The development is located at what was 8405 W. 10th Ave., across the street from the burgeoning developments at the intersection of 10th Avenue and Columbia Center Boulevard near Hansen Park.

Most of the roughly quarter-acre properties will be situated on a loop road that will connect with an extension of 12th Avenue that will link up to 10th Avenue.

Heavy equipment works to level the lots for the Harmony Heights development, a 28-lot project in west Kennewick near the intersection of Columbia Center Boulevard and 10th Avenue.

| Photo by Ty Beaver

Prodigy is offering 16 of its current home plans, from the 2,200-square-foot Piano plan to the more than 3,200-square foot Aria Flex. Prices, ranging from the $720,000s to nearly $870,000, include land and construction.

Prodigy has bought groups of lots to build homes on but never has developed the land for those lots to begin with. Taking on that aspect does mean higher upfront costs, but the Harmony Heights development will yield $30,000 to $40,000 in savings per homesite, Wilkinson told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

It has been a journey to bring the project to life. Wilkinson said he worked closely with local authorities to ensure the project could be feasible. Even still, the property required extensive grading that lowered its surface by several feet.

“In the beginning I didn’t know if this was going to work,” he said.

With the increasing price of land and everything needed to build a home, from lumber to concrete, expanding into development is a way for Prodigy to control costs, which helps not only its bottom line, but also homebuyers’.

“It’s more cost effective to do this yourself, if you can afford it,” Wilkinson said. HAPO Community Credit Union provided the financing to move the project forward.

Concerns about whether this new chapter for Prodigy Homes will have a happy ending have disappeared, Wilkinson said, even with the lots still months away from being built on.

“We have six to seven people already interested (in lots),” said Ginger Jenks, the exclusive broker/Realtor for the development with Retter & Company Sotheby’s International Realty. “And that’s without even marketing.”