Riverside Homes and our new project, Barton Skyline, were the subject of a feature story in the Austin American Statesman on Sunday, January 9, 2011. Coinciding with the start of construction, the article focused on the modern style and flexible floor plans offered in the 10 homes being built at Barton Skyline. Riverside Homes, our sister company, has been building great homes for modern life in South Austin since 2001. Here’s what The Statesman had to say:
House hunters Patty Crotwell and her husband, Peter Nesbit, searched for about three months for a contemporary home in Central Austin. Their price range: $350,000 to $450,000. ‘We were looking for something nontraditional with a functional floor plan,’ says Crotwell.
“And location was really important,” she continues, “and there’s not a whole lot of choice out there in Central Austin. We looked at a mix of old and new.”
Crotwell, who is an attorney, and Nesbit, who is an air traffic controller, settled on a just-built two-story unit in a duplex at 1012 Harwood Place that was originally priced at $449,900. The home in the Travis Heights neighborhood sports a distinctly modern look, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a loft and walk-in closets in about 1,600 square feet.
“You could tell it had been well thought out and designed,” Crotwell says. “We felt like it would suit us. The finishes are fabulous. The concrete floor is done well; it’s plain but it’s not antiseptic or clinical. The tile work is just gorgeous. The granite countertops, I think, are going to wear quite well.
“I wanted an established neighborhood with trees, a quiet street, and I wanted to be able to walk to dinner and to hear some music. My husband wanted an architectural gem. And he got it. We were very thankful to get it.”
In November, the home was on the “Today” show during a segment by New York-based real estate expert Barbara Corcoran. Austin builder Scott Turner says the home might have been selected for the “What You Can Get for Under $500,000″ segment because it reflects “the growing popularity of clean, simple design and modern style in architecture, a trend predicted by the National Association of Home Builders to continue throughout the decade.”
It’s a trend that’s in short supply in Central Austin — especially at the $500,000 price point — Turner says, but he is trying to change that. Since 2001, his company, Riverside Homes, has built about two dozen modern homes in the $400,000 to $500,000 price range on in-fill lots in Central Austin neighborhoods such as Travis Heights, Bouldin Creek and Zilker. Turner currently is working on a 10-home development, Barton Skyline, that is planned on a one-acre tract in the Zilker neighborhood.
At less than $500,000, he says, you can expect to find homes built from the 1940s to the 1970s, with square footage between 1,600 and 2,300, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The price, of course, will reflect the “varying degrees of updating depending on location.” But, he says, some homebuyers don’t want an older home.
“Old homes quite often have old problems even after they have been updated,” he says. “Existing floor plans can also be hard to modernize for a buyer’s needs,” he says. New homes are often in short supply in Central Austin and go quickly, he says. As a real estate broker, Turner says he knows what homebuyers are looking for, and as a custom home builder, he can give them what they want and might not be able to find.
The Harwood project, for example, began as a small 1960s duplex that, Turner says, was “nestled under nine large cedar elm trees, which are both its biggest asset and biggest challenge.” It required a variance because it was subject to the city’s residential size ordinance. Those considerations prompted the final design of the duplex, which “became a narrow structure down the middle of the lot where the old duplex used to stand between the trees.” The existing paved alley made it possible to build the units front to back instead of side to side, which minimized the number of common walls and maximized the privacy. Consideration also was given to the number and placement of windows so homeowners would have privacy and still have plenty of natural light and flexibility when placing furniture, he says.
Being a successful custom home builder requires attention to detail, good communication and good service, he says. “The home building business is really about happy homeowners, not sticks and bricks,” Turner says. “It’s another way of saying the client comes first, something we are very familiar with as real estate agents.”
Turner says he’s tried “to build good relationships with our neighbors and the neighborhood associations along the way. Whether it’s a variance to work around the trees, like on Harwood, or simple curiosity about what’s going on next door, we hope it won’t be the first or last time that they’ve heard of us.” It won’t be. Two units are being started this month as models for the Barton Skyline development, he says.
“Barton Skyline offers several features not easy to find in the Austin real estate market today, or even within the Zilker neighborhood itself,” Turner says. “(The houses) are new and modern. They also offer downtown views, an excellent location minutes from some of the best things about living in Austin.”
He cites the development’s walkability to restaurants and businesses on South Lamar Boulevard and its one-block proximity to Zilker Elementary. Barton Skyline’s units have three-star ratings from Austin Energy’s Green Building program, two-car garages and private yards. Buyers can also customize their homes before they are built. Prices for the two- and three-story garden homes at Barton Skyline will range from $469,000 to $579,000. Turner says people who build a custom home in Zilker or Travis Heights neighborhoods typically spend more than $700,000.
“Four of the homes at Barton Skyline offer large backyards with flexible floor plans,” Turner says. “The other six are three-story homes, most with downtown views.” The homes, located at 2105 Goodrich Ave., will average about 2,000 square feet, with open floor plans, “storefront glass entries” and high ceilings. Some of the homes include a flex space and some offer an optional fourth bedroom. Kitchens will be decked out with custom sheet-glass backsplashes, Caesarstone countertops and sustainably harvested European-style frameless cabinetry. Although the footprint of each home already has been established, homebuyers can consult with Austin architect Doug Frey on floor plan changes, Turner says.
Frey, who also worked on the Harwood Place project, says the Barton Skyline homes will be similar in feel to the duplex, but they will be large enough and flexible enough to accommodate families, empty nesters or roommates. “What we were trying to do is come up with plans that would be flexible for a number of different buyers,” Frey says. “We really do have options where you can have a home office and still have a guest bedroom and also have kind of a second TV area. There’s just not much of this product around right now.” Options also include eco-friendly selections including spray-foam insulation, LED lighting and solar panels. The property overlooks a historic cemetery that Frey says looks more like a park, and homeowners will have access to a common area at the rear of the development. Homeowners association dues will be $50 per month.
Watch Harwood on The Today Show>>
Find out more about Barton Skyline>>
Find out more about Riverside Homes>>
Ask about building a home in Central Austin>>
Read the article in the Statesman>>
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