Categories

Content Type

Sources

Showcase homes still have a place in down market

By Mary Shanklin, The Orlando Sentinel, Source: MCT News Service

ORLANDO, Fla. _ Work has started in downtown Orlando on the next New American Home _ a high-profile but, in recent years, troubled attraction each year when the nation's home builders gather for their annual convention and trade show.

The product-show-and-tell home debuts every year as part of the National Association of Home Builders' giant International Builder Show, which is expected to draw more than 50,000 industry professionals to Orlando next January.

But four of the past five projects have been dead-ended, distressed or deeply discounted _ metaphors, it seems, for one of the hardest-hit industries in the country:

_In Las Vegas, where the most recent show convened in January, a private investor pulled his money out of this year's New American Home project, and the builder could not get a construction loan to complete it. The house was foreclosed on and, for the first time in the demonstration project's 27-year history, it was not a part of the show.

_For the 2008 builders' show in Orlando, Charlie Robertson of Robertson Homes built a 6,700-square-foot New American Home in Lake Nona. Appraised for $4.7 million, the house was under contract until the IRS froze the prospective buyer's assets, Robertson said. Last August, First Commercial Bank foreclosed on the property, and it's now listed for $2.5 million.

_For the 2007 show in Orlando, Carmen Dominquez, former president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando, built a 4,200-square-foot New American Home on Broadway Avenue near Lake Eola in downtown Orlando. It was hailed for its environmental features and toured by thousands, but it took more than two years to sell and finally went for $900,000 _ less than one-third its original price.

_Next door to the 2007 New American Home, PSG Construction Inc. renovated what was called the Renewed American Home. Originally listed for $2.2 million, it's now under contract at an undisclosed price as a distress sale.

"Each of those houses had buyers, but either the builder made a wrong decision or got greedy and overpriced the house," said Tucker Bernard, executive director of the National Council of the Housing Industry, which oversees the New American Home program.

The 2006 house _ also built in Orlando, on Lake Burden in southwest Orange County _ was also challenged. When it was about half-completed, builder Alex Hannigan learned that the developer lacked the necessary approvals from county officials, and the house could not be sold for more than a year. The developer had financed the house, though, and Hannigan said he was unsure what eventually happened to it.

The lone success for the New American Home came in 2009, when Blue Heron Inc. sold the 8,195-square-foot house for $4 million prior to the show in Las Vegas, leasing it back from the owner for the event.

The International Builder Show, because of its large size and need for expansive convention space, has been alternating in recent years between Las Vegas and Orlando _ two of the nation's biggest convention cities but also two of the hardest-hit metro areas in terms of foreclosures, Bernard noted.

Next year's New American Home is being constructed by Keith Clarke and Bill Cook of Continental Homes Inc. on three lots facing Lake Davis. The house will not suffer the same fate as some of its recent predecessors because two Orlando residents have purchased it in advance. They have been working with project architect Michael Curtis of Alexandria, Va.

While there's no pressure to finance and eventually sell the house, the Orlando project still faces some challenges.

For instance, construction is already behind schedule. Work on the site was supposed to start in December, but it didn't get underway until February because of delays with the design work, the builders said.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

"I would say the architect is being a perfectionist," said Cook, adding that construction crews will likely work seven days a week to get the structure completed, possibly as soon as Oct. 8. Builders said it will be done in time to be photographed for publications promoting both the home and the giant convention, which will be in Orlando Jan. 12-15.

Part of the reason for the delays was that the architect had to work with the buyers to incorporate their ideas and, in addition, the city of Orlando recently incorporated the property into the flood plain and so plans had to be revised, Bernard said.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

At a time when U.S. homes have gotten smaller in recent years, the two-story house on Lake Davis, Fla., is coming out of the ground with 9,000 square feet. The team behind the next New American Home says that, despite its large scale, it will meet the highest environmental standards and will include an underground cistern to collect rainwater for irrigation. The goal is for the house to attain an emerald-level classification from the American National Standards Institute.

The New American Home built in 2009 had more than 9,000 square feet but used the same amount of energy as a newly built house with only 1,800 square feet.

The 2011 Orlando home, designed in an American Empire style with some touches of Greek Revival, promises to spark interest in a community where Mediterranean and traditional-style homes dominate most neighborhoods. It will also likely stand out because it is wider than it is deep, in contrast to homes built on increasingly narrow lots in recent decades. Part of the lot will accommodate a three-car garage with an apartment above it.

The builders said they have scratched their heads over some of the home's features.

"As a builder, I see so many flaws with the plans," Clarke said recently.

The two-story structure is situated around a courtyard. Most rooms look onto a grass lawn lined with palm trees, and the pool is tucked to the side, visible primarily from the master suite. From the front entrance, guests access the family room and kitchen by walking through the dining room. Moving away from traditional-style stairways that sweep down into the foyer, the home features a floating marble staircase that descends into the dining room.

And while most homes of its size have at least four bedrooms, this one will have three in the primary residence. Plans call for so many columns flanking the walls of the master suite that the room lacks wall space for a headboard. And views of Lake Davis are limited because an expansive, windowless closet is adjacent to the lake.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

The design comes from a classically trained architect and has elements that might be unusual for the Orlando market, Bernard said. The house also serves as a demonstration laboratory for new products and building trends. In addition, he said, some of the features accommodate the buyers' vision. Ultimately, though, it will still fit in with the neighborhood.

Sometime in the next month, organizers are expected to announce the builder chosen for the 2012 New American Home, which will also be constructed in Orlando.

Most of the local builders who worked on the previous ones said they weren't applying for the job.

___

(c) 2010, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

	Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

_____

PHOTO (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): REAL-SHOWCASEHOME