Storyliving by Disney is a business venture and brand of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

announced on February 16, 2022, to collaboratively develop

master-planned A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

communities that utilize

Disney Imagineering Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc.—commonly referred to as Walt Disney Imagineering, Imagineering, or WDI—is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construc ...

and are staffed by Disney cast members. It operates under the company's Disney Living Development, Inc. subsidiary. Cotino, in

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The city is a low-density desert community with resorts, golf courses, and country clubs within the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert. Nestled along the foothil ...

, was the first Storyliving by Disney community chosen for development, where ground breaking took place in April 2022. In December 2023, plans were announced for a second such community, named Asteria, in

Pittsboro, North Carolina Pittsboro is a town in Chatham County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,743 at the 2010 census and 4,537 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Chatham County. The town was established in the late 18th century, shortly ...

Cotino

Cotino, in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

Coachella Valley The Coachella Valley ( ) is an arid rift valley in the Colorado Desert of Southern California in Riverside County. The valley has been referred to as Greater Palm Springs and occasionally the Palm Springs Area due to the historic promine ...

, 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

Annenberg Annenberg may refer to: * Annenberg (surname) * The Annenberg Foundation, formerly Annenberg/CPB, known for funding educational television and the Annenberg Channel * Annenberg School for Communication (disambiguation) ** The USC Annenberg School f ...

Sunnylands Sunnylands is the former Annenberg Estate in Rancho Mirage, California. The property is currently run by The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, a not-for-profit organization. The property was owned by Walter Annenberg, Walter and Leon ...

Estate. Developed in collaboration with ''DMB Development LLC'' of

Scottsdale, Arizona Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...

, Cotino will be a

mixed-use development Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions ...

with several residential options, hotels, resort facilities, and a retail center, all surrounding a grand oasis and lagoon. The community's name, Cotino, was derived from

Cotinus ''Cotinus'' (''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607), the smoketree or smoke bush, is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs (''Rhus''). Characteristics They are large s ...

, the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

name of a plant commonly referred to as the Smoketree. It was chosen in recognition of

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

, who maintained a home in the Smoke Tree Ranch in nearby

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

. Groundbreaking for the project was held on April 23, 2022. The first 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 Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans ( human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot reco ...

of the project before allowing the developer to proceed. Home sales began by December 2023, proceeded by the release of the styles and designs of the houses. In February 2024, as part of a quarterly earnings report, Disney announced that Cotino would open in 2025. The first homes were completed and put on the market by February 2025, while the rest of the development will open by Fall 2025.

Section 31

The Cotino development includes most of US land survey Section 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. After some ownership changes, and at least two bankruptcies brought on by the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, Section 31 did not become available again until 2016. In 2017 a portion of the land, separated from the rest of Section 31 by Monterey Boulevard, was sold to the Tower Energy Group. The remainder of Section 31 was purchased in 2018 for $75 million by EC Rancho Mirage Holdings Limited Partnership, a Canadian firm organized in the state of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

. 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 Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

and Chapel Hill, is the second Storyliving by Disney community under development. Sales for homes in the community are expected to begin by 2027. By October 2024, construction has yet to begin, due to environmental issues. By June 2025, the environmental issues were resolved, prior to Asteria's first phase of construction being approved by the Pittsboro Board of Commissioners. According to Shawn Montague, Disney Imagineering's Site Portfolio Executive, the community's name was chosen in recognition of the aster flowers native to North Carolina. Given the flower's namesake was the Greek goddess Astria, "... whose tears of stardust fell to Earth and sprouted the first aster flowers. We thought it was a beautiful way to honor North Carolina's natural beauty from the Earth to the sky."

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