With the help of local contractors and materials, a Chatham-Kent home building company is in the midst of Chatham's biggest housing development in nearly 40 years.
A site plan that has involved 19 years of red tape will now come to fruition as Maple City Homes is set to build approximately 380 homes between Howard Road and Bloomfield Road. The 'massive' nine-phase project will see 93 homes built during the first phase, which will also inject an estimated $30 million into the local economy, the company said in a statement on Monday.
"We're filling the need of everybody. Right now, there's a pent up demand in the need for rental space for people wanting to buy homes," said Robb Nelson, president of Maple City Homes. "First-time homebuyers want a smaller footprint of lot size and they want a more efficiently run home, so that's what we are providing."
A blueprint from Maple City Homes laying out the projected nine-phase project. (Submitted by Maple City Homes)
Homes will be "mid-priced" between $300,000 to just over $400,000 per unit, depending on what clients are looking for. According to the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors, the average price of a home sold in Chatham-Kent over the first three months of 2019 is $238,332.
Maple City Homes, along with other partners, including Clark Construction, is capitalizing on inflated home prices across southwestern Ontario. Because of the close proximity to Highway 401, the location is considered ideal for real estate.
"Right now, Chatham-Kent is in a perfect position because of our land costs," said Nelson, of the reason for building in Chatham-Kent. "When you look at comparative markets within a 45 to 60-kilometre radius the price is [about doubled]."
Residents can expect further development of the property to be ongoing for the next five years. In that span, Nelson said he expects 60 to 100 homes to be built, per year until completion.
It is expected Maple City Homes will offer two-to-three bedroom units for smaller families, with four-bedroom, two-story houses sprinkled across the project.
"With 25 per cent of people working out of their homes they can be connected to their office through the homes and have a lifestyle they are looking for," said Nelson. "That's the product we are providing."
When it is all set and done, he projects the area of almost 400 homes to bring close to $150 million to the region. That includes labour, income and trades, all of which will be locally sourced.