> I'm told that the cable company put coax up to the development way back in the day, but that nobody actually subscribed, and so the line was never brought any farther in.

That happens, especially if it's a lower density area.

Usually the way it goes is if the region is close to the minimum 'homes passed/mile' metric they'll do a minimum build-out, that way if there's enough interest and/or HPM goes above threshold it's not absurdly expensive to finish the buildout (and/or buildout as people actually request service.)