Cotino — the Disney-branded development in Rancho Mirage that will feature hundreds of homes, a swimmable lagoon and more — is gradually emerging on a sprawling swath of land off Bob Hope Drive. And to fund the sewer and water pipes, street upgrades and other public infrastructure that will come with it, the city council recently voted to make the landowner and future Cotino homeowners pay up to $50 million.
The first residents are expected to move in early next year.
Cotino is slated to eventually have nearly 2,000 homes and condos on land just east of Bob Hope Drive, between Frank Sinatra and Gerald Ford drives, and across from the entrance to Sunnylands Center and Gardens. Its first phase featuring more than 300 homes, some of which will be in a 55-plus community, is planned on the property’s north end near the lagoon.
Home sales began this year, with prices starting north of $1 million for some designs and in the “mid-$2 millions” for others. As of May 1, a dozen lots had been sold to a homebuilder under contract with buyers, while many others are subject to ongoing negotiations, according to documents submitted to the city council last week.
The development has been led by Arizona-based developer DMB Development, and Disney joined as a partner in 2022, announcing Cotino as its first Storyliving by Disney community. (Late last year, Disney said its second Storyliving community will be about 30 miles west of Raleigh, North Carolina.)
Well before Disney entered the picture in Rancho Mirage, the land was on the radar of developers and city officials. The roughly square mile of vacant land, which was long owned by the Annenberg Estate, was sold to investors in 1977, and the city later approved plans for a residential golf development known as The Eagle.
But that project fell through due to its investors’ financial struggles, and the land was bought for $75 million in 2018 by EC Rancho Mirage Holdings, a group of investors led by a Canadian private equity firm who then brought in DMB Development to manage and develop the site. Its specific plan for the site received city approval in 2019.
Now, with grading complete on the land for the project’s initial phase, Cotino officials expect the first houses from builder Shea Homes to be finished in eight to 10 months, Karlee Dutton, public relations manager for Disney Signature Experiences, told The Desert Sun in an email Friday. Based on that timeline, the first homes would be completed between January and March 2025.
Cotino Bay — a 24-acre “grand oasis” lagoon with a beach available to guests for a fee — is expected to open in 2026, according to Dutton. That year should also see the opening of a town center with shops and restaurants, which gained approval from the city council late last year.
Funding paves way for street upgrades, sewers, more
The city council last week authorized selling up to $50 million in bonds to pay for infrastructure for Cotino. EC Rancho Mirage Holdings and its affiliated entities, which still own the 618-acre property, will be primarily responsible for paying off the bonds for now. Eventually, homeowners will also be expected to pay them off via annual special taxes, with their contribution depending on the size of their homes.
The bonds, which will be sold in May and June, were enabled by the city’s 2021 formation of a Cotino community facilities district, a special tax district to allow for new infrastructure upgrades within a particular area. The special district, which includes four separate “improvement areas” to be developed over time, allows for eventual bond financing…
Read More: First homes at Disney-backed Cotino in Rancho Mirage could be ready by January