Multifamily sales velocity has nearly doubled, prices are up 20%, and confident consumers are buying bigger homes. (The sun is shining, birds are chirping, children are laughing, glasses are half fulling.) That great news is from The Pinehills, our state's largest housing and mixed-use project, now under way in Plymouth.
Since construction started in 2001, nine builders have sold 1,812 homes valued at $900M, says Pinehills managing partner Tony Green. Once completed, Pinehills with have 3,052 single family, condo, and rental apartment homes and 1.3 MSF of CRE valued at about $2B. So far this year, 100 homes have sold, prices are up $90k on average compared to last year, and buyers are choosing larger properties across every price range, from $300k to $2M, Tony tells us. One new neighborhood just opened around the town center, and another's due to open next month. Both offer a more in-town lifestyle for the many empty nesters settling here (until their 30-year-olds come back to live on the couch).
For all of the grandparents who want the kids to visit—but not move in—the community's first hotel is under construction: the 90-room Mirbeau Inn & Spa, due to open Q2 '14. Looking over the plans are: Pinehills prez John Judge, general counsel Deborah Sedares, and director of marketing and sales Donna Tefft. In October, the Northbridge Cos will start building an 80-home (Tony hates the word "unit") seniors housing building with independent, assisted, and memory care accommodations.
Planning started in the late '90s, when Tom Wallace (who had an option to buy the 3200-acre site) approached New England Development partners Steve Karp and Steve Fischman to build a traditional retail mall. The Steves realized that the site's zoning—primarily residential—could take development a different way. The NED partners approached the Green Companies' Tony and father Alan Green, upscale residential developers. The group realized they could build on 30% of the site, leave most of the rest natural to give nearly every home water, woods or golf course views, and have enough critical mass to build a community like one that gathered at the town center (above) for a concert, Tony recalls. (We are available for concerts, we do covers of Barry Manilow songs.)
There were challenges getting here, including development of the Summerhouse Cottages, where sales manager Stacy Gerry and construction manager Ken Moore oversee the action. Early on, Pinehills went through three years of permitting. Then came the nation's five-year economic downturn in '08. But the team has persevered to see the creation of a community where 200 will show up for summer concerts, Tony says. Pinehills is private—providing its own water, sewer and other services—with zoning that allows the team the flexibility to alter roads and home sites to maximize views. The open space safeguards nature and creates value, Tony says.
