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Texas mystery-developer plans 31 houses next door to Gig Harbor High School
A Texas-based property owner plans to build 31 houses on a swampy 39-acre strip of land at 5301 Rosedale Street, next to Gig Harbor High School’s campus.
A public meeting on Thursday, March 27, at the Civic Center on Grandview Street will focus on whether the developer should be allowed to deviate from city design rules on altering the site’s topography, and on the required size of the vegetation buffer between the property and the high school.
Mysterious developer
Documents in the city of Gig Harbor’s permits portal lay out plans for the subdivision, but the developer’s identity is something of a mystery. Gig Holding Company, a Washington limited liability company formed in 2010, owns the land. Representatives of that entity did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
Gig Holding Co.’s mailing and e-mail addresses, as well as employees’ emails to the city about the project, point to possible ownership by a Texas-based investment management fund whose SEC filings recently stated that it held more than $1 billion in assets.
The proposed development is directly adjacent to Gig Harbor High School. Photo by Vince Dice
Other clues point to the LLC having roots in a vastly different realm: the death care industry. Gig Holding Co. acquired the land in 2010 from NorthStar Memorial Group, a Houston-based holding company that owns dozens of funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoria across the United States.
NorthStar took possession of the land 15 years ago when it bought Lakewood-based Mountain View Funeral Home.
Mountain View, which once owned more than 100 acres on the Gig Harbor Peninsula, held the property for decades. The Peninsula School District bought a portion of that acreage in the 1970s to build Gig Harbor High School.
NorthStar sold the 5301 Rosedale property to Gig Holding Company, but at least one of its top managers plays a leading role in current development efforts. Another NorthStar executive appears as Gig Holding Company’s governor in Washington Secretary of State records.
5301 Rosedale Street
The property at 5301 Rosedale Street is not easily developable — at least, not at the density sought in this project.
“Much of the site is encumbered by wetland and wetland buffers,” according to a report from Contour Engineering, the developer’s consultant. “A floodplain [is] located within the wetland and wetland buffer.”
Development normally follows the land’s natural contours. At the meeting, the engineer will make the case for an alternative approach of cutting and filling as much as 60,000 cubic yards of earth to build up the areas that will contain the road and building lots.
“Fill is required to meet stormwater management mitigation efforts,” the report states.
To fit the property’s long, narrow shape, plans call for a single road snaking up from Rosedale Street to reach a cul-de-sac at the subdivision’s northern edge. Houses will line either side of this street at intervals, with lots ranging from 7,500 to 10,000 square feet.
The development at 5301 Rosedale Street would involve building a cul-de-sac road deep into a long, narrow property adjacent to Gig Harbor High School.
The road will be public. The cul-de-sac could someday continue north through undeveloped land not owned by Gig Holding Company. Ultimately, the street within the subdivision may connect to 54th Avenue, which extends south from Bujacich Road, providing a new connection between that road and Rosedale Street.
One detail in a report filed with the city on behalf of the developer suggests the housing developed at 5301 Rosedale Street might be age-restricted. A Wetland and Fish and Wildlife Habitat Assessment Report for the development states (under “Purpose and Need”) that the project will “meet the growing needs for such 55+ communities in the Gig Harbor area.”
The property proposed for development is directly adjacent to Gig Harbor High School.
Previous development effort
The project recently received a new, bright yellow “Notice of Public Meeting” signboard facing Rosedale Street. It replaced a faded and tattered sign that stood there for several years, reflecting the fact that permitting began in 2022. Work has proceeded in fits and starts since then, with gaps as long as 11 months occurring between the developer receiving comments from the city on its plans, and it resubmitting those documents with required changes.
A sign along Rosedale Street alerts passers-by to a public meeting on the proposed development. Photo by Vince Dice
The city Hearing Examiner must review the development effort at 5301 Rosedale Street after a public hearing. Both that as-yet-unscheduled event and Thursday’s public meeting on buffers and topography offer chances for the public to learn more about the project. The hearing examiner event will include public testimony.
It’s an open question whether any executives or managers of Gig Holding Company or the investment fund or funerals/cemeteries/crematoria holding company that are tied to the development effort will attend either event.
Clues in the city’s permitting records and in other public filings give some hints as to their identities.
Emails from the developer to the city of Gig Harbor state their senders’ affiliation with Trust Asset Management LLC. The senders’ email addresses use the Internet domain tam-llc.com, which is also the web domain of Trust Asset Management, “a registered investment advisor formed in 2009.”
“We develop investment solutions tailored to the investment needs of our institutional clients,” the website’s about page reads. Trust Asset Management’s SEC filings from 2024 state it has custody of more than $1 billion in client assets.
The property proposed for development is directly adjacent to Gig Harbor High School.
Companies decline comment
The investment firm, the Texas-based death care services holding company NorthStar Memorial Group, and Gig Holding Co. appear to share top management. Michael Zislis, listed in the city of Gig Harbor’s permit files as the main contact at Gig Holding Company, has a Trust Asset Management email address and is listed on NorthStar Memorial Group’s website as NorthStar’s chief information officer. Tim Birch, listed on the Washington Secretary of State corporation registration as Gig Holding Company’s governor, is a NorthStar executive vice president.
Representatives of Gig Holding Company, NorthStar Memorial Group and Trust Asset Management all declined requests for comment.
NorthStar Memorial Group’s local operation, Mountain View Funeral Home & Cemetery in Lakewood, disclaims any knowledge of the parent company’s or the parent company’s executives’ involvement in Gig Harbor real estate development.
“I know nothing about this,” said Kim Josue, Mountain View’s managing partner. “We are a funeral home, cemetery and crematory.” She suggested directing inquiries to the corporate office in Houston.