San Antonio Business Journal - December 16, 2005 by Tricia Lynn Silva
The development team behind several large land plays here has snagged a high-end builder for one of its developments.
Horsham Valley, Pa.-based Toll Brothers Inc. recently inked a contract to purchase a little over 172 acres of land within the master-planned development known as Sonoma Verde. The community is being developed by Dallas-based Developer Shaul Baruch and Local Real Estate Pro Craig Glendenning. In all, Sonoma Verde spans a total of 685 acres off of Kyle Seale Parkway, about two miles north of Loop 1604 in Northwest San Antonio.
Toll Brothers is the first firm to ink a contract to build homes in the development -- and it's a great start to the project, Glendenning says.
"We are elated," he says. "They are certainly a founding father for the slate of national, quality homebuilders."
Sonoma Verde is one of several projects that Baruch, who is the owner of Baruch Properties, and Glendenning, president of Post Oak Development of Texas Inc., have mapped out for the Alamo City. As reported last week by the Business Journal, the duo recently closed on the purchase of 382 acres of land at the northwest corner of Interstate Highway 10 and Camp Bullis Road, also on the Northwest Side.
Toll Brothers plans to build a mix of townhomes and patio/garden homes, according to C.J. Rogers, who is the vice president for the San Antonio and Austin area of Toll. The firm also looks to do two different sizes of single-family homes -- one format starting at about 3,000 square feet; the other starting at 3,500 square feet.
"It's a master plan within a master plan," says Rogers about his firm's latest project. Toll Brothers is still working on design themes and names for the development.
At build out, the project is slated to consist of 421 residential units, says Rogers, who adds that the price tag for lot-work alone has been estimated at roughly $27 million.
Plans call for Toll Brothers to develop two communities within Sonoma Verde. One neighborhood will be made up of the town homes and the smaller single-family units. The town homes will start at $225,000; the homes will start at $275,000, Rogers says.
The second community will be a little more high end, Rogers adds. Here, Toll will build its patio homes -- a product that offers luxury living without as much home or yard maintenance. These units will start at $300,000. The second community will also feature the larger single-family dwellings, which will carry a starting price tag of $450,000.
The goal, says Rogers, is to create a development that will appeal to the diverse group of potential buyers that have already shown interest in Sonoma Verde -- from the families that may want the more traditional residential product, to the empty nesters and young professionals that could be drawn to either the patio homes or the town homes.
The Sonoma Verde project marks the third local development for Toll Brothers The firm entered the market in 2002 with Edgewater, which is located off of Cadillac Drive in North Central San Antonio. At build-out, Edgewater will consist of 80 homes. The starting price is $360,000.
Sales at Edgewater started off slowly, Rogers says. But that is not the story these days.
"The market has changed significantly (since Toll entered in 2002). There are more affluent buyers -- especially in the north and northwest areas of the city," he says.
Indeed, while much activity remains in the home market priced at between $100,000 on up to $200,000, the numbers for high-end home starts are growing, according to Jack Inselmann, vice president for the U.S. Central Division of Metrostudy, a leading provider of housing information. As of the third quarter of this year, homes ranging in price from $200,000 to $300,000 made up 12 percent of the city's housing market, according to Metrostudy's most recent residential report.
Meanwhile, homes priced between $300,000 and $500,000 now make up 7 percent of the local housing market, Inselmann adds. Between the third quarter of 2004 to the third quarter of this year, housing starts for dwellings in the $300,000 to $500,000 price range rose 26 percent -- going from 806 starts as of third-quarter 2004 to 1,012 starts a year later.
"The dynamics are different in San Antonio than they were 10, 20 years ago. They're different than they were five years ago," Inselmann says.
And more high-end homes are on the way -- just ask Rogers, who points out that by this time next year, Toll Brothers expects to have six communities up and running here.
"We're pretty aggressive about getting into San Antonio now," he adds.
What: A homebuilder based in Horsham Valley, Pa.
What's new: The firm recently inked a contract to purchase 172.24 acres of land out of Northwest Side master-planned community Sonoma Verde
What for: Toll Brothers plans to build four different product types, as follows: town homes, 65 units; patio homes, 144 units, 60-foot lot homes, 104 units; 80-foot lot homes, 108 units