The Berkshire II, an 11-room, 4,600-square-foot home, is just one of eight different models that will be featured in The Grove, a development of 19 luxury homes in Wellesley and Needham with starting prices at $1.8 million.
Sales of high-end luxury properties may be suffering in some towns because of the economic downturn, but that doesn’t seem to be the case in at least one new development on the Wellesley-Needham line.
Despite the recession, buyers have continued to express interest in The Grove, a new development of 19 single-family homes, each with a price tag of up to $2.3 million, according to its developers and marketing agent.
In recent weeks, three buyers have put down $5,000 each to reserve a home in the community, and only about six lots are still available.
When builder Steven A. Kosowsky and his partner started looking at approximately 40 acres in Needham at the Wellesley line to build The Grove back in August 1999, they realized that economic boom wasn’t going to last forever. However, because there wasn’t much new development in the desirable community, Kosowsky and his partner weren’t overly concerned.
Reaction to a magazine advertisement about The Grove that appeared in August 2000, about the same time the builders purchased the land and got approval for the project, may have eased the developers’ minds further. About eight reservations came within a month after the ad appeared.
“Based on its location and the lack of anything similar in the area, we saw this as somewhat recession-proof,” said Kosowsky, president of Creative Builders Group in Boston. “We thought that these homes would always be sellable because they are unique.”
While many people have bought homes, torn them down and built new ones in Wellesley, there is very little new development of neighborhoods and communities in the town or in that section of Needham, explained Kosowsky.
No Trophies
The Grove, conveniently located near highways, Wellesley Square and Needham’s downtown, features shingle-style homes with between 4,000 and 6,500 square feet of living space. The homes all sit on lots of approximately one acre. There are six models that buyers currently can choose from and two more new models – the Fairfield and Gloucester – will be introduced in coming weeks.
The towns’ stellar schools, and the lack of available land and new developments in the area have kept buyers coming. Prospective homebuyers who asked for information six or seven months ago and went looking at other homes in the town or other suburbs are returning to The Grove, said Kosowsky.
“It’s a testament to the value of what we’re creating here,” he said.
“They [the buyers] feel comfortable making an investment in a neighborhood and community,” added Barbara Kattman, a senior marketing specialist with Carlson GMAC Real Estate in South Natick who is marketing The Grove.
Kattman and the builders are so confident in their product that they are even considering raising the selling prices in the spring.
“We’ve been told that we’re a good value,” said Kattman. Because of this, “We can afford to raise our prices periodically without scaring off buyers,” she said.
Kattman said The Grove’s architects, D. Michael Collins Architects in South Natick, and the builders are aiming to develop a sense of community with consistent architecture throughout. All the homes are different but feature similar elements that will make The Grove feel like an old-fashioned New England neighborhood.
The homes have three-car garages, at least four bedrooms and four full bathrooms, central air conditioning, granite kitchen countertops and high-end kitchen appliances. Most of the homes include a combination family room, eat-in area and kitchen. Fourteen lots abut conservation land.
“We’re not really a community of trophy homes,” said Kattman. “The homes are nicely proportioned. There’s an elegance about them.”
That is what makes the homes attractive to young buyers, said Kattman, who added that the construction materials used – stone and shingle – and the front porches are also very appealing to buyers.
“We spend a lot time working on the floor plans and we feel that one of the things that our homes provide are open and livable floor plans,” said Kosowsky. “There is very little wasted space.”
Kosowsky said an experienced interior designer from Wellesley worked with the builders to create the homes. Many of the buyers are choosing to work with their own interior designers during the homebuilding process, he said.
So far, the homes have attracted young families with buyers in their 30s and 40s, said Kattman.
Creative Builders Group purchased the land in August 2000 from Bruce and Bonnie Beard, the children of Frieda Beard, a woman who had lived in a small home on the land for many years and died in 1999.
The builders donated half of the land they purchased, the portion which abuts 300 acres of conservation land owned by Needham, to the town for conservation.
Construction on The Grove started in March 2001.
Kattman said she’s hoping The Grove will be sold out by the end of June.
