Storyliving by Disney is a business venture and brand of The Walt Disney Company announced on February 16, 2022, to collaboratively develop master-planned communities that utilize Disney Imagineering and are staffed by Disney cast members.[1] It operates under the company's Disney Living Development, Inc. subsidiary. Cotino, in Rancho Mirage, California, was the first Storyliving by Disney community chosen for development, where ground breaking took place in April 2022.[2] In December 2023, plans were announced for a second such community, named Asteria, in Pittsboro, North Carolina.[3]
Cotino, in Southern California's Coachella Valley, in the city of Rancho Mirage, is the first Storyliving by Disney community under development. It is adjacent to, and on land once owned by, the AnnenbergSunnylands Estate. Developed in collaboration with DMB Development LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona,[4] Cotino will be a 618-acre (250 ha) mixed-use development with several residential options, hotels, resort facilities, and a retail center, all surrounding a 24-acre (9.7 ha) grand oasis and lagoon.[2]
The community's name, Cotino, was derived from Cotinus, the genus name of a plant commonly referred to as the Smoketree. It was chosen in recognition of Walt Disney, who maintained a home in the Smoke Tree Ranch in nearby Palm Springs.[4] Smoke Tree Ranch was one of Disney's favorite locations to relax. So loved by Disney, the Ranch's stylized STR emblem was included on Walt's tie on the 1993 Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse statue, Partners. (Note: The smoke tree plant species commonly found in the Palms Springs area, and the Mojave Desert in general, is not of the genus Cotinus, but the genus and species Psorothamnus spinosus.)
Groundbreaking for the project was held on April 23, 2022.[5] The first 70-acre (28 ha) tract map was tentatively approved by the Rancho Mirage Planning Commission on July 14, 2022, despite opposition by some Coachella Valley residents who cited the ongoing megadrought as a reason to revisit the environmental impact of the project before allowing the developer to proceed.[6] Home sales began by December 2023 with the first homes completed later in 2024.[7] In February 2024, as part of a quarterly earnings report, Disney announced that Cotino will open in 2025.[8] The first homes are expected to be complete by March 2025.[9][10][11]
Section 31
The Cotino development includes most of US land surveySection 31 in the city of Rancho Mirage. Investors had previously purchased the land from the Annenberg estate in 1977, and in 1993 The Eagle Specific Plan had been approved for development, but never started.[12] After some ownership changes, and at least two bankruptcies brought on by the Great Recession, Section 31 did not become available again until 2016. In 2017 a 23-acre (9.3 ha) portion of the land, separated from the rest of Section 31 by Monterey Boulevard, was sold to the Tower Energy Group.[13] The remainder of Section 31 was purchased in 2018 for $75 million by EC Rancho Mirage Holdings Limited Partnership,[14] a Canadian firm organized in the state of Delaware. EC Rancho Mirage brought in DMB Development LLC to help design a new plan for the site, initially called the Section 31 Specific Plan or Section 31 Project. When Disney was brought in to apply their expertise and brand, the Section 31 Project became Cotino.
Asteria
Asteria, in Pittsboro, North Carolina, near the cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, is the second Storyliving by Disney community under development.[3] Sales for homes in the community are expected to begin by 2027.[3] By October 2024, construction has yet to begin, due to environmental issues.[15]
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