PDH LLC, a Spokane Valley company owned by prominent builder-developer George Paras, has bought and begun developing the bulk of a stymied 300-plus lot subdivision that's adjacent to the big Northwood neighborhood and overlooks Spokane Valley.

The planned development, to be called Valley Springs, includes 363 preliminarily platted lots, 39 of which have been developed. Paras says, however, the total number of lots probably will be reduced to around 324 lots, from the original 363, over the course of the multiphase project.

He says his target price range for homes in the development probably is $210,000 to $300,000, which would put the eventual value of the entire subdivision at upwards of $68 million. He declines to speculate on how long it will take to build out the development, saying that will depend on market demand.

Paras says a separate company in which he is a principal, Paras Homes LLC, currently is constructing speculative homes on a handful of lots that remain available out of the original 39 improved lots, and the first model home there is nearly finished. He says he also has begun infrastructure work on the next phase of 25 lots, and the paving of streets serving those lots should be complete by October.

Paras Homes will build most of the homes there, but other builders also might participate in the project, he adds.

Scott Wright and Fred Jakubek, both of the Coldwell Banker Tomlinson real estate agency, will market the development, he says.

The large, upscale Northwood development is located on sloping, wooded terrain west of Argonne Road and north of Upriver Drive and encompasses a couple of hundred homes. Valley Springs will be located on a hillside just west of Northwood's sixth addition, and will extend west to Thierman Road, says Paras, who constructed some of the homes in the Northwood neighborhood and lived there during the 1980s.

Landworks Development Inc., a Spokane Valley development company headed by real estate executive Bryan Walker, originally proposed developing the Valley Springs subdivision, says a Journal story published in July of 2006 that was based on public documents filed with Spokane County. The county had issued a determination of nonsignificance earlier that month concerning the potential environmental impacts of the proposed development. The effects of the Great Recession began to be felt a little over a year later, though, and the project never got rolling.

Plans called for an extension of Columbia Drive to provide the primary access to Valley Springs. Columbia Drive is one of the main thoroughfares in Northwood, running from Argonne to the neighborhood's west end. As envisioned, the extension of Columbia Drive would cut through the Valley Springs development and connect with Valley Springs Road to the west.

The county's file included petitions from a Northwood neighborhood group and a number of letters from residents protesting the extension of Columbia, citing traffic concerns. The documents showed the subdivision would be developed on about 122 acres and would include more than 30 acres of natural space.

Paras Homes has been one of the builders in the big Eagle Ridge community in the Latah Valley area of south Spokane, and, Paras says, is the exclusive builder or an active builder in several other subdivisions currently being developed in the Spokane area.