Thursday, June 01, 2000
High-end developments soar
Links lifestyle draws buyers
By Cliff Peale and David Eck
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Woods and swing sets are increasingly giving way to golf tees and putting greens in Greater Cincinnati's newest and most expensive neighborhoods.
In a housing market that's seen an unprecedented five years of growth, communities built around golf courses have been among the most successful of all.
Golf legend Arnold Palmer, who is designing the course at River's Bend, toured the course Wednesday.
(Michael E. Keating photo)
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More than 3,600 homes, most selling for $250,000 or more, have been built or are being planned in seven new golf-course communities in the Tristate.
The newest: River's Bend in Warren County, site of the Homearama new-home show that starts next week. Golf legend Arnold Palmer, who is designing the golf course there, toured the property Wednesday.
“People don't just buy homes, they buy lifestyle,” says Tom Humes, president of Great Traditions Land and Development Co.
Great Traditions developed Wetherington Golf and Country Club in West Chester a decade ago, when the idea of luxury living within sight of a putting green was relatively new.
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IF YOU GO
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• What: Greater Cincinnati's most prestigious new-home show. This year's event features 17 homes ranging in price from $670,000 to $2.2 million.
• Where: River's Bend in Hamilton Township, Warren County.
• When: Saturday, June 10 through Sunday, June 25. Open weekends noon-11 p.m., weekdays 4 p.m.-11 p.m.
• Getting there: Take Interstate 71 North to Exit 28. River's Bend is south on Ohio 48, 1.5 miles from the exit. Parking is on the site.
• Admission: $7 for adults.
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Today, the Sharonville company is building and selling home sites on golf course developments in Centerville and Pierce Township. And the trend shows no signs of slowing, local housing experts say.
For the past five years, Homearama has been hosted by golf course communities. The show at River's Bend eventually will include about 260 homes, priced from about $300,000 and up.
The signature at River's Bend is the Palmer-designed golf course, which will open for play next spring carrying the Tournament Player's Club logo, the first in Greater Cincinnati.
With the Little Miami River wrapping around the 480-acre site, and amenities including a connection to the Little Miami bike trail, River's Bend has all the elements that high-end home buyers love, says Bill Hines, partner in developer Hines-Griffin Land Development Co.
The destination is popular even though Mr. Hines expects fewer than half of the home buyers at River's Bend to join the golf club. One-time membership fees will start at $29,000 for those who own homes at River's Bend.
“You can walk up and down and find a house on any street in any regular community, and back into another house and trees or whatever, but when you've got manicured fairways and tees and greens and ponds and lakes, people that don't even like golf just like that setting,” Mr. Hines says.
And there are plenty of buyers.
With most people working, and residents wealthy from stock market investments, they can well afford the mini-mansion mortgage. Average household income in Butler County's Union Township, for example, is $83,874.
Home buyers in the biggest golf-course communities overwhelmingly say they're attracted by the clubhouses, restaurants and open spaces.
“It's just very, very congenial. You don't have to have a social calendar,” says John Baty, who moved to Wetherington about five years ago.
That social element is what drew Deb and Bob Buring to a house on Wetherington's 16th green from a farm in Lebanon several years ago.
“It's a neighborhood where people watch out for one another,” Mr. Buring says. “... I think people live here for friendship and recreation. They leave their jobs behind when they come home.”
Liane Phillips, who lives with her husband, Dave, in one of the smaller “cluster homes” at Ivy Hills Country Club in Newtown, says the golf course is an amenity even for those who don't play.
“For me, the attraction is that when I drive in there, I see the golf course instead of a bunch of houses,” Mrs. Phillips says.
The millions required to build a golf course, roads and sewers drive the prices of lots and homes into the upper scales.
“It's hard to build in those types of communities for under $500,000,” says Becky Bush, vice president of Perry Bush Custom Homes, which is building a home at River's Bend for this year's Homearama and has built nearly 30 houses at area golf-course developments.
“They've been good for us, that's for sure,” she adds. “They're very expensive, but people seem to like them.”
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