FULLY ENTITLED 46-UNIT TOWNHOME DEVELOPMENT — GRANTS PASS, OREGON
Four contiguous tax lots totaling 3.59 acres on a signalized hard corner where Williams Highway meets SW West Harbeck Road, entitled by the City of Grants Pass for 46 attached townhomes and producing income today. Most development sites sell a buyer a question — whether the city will approve it, what it will cost, how long it will take. Here the approval is already in hand, final and unappealed.
THE SITE
2024 Williams Hwy (0.47 ac), 2050 Williams Hwy (0.35 ac), 2090 Williams Hwy (1.80 ac) and 815 SW West Harbeck Rd (0.97 ac). Tax Map 36S-05W-30-BC, Tax Lots 100, 200, 300 and 500. 156,380 square feet total, level topography, paved Williams Highway frontage, shared access easements of record, and Cascade and valley views from the 1.80-acre parcel. Williams Highway is the principal southern arterial into Grants Pass, connecting the city to the Williams and Applegate Valley communities beyond the urban growth boundary. Roughly 19,550 vehicles per day pass through the subject's signalized intersection per the 2024 Traffic Impact Analysis. Surrounding arterials corroborate the pattern: US-199 runs 12,200 to 22,900 ADT and Allen Creek Road roughly 14,700 ADT.
The parcels are mapped FEMA Zone X (minimal hazard) on well-drained Barron and Clawson sandy loams at 2 to 7 percent slopes — buildable soils typical of the developed corridor.
THE ENTITLEMENT
The "Sunrise Village" MHLD Tentative Plan was approved by City of Grants Pass Director's Decision 108-00009-24 on January 27, 2025, under Oregon's middle-housing land-division statute (ORS 92.031 / SB 458), prepared by Gerlitz Engineering Consultants and PE-stamped by Justin Gerlitz. The application drew zero public comments and the 14-day appeal window expired without a single appeal. The approval is final. The complete work product conveys at close:
Director's Decision 108-00009-24 with conditions of approval and the full exhibit record
MHLD Tentative Plan, the 46-lot site plan, PE-stamped
Preliminary Utility Plan (C1.1) and Concurrent PLA Tentative Plan (file 102-00179-24)
Infiltration test and subdivision name approval
Traffic Impact Analysis (Sandow Engineering, 2024), concurred by the City and ODOT, no mitigation triggered
Average density concurrence from the City
THE APPROVED PLAN
46 townhome lots at 12.81 dwelling units per acre, achieved through minimum-density averaging concurred by the Community Development Director — 21 units on the R-4 tract, 25 on the R-1-8 tract. Because 12.28 du/ac is a minimum rather than a maximum, the program is effectively locked in; it cannot be materially shrunk without a plan modification. Lot sizes run approximately 1,677 to 1,800 square feet on interior lots and 2,000 to 3,160 square feet on end and corner lots — comfortably supporting the three-story attached townhome with attached garage that most regional merchant builders are delivering today. Architectural design is at the buyer's discretion subject to City review; the lot envelope, footprints and circulation are fixed by the approved plan.
The project is entitled in two phases to manage construction-loan exposure. Phase I is Lots 26 through 46 (21 units) with the central common area, stormwater detention pond, internal drive aisles and utility extensions from West Harbeck Road. Phase II is Lots 1 through 25 (25 units) with the looped water-main connection, a second Williams Highway driveway and remaining common-area improvements.
Stormwater is collected to an oversized rain garden and detention pond treating and detaining the 25-year storm in a single BMP, with overflow to the 30-inch main in West Harbeck. A six-foot sound wall is proposed along Williams Highway and part of West Harbeck Road, architecturally similar to the Sequoia Village wall already on the corridor.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Municipal capacity is at both frontages: 12-inch water mains in Williams Highway and West Harbeck Road, 10-inch and 8-inch sanitary sewer, and a 30-inch storm main serving West Harbeck. The corner is signalized with ADA improvements. The existing residences are served by public sewer, natural gas, electricity and cable, with water drawn from private wells that are abandoned at development. On-site extensions for the 46-unit project are engineered to 30% schematic design (Gerlitz project GP-611-24) but are not constructed. That horizontal work is buyer scope and is reflected in the pricing.
EXISTING IMPROVEMENTS AND IN-PLACE INCOME
Four residences, one per parcel, built between 1910 and 1963 and totaling 4,587 square feet. All are slated for demolition under the MHLD plan; their value to the offering is the rent that carries the site while a buyer permits. Combined income is $4,747 per month, $56,964 per year, across four month-to-month leases with zero vacancy. Owner pays property taxes, insurance, exterior maintenance and repairs; tenants pay utilities. Per the Owner's Disclosure Statement, occupancy does not restrict the development timeline.
LOCATION
Grants Pass is the county seat of Josephine County, with a certified population of 39,993 in the city and roughly 87,900 countywide (Portland State University, July 2025). It sits on Interstate 5 almost exactly halfway between San Francisco and Portland, with US-199 — Southern Oregon's only route to the coast — meeting I-5 at its southern edge. The economy is anchored by healthcare (Asante Three Rivers Medical Center, a 125-bed acute-care hospital among the county's largest employers), education (Rogue Community College), and a year-round tourism and outdoor-recreation base on the Rogue River.
Josephine County added population in every year from 2020 through 2025, up 1.4% — matching Oregon's statewide rate — while neighboring Jackson County declined. Growth is driven by net in-migration, as households priced out of higher-cost West Coast metros move in for cost and quality of life. The county's median age is roughly 47, with about 28% of residents aged 65 or older — nearly ten points above the Oregon share, and an equity-holding, ownership-minded buyer pool.
THE PRODUCT GAP
The subject's own ZIP, 97527, is 72.8% owner-occupied against a $481,099 median home value, with household income of $67,807 rising to a forecast $75,645 by 2030 (Esri 2025). Roughly two-thirds of the city's for-sale stock is detached single-family, and the attached segment is thin and fifteen to twenty years old. The verified pipeline at 40-plus-door scale is otherwise income-restricted apartments, rental plexes and detached lots. Market-rate, fee-simple attached housing at scale is the one category the corridor does not offer, and this is the only entitled program in the city positioned to deliver it.
Corridor precedent is established. Harbeck Village, an existing 48-unit community built in 1995 on the same Harbeck Road, confirms this corridor absorbs residential density at the subject's exact door count.
Christopher Pfau
Coldwell Banker Professional Group
