dr. henry cheng. >> yes. he had vision. what he did is he came here.e built all these lots. >> it takes a staggering amount of work to get these mountaintop lots ready for homes. >> you've got water. you have electricity. you have gas. >> but the developer took the time to do it right, before listing them for sale. >> typically, what happens is the developer will do maybe a few lots or wait for reservations and, with those funds, create the next phase. in this situation, everything's done. the lots are graded. utilities are in. the developer's invested hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money. >> $250 million in development in all the groundwork, design, everything over a 5-year period. >> they say that ascaya is a greek word meaning "one who chisels boulders," and it is easy to see why. >> i've got approximately 32 miles of boulder walls in here. >> finally, all the boulders were in place, and the lots were ready. then the recession hit. >> that 5-year period ended right around 2008, and, obviously, at that time, it was not the ri