By Barbara Pinckney
The success of Timber Creek Preserve,
a residential subdivision in Ballston Lake,
has Clifton Park-based Brooks Heritage
Custom Builders LLC planning three additional
phases.
Geoffrey Brooks, owner of Brooks Heritage,
said Phase II, calling for single-family
homes and twin townhomes, will begin sales
this month. The company expects to break
ground on Phase III, which will include
commercial space and high-end apartments,
in the spring.
Phase IV is now before the Town of
Ballston for approval. Brooks declined to
discuss the details, but Town Board minutes
say the proposal includes 276 residential
units including 95 single-family homes, 28 buildings of twin and multi-unit townhomes,
and 12 apartment buildings with a total of
107 units. It would cover 96 acres with access
from Benedict and East Line Roads.
“[Timber Creek] has been very well received,”
Brooks said. “We are selling homes
faster than we can build them.”
The subdivision, on Round Lake Road off
Northway Exit 11, was started about three
years ago. It currently has 54 single family
homes and 46 twin townhomes, a park,
and 80 acres of forever wild property with
streams, wooded areas and several miles of
nature trails.
Brooks said Phase II will be very similar
to Phase I. It calls for 67 single family
homes, and 32 twin townhomes, on 35 acres.
There will be a park with a gazebo, community
sidewalks and “old town” ornamental
street lighting. Residents will also have
access to the forever wild property.
The homes, which average about $300,000,
all are custom built. Buyers select their lot
and then choose one of about 25 standard
home designs. They may then make any
changes they want to that design, and
Brooks said no two homes are ever the same.
“People take their own time,” he said.
“They work with our engineer to redesign
things. They go out and meet with the
vendors. They do their kitchen lay out,
bathroom layouts, chose their flooring, their
bathroom fixtures, their lighting and so on.
And so every house is customized.”
In fact, the rules of Timber Creek say
no house within four lots may have the
same design or color scheme. Brooks said
the houses range from about 1,500 squarefeet
to 2,500 square feet, with two to four
bedrooms.
The townhomes, which start at $265,000,
also will be built to order. Brooks said that if
only one side of a home is sold, Heritage will
start the other side but leave it unfinished
for a future buyer to customize.
The next two phases of Timber Creek
will be completely different, and designed
to make the subdivision more like a walkable
community. Phase III includes 30,000
square feet of commercial space, topped by
32 apartments.
“We are planning on doing 16 one bedroom
apartments and 16 two-bedroom
apartments,” Brooks said. “They will be
roughly 1,000 square feet to 1,200 square
feet in size and they will have some higher
end amenities to them, such as hard wood
flooring and granite countertops in the
kitchen.”
Tenants have not yet been signed for
the commercial space, but Brooks said he
has had interest from restaurants, a day
care center, medical practices and other
professionals.
Brooks said Timber Creek was originally
developed with empty nesters in mind. It
proposed modest homes on smaller lots to
appeal to people looking to downsize.
“That is where it started,” he said. “But
then about a year ago we started seeing
some of [the people from] GlobalFoundries,
and the support companies for GlobalFoundries,
some of those individuals
coming in. So we do have a lot of empty
nesters but we have everything–we have
first-time homebuyers, young couples without
kids, young couples with kids [and]
we have middle aged people with multiple
children.”
Photo Courtesy Brooks Heritage Custom Builders