There’s no place like Green for Mary Jane Falcone, a 60-year resident who worked as a local school secretary for 26 years. So, in 2018 when she lost her dear husband, the condo she loved in the city’s Prestwick development was just too much to manage. “I just knew I could not keep up with it by myself,” she says.
Her son, who lives in town, suggested visiting Brier Creek, which has an independent living lodge of one- and two-bedroom apartments, and low-maintenance ranch homes. The community offers amenities including a theater room, private dining room, fitness center with classes, cooking exhibitions with the executive chef, a coffee bar, walking paths and more. Falcone agreed to take a tour, and she immediately knew she found a sweet spot to accommodate her lifestyle while enjoying her later years close to family in Green.
“It’s like a dream — almost like living in a hotel,” she says, adding that she enjoys the nightly three-course dinner and occasionally chooses to order a milkshake in the restaurant that is open for breakfast and lunch. Services like housekeeping, linen cleaning and access to an “ambassador” who is there to help if needed make living easy, she says.
Brier Creek Independent Living by Pulte Homes is just one of the many expanding residential options in Green. From single-family homes accessible to first-time buyers to newly constructed residences that afford more space and high-end apartment homes with plug-and-play amenities like on-site gyms and social events, the city’s variety of housing inventory is growing and evolving to accommodate residents’ needs.
John Warmus, a longtime resident and builder in Green who is also president of Warmus Builders Inc. and owner of Brier Creek Senior Living, says the up-and-coming community “just keeps getting better.”
“I started off doing single-family homes and now that I’m older myself, I am building houses for differing needs,” he says.
Warmus was co-developer of Green’s first assisted living facility, GreenView, and saw a gap in the market. “There is a need for senior independent living, so we purchased an 80-acre farm about eight years ago and have been developing it ever since,” he says.
Room to Move Up
“We’re making housing available for people who want to stay in Green and want to move up and get new construction,” says Jim O’Connor, director of planning for Pulte Homes.
Jacobs Ridge, a new development, is the third Pulte Homes development in Green, including Brier Creek. “The city of Green is an excellent place to live in terms of the vibrancy of the city, and access to major transportation and employment corridors,” O’Connor says. “We see a lot of couples that work in dual markets, so this is a great location for them — plus the combination of excellent schools, city services and park amenities.”
Pulte Homes studied the Green market and discovered a shortage of available new homes and a strong desire for higher-end housing. Jacobs Ridge, currently in the initial groundbreaking stage, will begin selling properties in early 2023 with the first families moving in next summer. The starting price is in the $400,000 to low $500,000 range.
O’Connor says, “In our outreach survey of realtors, this is the price point they identified where there is a gap in the market. So, families are faced with a decision — you can go to a different city with new construction available or get a house that is the right size but 20 years old and the features don’t cater to today’s lifestyle.”
There are two series of homes available in Jacobs Ridge. The first is 2,600 to 2,900 square feet, and the more executive move-up is up to 3,200 plus additions that can take the homes to over 4,000 square feet.
“The community will have a walking path for pedestrian circulation and connecting with the community,” O’Connor adds, noting that a park area with play equipment is another amenity for families.
Pulte’s floorplans cater to the needs of today’s families, too. “There have been significant changes in how people live in their homes, so we have a Pulte Planning Center, which is central to the living area of the house so kids can be there doing their homework while a parent is working in the kitchen, and it’s visible as opposed to the segregated spaces you see in plans that are over 20 years old,” O’Connor describes.
Each Pulte development has a “unique identity,” O’Connor says, relating how Brier Creek caters to the downsizing empty-nester while Jacobs Ridge affords more family and flexible space.
Another development — the Summit at Forest Lakes, from K. Hovnanian Homes — is also helping to fill the new construction void, offering limited maintenance options and a community park.
Suited for Active Lifestyles
As the city’s resident base grows, so does the availability of housing that extends beyond the traditional single-family setting. Metropolitan Holdings is developing Parkview at Spring Hill, a new rental multifamily community that will offer maintenance-free, amenity-rich living. The community will include a clubhouse with fitness center, pool and artificial turf area for outdoor games.
“A lot of people like the mobility of being able to come and go when they want,” says Matt Vekasy, founder and CEO. “There is a demographic that is looking for higher-quality multi-family options that do not exist in the Green market. With the potential for corporate headquarters growth, a big part of any company’s relocation decision is having good housing availability and choices for potential workers, and we think this will fill that need very well.”
Units include one-bedroom garden and carriage house apartments, one-bedrooms with dens, two-bedroom garden, two-bedroom townhouse layouts and three-bedroom homes. Square footage ranges from 742 to 1,882.
Apartments feature stainless appliances, hard-surface counters and 9-foot ceilings. “It’s a high-quality product that is well-managed and maintained,” Vekasy says. “Multi-family living has changed so much over the last 15 years, and this gives younger folks and families more flexibility.”
Vekasy expects the first units to be available in late 2023.
Vision Development Inc. is embarking on its second Green development called VC Station that will include about 220 units.
The community will include a large open space for recreation and dog walking, a volleyball court, clubhouse with Starbucks and outside tiki bar, pool and grilling stations, a dog wash station, a CrossFit gym in a stand-alone building, business center and private party space.
“We do a fair amount of resident events so they can get to know each other, and the vision we strive for is, we do not build communities, we build community,” says Brent Wrightsel, president of Vision Development. He adds that a number of residents have met and actually married. “I would say that’s building community,” he quips.
The key is to provide modern options that suit today’s lifestyles. Wrightsel says, “We have great residents, and I think those are probably the future homeowners in Green.”