Posts (RSS)Huber Heights Pursues Housing Project amid Repo Homes
The Ohio city of Huber Heights has decided to work with Dublin-based real estate developer DEC Investment Group for the development of a massive residential project called Carriage Trails on 625 acres of land in the city.
According to city officials, despite the relatively big number of repo homes in the city and its nearby areas, the number of residential building permits issued by the city has declined so there is room for additional home projects. Besides, the housing project has been in the planning stage for over 8 years and has changed ownership several times.
In July, Huber Heights is second to Dayton in the number of new foreclosures. Statewide, more than 11,000 households received foreclosure filings and 760 foreclosed homes were sold, according to a nationwide survey of foreclosure cases filed.
According to Roger Custer, director of planning and development at Huber Heights, DEC Investment has already spent over $10 million for the project and will start working on its first model house within a month. Another $7 million has been allotted for road construction within the project.
Ken Conaway, a top executive of DEC Investment, said that the first phase of the project would comprise 37 lots and that the first 6 homes would be built before the year ends. He added that construction activity will step up in 2010.
The development project was first proposed in 2001 as a golf-course-centered development after Huber Heights annexed farmland in the Bethel Township of Miami County. It was planned as a $350-million ten-year joint venture project by The Kendall Group, Hurdzan-Fry and TLG Development, but the plan never got off the ground.
In 2005, Kendall Group lost the property to foreclosure when it was unable to pay the loan owed to Fifth Third Bank and after it failed to pursue a deal with Hills Communities to acquire and continue the project.
In 2007, DEC Investment acquired the property from Fifth Third Bank for $5.1 million and started making development plans. Conaway said Huber Heights has strong growth potential as a city and DEC wants to help jump-start and at the same time take advantage of opportunities in the area.
According to Conaway, 1,650 homes can be built in Carriage Trails, with single family distressed homes built on the west side and multi family distressed homes built on the east side. Lots on the center of the development would cost between $275,000 and $400,000, while lower-cost homes would be priced around $130,000.