Toll Brothers luxury-home project takes shape in SE Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS — Luxury-home builder Toll Brothers Inc. is ramping up to build 415 homes ranging in price from $500,000 to more than $1 million in southeast Fort Collins.

The master-planned community called Kechter Farm bears the name of the 166-acre property that Tolls Brothers (NYSE:TOL) purchased from the Kechter family in 2014. It is adjacent to Fossil Creek Reservoir and will contain open space plus walking and biking trails. The community lies west of Interstate 25 and south of Harmony Road.

While the city of Fort Collins would like to see more affordable homes built, there too is a demand for high-end homes with plush amenities, according to Toll Brothers’ market research and area Realtors.

Mitch Weiner, Toll Brothers’ Colorado area sales manager, said the company entered the Fort Collins market because its research indicated a supply of high-end buyers here, and because the property it acquired is in close proximity to where many of those potential buyers work.

“This project is within a mile of Fortune 500 companies that provide high-paying jobs, such as Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corp., Avago Technologies and Microsoft Corp. It also is near Banner Health’s new hospital,” Weiner said. “We’ve sold homes to two neurosurgeons already.”

Toll Brothers is constructing model homes on the site, and has sold 12 homes for the first of the four phases.

The presales don’t surprise Eric Thompson, a Realtor who runs Windermere Real Estate Colorado in Fort Collins and closely tracks the market.

“There has been a jump in demand for luxury homes in Fort Collins,” Thompson said. Last year there was an 80 percent increase in sales of homes of more than $400,000, the number he uses to characterize luxury homes. Just 17 percent of the homes listed for sale in Fort Collins are priced in that range.

Thompson believes the demand for luxury homes is driven by two types of buyers: executives moving to Fort Collins as companies here grow, and move-up buyers, homeowners who are taking advantage of two straight years of appreciating home values, using that equity to move into their dream homes.

Weiner said Toll Brothers believes Kechter homes also will attract baby boomers.

“We believe the upscale baby boomer market is underserved in Fort Collins,” he said.

Fort Collins’ population is estimated at 155,400 and has been growing at a rate of 2.04 percent per year, according to the city.

Mark Bailey, senior vice president of Toll Brothers’ Colorado division, said the company has been watching the Northern Colorado market grow and is pleased to have been able to purchase the Kechter Farm property.

The Horsham, Pa.-based production builder is in the process of constructing model homes for three of the four planned areas — The Estates at Kechter, The Preserve at Kechter and the Enclave at Kechter. The name of the fourth section has not been released, Weiner said.

“We will be opening with 33 home sites available in The Estates at Kechter home collection,” Weiner said. Home sites there range from one-third to nearly one-half acre, and many back to open space. Buyers can choose one- or two-story home designs, ranging from 2,800 square feet to more than 4,300 square feet, Weiner said.

A 6,000-square-foot clubhouse with a fitness center will be centrally located in the neighborhood, as will a resort-style pool and spa.

Weiner said Toll Brothers will preserve the Kechter homestead and develop around environmentally sensitive areas.

“That waterfront property could have commanded a higher price, but we won’t build lots on there,” Weiner said. “Toll Brothers wants to preserve the natural setting around the water as well as the wildlife sanctuary on the farm.”

Weiner said it will take about two years to complete construction on the infrastructure for the entire community, and the build-out of the 415 homes could take decades, depending on sales.

Toll Brothers also is building luxury homes in Broomfield and Douglas counties in Colorado as well as 18 other states.

Doug Storum can be reached at 303-630-1959, 970-416-7369 or dstorum@bizwestmedia.com.

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