Spanish Castle Featured in The Good Life

Story by Susan Lagsdin | The Good Life | Read the full article here.

Prehistoric geology and human endeavor coincide with dramatic effect on a 4-mile stretch of semi-arid hillside above the Columbia River halfway between Wenatchee and Quincy.

Vineyard Estates, the first phase of a home development long in the planning at Spanish Castle, is built on rock formed and reformed by millennia of floodwaters. Marked on the east by the distinctive basalt monoliths of the Palisades, it faces the rangy cliffs and arroyos of the 90,000-acre Colockum Wildlife Area across the river to the west.

Two local farming families, whose combined agricultural history stretches from early 20th century dryland wheat to today’s irrigated row crops and tree fruit, purchased the several hundred acres in 2007.

With a vision of the whole parcel becoming a resort community, they added trails, put in main roads and sold some home lots, but before building multiple houses they were content to watch and wait.

Photo By Mike Irwin. Josh Lybbert, experienced in both agriculture and the construction industry, is gradually developing his extended family’s property. The interior designer has chosen dramatic amenities like this jade green tile wall in the upstairs master suite.

Meanwhile, young Josh Lybbert of that same extended clan graduated from Moses Lake High School, learned the building trade and received a college degree in construction management. Duty called him to the farming arm of the family enterprise, and for fifteen years he helped manage those businesses.

Just last year the relatives decided to move ahead with development, and launching their own construction company was the best way to ensure consistent quality. Josh soon found the highest and best use of his skills and his college degree, still close to home but on Spanish Castle property as overseer of newly formed RiverView Builders.

His inaugural project, the move-in ready 3,296 square-foot home that he proudly made available for this story, represents the quality and function that the family is striving for.

Seen from a distance, it’s clear that the overall esthetic is contemporary, with a cantilevered roofline, bold geometrics and natural colors that complement the terrain. Both fire wise and low maintenance, the exterior siding is cement panel with black metal trim and a touch of cedar accent for warmth.

Auxiliary bedrooms and bath and a spacious family room fill the ground-level first floor, and
a broad stairway at the entry leads up to the main level. There, a house-width living area and kitchen open to the views. That level also has two separate bedroom/bath suites.

The top floor decks, with their safe but almost invisible cable railing, are of sand washed cement with tongue-in-groove cedar above. They’re plumbed and wired for outdoor entertaining and have room for a firepit.

The ground level lot below is mostly rock and xeriscape, with plants chosen for hardiness in the desert climate. Josh said he’s not aiming for straight rows of identical structures; siting each home for the most privacy and views is a high priority.

Josh is also aware that potential buyers may be families with kids, retirees, or weekend vacationers, so this first 3,296 square-foot home is designed for flexibility.

This perspective shows agriculture and recreation against a backdrop of flood-era geology. Every home in the development will have its own striking views of the Columbia River and the Colockum Wildlife Area across the way.

The four-car garage could easily hold a boat or a small RV, or it could be converted to a shop or hobby space. The main floor suites, one large and one smaller, allow for the owners’ personal quarters plus an office, study, or guest room.

Collaborating with an interior designer, Josh chose high-end amenities like floating cabinets and shelves, a hidden pantry, a sleek horizontal gas fireplace, jade green bathroom tiles. The primary suite closet is custom designed with quality fittings; the kitchen is simple but loaded with high quality Bosch/Thermador appliances.

Within a year, Josh has become the contractor, project manager and keeper of the dream. But, he said, “It was my uncle, Alan Bird, who did the early leg work setting up the whole resort development – it couldn’t have happened without him.”

Issues of right of way, access, zoning and ownership were resolved, and now the major infrastructure – all the dirtmoving, piping and paving, electricity and fiber optics — is on schedule.

This summer will see more construction at Vineyard Estates as sites are being excavated and prepared. Josh said, “We’ll be learning with every build. Not just what works best but which sub- contractors and vendors are best to partner up with. Relationships are really important in this business.”

Josh, now 41 and a father of three, is playing the long game and envisioning a future development that feels like a neigh- borhood. “In my lifetime,” he said, “I’d love to see this whole place entirely built out. We’ve got plans for a clubhouse, a pool, more trails, a marina, sports courts, some light retail.”

The immediate goals are equally ambitious. At this printing, with one home finished and another nearing completion, Josh is confident RiverView Builders can eventually construct fifty homes in a year at Spanish Castle. “We are permitted for 1,200 doors,’” he said. “And when we reach forty, we’re building the clubhouse.”

Everything will look new for a while, but our region’s last one hundred years of transportation and commerce are already overlaid on this previously unpopulated hillside property. Today it boasts the proximity of two cities linked by a busy highway, a railline, a boat ramp, a flyway for occasional jets, vast commercial vineyards and soon this vibrant new community.

But the old still lingers. The Spanish Castle name carries cachet in local lore, although the “castle” was actually built across the river from the site of its mod- ern namesake.

In 1917, Yakima rancher Lester Coffin purchased land south of Wenatchee and Malaga and built his version of an opulent Mexican hacienda at the foot of Tarpiscan Creek, hauling materials in by barge and wagon.

After Coffin’s death, subse- quent owners maintained the home, which inadvertently had become a tourist attraction. In 1963 it was dismantled and the site inundated by the waters behind Wanapum Dam.

“When the water level is really low,” Josh said, “You can still find remnants of the foundation of the original house.” And with wildlife in abundance, that west shore and the craggy hills above it are alive with activity. Driving around the long way will yield good hiking, biking and bird watching treks.

But even the deck sitters at Vineyard Estates can enjoy the bounty, binoculars optional: deer drink at the beaches, hawks veer up high, the clouds play on a huge swath of sky. And in all sea- sons, the varied colors from dawn to sunset are free for the looking.