Key takeaways
- Conner Homes returns to Ten Trails with 53 new townhomes in Black Diamond, Washington, priced from the $600,000s.
- The local Seattle builder sees strong demand for townhouses in this Southern King County market.
- Black Diamond continues to attract homebuyers with lower prices than much of the Seattle area.
Nearly seven years after Conner Homes completed its first development in Ten Trails, the Washington homebuilder is back with a collection of townhouses.
Dubbed Village Towns at Ten Trails, the 53-home project encompasses three floor plans ranging from three to four bedrooms and from 1,750 to 1,930 square feet — all priced from the $600,000s. Each property comes with a two-car attached garage and three bathrooms.
With the build-out loosely projected to take 18 to 24 months, Village Towns marks the second development Conner Homes has undertaken in the Ten Trails master-planned community in Black Diamond, Washington. The company completed its first project — an alley-loaded, single-family neighborhood — back in 2019, making it the community’s first builder of record, according to Dalton Smith, vice president of business development. When the community developer alerted the company to an opening for a multifamily project in Ten Trails, Conner was happy to return.
The community is “very programmed and people are connected,” said Bill Boucher, the homebuilder’s marketing director. “That certainly aligns with our model because we like to build our homes where people can have that kind of lifestyle.”
But the location of Village Towns within the wider development is also practically appealing, Boucher said. It’s next to the burgeoning retail neighborhood, which centers on a Safeway grocery store expected to open within the next few months.
While the town has a history that dates back to 19th-century coal mining, its more recent population growth is “almost 100% attributable” to the Ten Trails development, he said.
“It’s farther out from the core of employment centers in Bellevue and in Seattle but offers a more relaxed lifestyle that’s still close enough to everything,” Boucher said.
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It’s the kind of place where a resident can pop into a local antique store and browse magazines from the 1940s, which Boucher did recently to research a bit of advertising history.
Local builder sees ‘appreciable’ townhouse demand
When it comes to buyers, the townhouses often appeal to first-time shoppers, Boucher said, while the larger models draw empty nesters or folks navigating a lifestyle change.
“At the end of the day, the buyer profile is all over the map, with the possible exception of folks who are looking for more of a single-level, rambler-style home,” he said.
Currently, the median sale price for the past 12 months in Black Diamond sits at nearly $750,000, with the median townhouse sale price at $550,000. Puget Sound tech hubs like Seattle and Bellevue, for example, have median townhouse sale prices of $755,000 and $805,000, respectively.
The builder’s market studies have shown “an appreciable demand for multifamily housing in Southern King County,” Boucher said, and Conner’s three-level properties have a focus on maximized storage and refined details, such as the option for an electric fireplace. “That is not all that frequent anymore in multifamily products.”
Part of the builder’s ability to invest in the details it knows appeal to Seattle-area buyers comes from its more than 65 years of experience building residences around Seattle.
“The reality is there’s a lot of folks out there, homebuyers who are interested in buying local,” Boucher said. “We use local suppliers, local vendors, local trades … it makes a difference.”
