By Jill Nagy
Brooks Heritage LLC hopes to break ground by
the end of May for Phase 2 of the Timber Creek
Preserve, a housing subdivision in the town of
Ballston.
Phase 2, like Phase 1, will consist of approximately
equal numbers of single-family homes and
two-unit townhouses on 100 lots, according to
Geoffrey Brooks, head of Brooks Heritage.
The development’s “traditional neighborhood
design” will feature relatively small lots, 5,000
to 8,000 square feet each, built around a central
park area and sharing an 80-acre nature preserve
with Phase 1, Brooks said. The subdivision will
also have tree-lined roads and sidewalks with
street lighting.
Plans for the subdivision were approved by the town. Now, they are awaiting approval by the state Department of Health for a sewer system extension, according to Brooks.
Phase 1 is 80 percent sold after two years, Brooks said. Homes in that phase were custombuilt as buyers contracted for them.
“We’ve been very happy with the results,” he said. Because “today’s market is so hot,” Brooks plans to build some homes in Phase 2 on speculation, he said. Phase 2 will also be “our entry into semi-custom construction.” Buyers will still have a lot of choices to make with regard to appliances, plumbing fixtures and colors, but the buildings will be more similar.
Home prices will be similar to the Phase 1 homes, “high 250,000s” for town homes and “high 280,000s” for single-family homes, said Brooks. Phase 1 buyers, so far, have been “a very diverse lot,” Brooks noted, including people wanting to downsize from a single-family home to a town home or from a larger house to a smaller one. Some are families buying a first home or moving up from something smaller.
A big attraction for the downsizers, many of them “empty nesters,” is the smaller lots requiring less maintenance, combined with access to the community park and the “forever wild” nature preserve. Brooks estimated that, of the approximately 80 families who purchased homes in Phase 1 of Timber Creek, perhaps 10 have any connection to the Global Foundries project, even though Timber Creek is only three miles away from that facility.
So far, the traditional neighborhood concept does not include a place to shop. That will come with Phase 3, Brooks said, consisting of 60,000 square feet of commercial space adjacent to Phase 2. A shopping area will be designed to attract business from the town of Ballston as well as residents of the Timber Creek development.
The town has approved the concept for Phase 3, he said.
Further information is available at the builders’ website, www.brooksheritage.com and he can be reached at 348-0931.
Photo Courtesy of Lansing Engineering