Disney has broken ground on its new community in Rancho Mirage, called Cotino, and is the first Storyliving by Disney development. This ambitious new development will introduce a golf course, two new resort hotels, plus an Oasis Lagoon and a vibrant town center with shopping, dining, entertainment and leisure activity opportunities for residents, hotel guests, and the public.
About Cotino
Cotino will offer a range of home types to choose from, including condominiums and single-family homes, a hotel and a range of shopping, dining and entertainment offerings. The community will be anchored by an approximate 24-acre grand oasis featuring the clearest turquoise waters with Crystal Lagoons technology and a promenade area offering vistas of the oasis and the Santa Ana mountain range in the distance. A portion of the oasis will include a professionally managed beach park with recreational water activities that can be accessed by the public through the purchase of a day pass.
Planned Cotino Features
- A luxurious beach environment oriented around a 24-acre Grand Oasis Crystal Lagoon (Grand Oasis lagoon)
- Beach Club
- Grand Oasis Promenade
- Mix of resort hotel, residential, commercial, and open space/recreation
- Development of up to:
- 1,932 residential units
- 400 hotel/resort units
- 175,000 square feet of nonresidential development
- Town Center district
- Combined restaurant and entertainment venues
- Retail
- Service space
- Golf course(s)
- Bike, pedestrian, and golf cart pathways
- Residents’ private beach club
- Non-motorized watercraft and beach equipment
- Sustainability features
- Alternative transportation options
- Innovative lighting systems
- An energy grid designed to minimize peak loads and efficient energy storage
Upon entering the Community, quality will be reflected in every detail. This begins with a landscaped entry that rises slightly and upon cresting, reveals an expanse of turquoise blue water in a Crystal Lagoon in the foreground backed by distant vistas of the rugged Santa Rosa Mountains.
Grand Oasis
The Grand Oasis will be the signature open space and recreational element at the core of the Community. This crystal-clear body of water of approximately 34 acres with a depth of 12 feet, designed, constructed, and operated using Crystal Lagoons technology, will accommodate swimming, stand-up paddle boards, kayaks and other small-scale, non-motorized recreational watercraft.
The shoreline interface will accommodate other beneficial uses such as a public beach area, parks/amphitheaters, watercraft rentals, resort beaches, a boardwalk, waterfront dining, and beachfront living units strategically located to capitalize on and elevate the Grand Oasis experience. Watercraft launching and docking areas to accommodate paddle boats, kayaks, and canoes would complete the water-based recreational area.
Town Center
The Town Center will have a main street featuring appealing public spaces and connectivity to high-end resorts, dining, and entertainment venues with prominent beach-front locations. At night, the water will reflect the desert moonglow, enhanced by a system of artful pathways and feature lighting within the Grand Oasis.
The Town Center envisions a main street reminiscent of a beach town lined with mixed-use buildings of first floor commercial and services with housing and office uses above or in close proximity, creating a potential live work environment. This will serve as the entertainment zone for the Cotino Community, with a variety of unique dining and music venues. The main street will terminate at the lagoon with a public beach serving as a focal amenity.
Artisan Club
The Artisan Club will feature a beachfront clubhouse with a fitness center, pool, pickleball court, restaurant and more. Additionally, The Parr House will be a “super” fun multifunctional venue and unique event space, inspired by the home of the heroic Parr family as featured in the Disney and Pixar film, Incredibles 2, and brought to life by Disney Imagineers and artists from Pixar.
Expect also to see curated Disney signature events, performances and seasonal celebrations plus volunteerism opportunities
Residential Neighborhoods
Well-maintained, high quality residential neighborhoods will surround the lagoon on three sides, all interconnected through a network of quiet, intimate local streets emanating outward from the Grand Oasis, with its white sand beaches strategically placed along the shoreline. Landscaped paseos will extend into the surrounding residential neighborhoods, providing convenient bike, pedestrian, and golf cart connections to beachfront shopping, dining, and entertainment experiences in the Town Center district. Across the Grand Oasis appears the residents’ private beach club with a variety of equipment for water activities that will appeal to all ages.
Residents will have several convenient options within the community to access the vibrant mixed-use Town Center that comprises the heart of Cotino and provides a wide range of shopping, dining, entertainment, and leisure activities for residents, hotel guests, and the public at large. The Town Center will lead to an active beach experience featuring non-motorized watercraft and beach equipment that may be accessed by resort guests and by the public for daily use by reservation only.
Sustainability
Cotino will include a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and responsible building. Including prominent sustainability features such as convenient alternative transportation options, innovative lighting systems, and a thoughtful energy grid designed to minimize peak loads and provide options for efficient energy storage. The Community’s unique, regional water-based attraction will provide visitors with an amenity that should extend the tourist season into the warmer months when activity at traditional golf environments dramatically declines.
Landscape & Pathways
Drawing inspiration from the natural desert context, Cotino will be richly landscaped with climate sensitive plantings. The Grand Oasis with Crystal Lagoon technology will utilize a fraction of the water used by a single golf course and will use innovative technology to minimize energy, water, and chemical usage. The multi-modal pathways winding through the Community will encourage non-motorized vehicle transportation while the series of strategically-located paseos extending into each neighborhood will create a walkable neighborhood trails system. Building designs will incorporate best practices for enhancing environmental sustainability.
Prominent formal parks located near each major residential entry to the Community will provide attractive landscaping, turf areas for family enjoyment, and shaded seating areas for socializing with neighbors. Each Private Entry will also feature Community signage and enhanced landscaping to create a welcoming sense of arrival. The location of these parks also will serve as a traffic-calming feature.
Disney Cotino Location
The land was once part of the Annenberg Estate. The planned 618-acre Disney development is located at what is called Section 31 in Rancho Mirage and refers to the northeast corner of Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra Drives, a mile north to Gerald Ford Drive and east to Monterey Avenue. The other portion of Section 31 located on the east side of Monterey Avenue is separately owned.
It is located directly across from The Sunnylands Center and Garden, owned and operated by the Annenberg Foundation Trust. The Community’s proximity to Sunnylands will play an important role in future development, as the Community seeks to be cohesive with the Sunnylands mission and its local significance.
The planned, mixed-use community is an infill property surrounded on the north, west, and south by developed land within Rancho Mirage and on the east side by properties within Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert. Further out it is situated in the westerly portion of the Coachella Valley within the corporate limits of the Rancho Mirage, Riverside County. Cotino will be accessible from Interstate 10 by way of Bob Hope Drive and Monterey Ave.
The development is bounded by the following roadways:
- Gerald Ford Drive on the north
- Bob Hope Drive on the west
- Frank Sinatra Drive on the south
- Monterey Avenue on the east.
Surrounding Areas
- North: Single Family Homes, Vacant Land
- South: Rancho Mirage Country Club and Homes, Estate Homes, Medical Offices
- East: Marriott’s Shadow Ridge Condo and Golf Resort, Vacant Land
- West: Shopping Center; Sunnylands Estate, Visitors’ Center, and Administrative Buildings; and Vacant Land
Cotino is located approximately 102 miles from Disneyland, 105 miles from the City of Los Angeles and the Pacific coast, approximately 180 miles from the City of Las Vegas, and approximately 250 miles from the Phoenix/Scottsdale metropolitan region.
About Story Living by Disney
The Storyliving communities are envisioned as enriching enclaves aimed towards bringing people together. Managed by Disney Cast Members, they will deliver world-class service and fun. Each community will feature distinctively designed spaces and unique amenities.
These master-planned, new home communities are intended to inspire residents to foster new friendships, pursue their interests, and write the next exciting chapter in their lives.
At each location, including some neighborhoods for residents ages 55+, Disney cast members trained in the company’s guest service will operate the community association. Through a club membership, Disney will also provide access to curated experiences, such as wellness programming; entertainment ranging from live performances to cooking classes, philanthropic endeavors, seminars and much more.
Cotino Land History
Cotino several decades ago an asset of the Annenberg Estate, consists of roughly one square mile, equivalent to approximately 27 million square feet, centrally in the heart of the Coachella Valley. In 1977 the site was sold by the Annenberg Estate to investors which fractured sole ownership of the property into a 60/40 split. In 1993, The Eagle Specific Plan (The Eagle) was adopted for the project site. The Eagle proposed a golf course community of approximately 650 acres, which included associated residential, recreational, and commercial uses within the project area. Due to financing challenges and bankruptcy of one of the property’s former owners, the future site of Cotino remained undeveloped and The Eagle Specific Plan was never implemented. In 2017, the current owners entered into a contract to purchase the land and began negotiations with the Annenberg Foundation Trust to amend the Covenant Agreement originally executed in 1977 between the Trust and the former owners to allow development of one or more resort hotels as part of the plans. In early 2018, the purchase of the land by EC Rancho Mirage Holdings (ECRMH) was completed.
Walt Disney’s Palm Springs home
This isn’t the first time Disney has owned property in the Palm Springs area. In 1948 Walt Disney and his wife Lillian started building their first Palm Springs home at Smoke Tree Ranch. They moved into the home once it was completed in 1951 and several years later sold the home in order to help raise funds for Disneyland.
Once Disneyland proved to be a success, Disney purchased a second home at Smoke Tree Ranch to replace the one they had sold.
