St. John New Upscale Development: The Continental

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by richb

A higher end subdivision will always take way longer to build out. Don't forget that over $1,000,000 home sales in NWI (both new and existing) are a tiny percentage of total sales. And they are custom homes, just planning them will take longer to do vs. picking a model from a track or semi-custom builder. It's likely it will be 30 years before all the lots and phases are filled, even Briar Ridge is not built out after 40 (started early 1980's).

While this is true, Park West in Munster is nearly built-out (rather quickly for the price of homes and lots--several lots of which were combined) and construction started right away as well (coming out of a recession at that time, mind you).

[Northwest Indiana]

The first home (excluding the home built by the Schilling family that is primarily accessed off of Patterson St but has a driveway from Summit Cove) is finally being built on lots 33/34 on Summit Cove. The builder is Gander Builders based in Frankfort, IL. If you drive by the lot, you can see them preparing to frame soon and there is a sign showing the rendering of the project. The home design is that upscale timber home look. I am glad that construction is finally starting as the delay had concerned quite a few folks in the area that believe the project was going to fail.

[ta1064]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

The first home (excluding the home built by the Schilling family that is primarily accessed off of Patterson St but has a driveway from Summit Cove) is finally being built on lots 33/34 on Summit Cove. The builder is Gander Builders based in Frankfort, IL. If you drive by the lot, you can see them preparing to frame soon and there is a sign showing the rendering of the project. The home design is that upscale timber home look. I am glad that construction is finally starting as the delay had concerned quite a few folks in the area that believe the project was going to fail.

Wow, totally shocked there is some building happening. It will be interesting to see if other homes will be built this year. Curious if the architectural standards have been changed to lure buyers.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by ta1064

Wow, totally shocked there is some building happening. It will be interesting to see if other homes will be built this year. Curious if the architectural standards have been changed to lure buyers.

I do not believe that the architectural standards have changed. What has changed though is that after the combination of lots 33 and 34 by the property owner, this prompted Schilling to go ahead and resubdivide some lots in the subdivision to make them more attractive and maybe 20-50% larger. While this also means they will be more expensive, the value is there because a larger home can be built. Given the architectural requirements but also the fact that this is still Indiana where folks still want a "bang for their buck", the smaller lots would have meant that folks may have decided to look elsewhere where they could find a larger lot in St John at a cheaper price and still build a quality home. Sure, they would not get a gated community but the aspect of being gated (and also being close to the 41/93rd intersection) are really the main aspects that sets it apart from other upscale developments. Now with the larger lot sizes without the trouble of having to go through a replatting/resubdividing, this is a plus for potential buyers. If I had to take a guess, I would estimate 2-3 more starts before the end of 2024. Some lots that had been pending for a while are now sold.