Condo Developments Gaining Favor in Area
The Cincinnati Enquirer, May 2007

A Mason developer hopes to score big again with 102 condominiums it is building on Wilkens Boulevard in Deerfield Township.

The $30 million development, called The Woods on Wilkens, will offer ranch-style condos that include two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two-car attached garages and extra storage space.

Eight units have been built, eight more are being built and 11 have sold. The project is expected to be completed by 2010.

C liff and Elizabeth Klutts are buying a condo at The Woods for roughly $300,000. The couple plan to move into the condo by year's end after selling their two-story, five-bedroom home in Lebanon. Cliff is 67 and Elizabeth is 65.

"The main thing that appealed to us about the condo was the convenience it offered to such things as shopping and entertainment," Cliff says.

"We also made the investment because we're confident the value if our condo will increase significantly over the next three years."

The condos, clustered in 26 buildings, will run from $250,000 to $300,000 and range from about 1,700 to 2,000 square feet, says Peggy Singson, general manager at Gridiron Development Inc., the project's builder and developer.

The Woods illustrates how developers are willing to gamble on new condo developments in Deerfield Township and Mason, though single-family home construction is down and land is scarce for condo development in those areas.

Bill Heckman, president of Builder Resources, a Blue Ash-base real state brokerage and consulting firm, said several factors are driving the trend:

Deerfield Township and Mason are maturing neighborhoods where land prices have risen to a point where builders are encouraged to provide attached housing that tends to be more affordable.

There is a growing number of househoulds without children who are attracted to the recently added amenities in the neighborhoods, including the new Deerfield Towne Center.

Now that many of their kids are off to college, some resident who moved into those areas a dozen years ago are downsizing to condos to remain in the neighborhood.

Requests for zoning permits for condos in 2006 were 107, up from 99 in 2005, said Ronnie Caldwell, the township's enforcement officer.

Through April this year, 39 permits were requested, up from 32 from the same time last year.

By contrast, requests for zoning permits for single-family homes totaled 50 through April of this year, down from 73 in the same four-month period in 2006. The permits totaled 170 last year, down from 285 in 2005.

Caldwell said much of the condo activity has come from Wilkens Boulevard, where The Woods is among three such developments.

The two other projects, according to the Warren County Regional Planning Commission, are Fox Hollow and Beacon Hill of the Village Square in Deerfield Towne Center, with a combined 190 units planned.

But condo activity in neighboring Mason has not been as brisk.

There were requests for 61 building permits for condos last year, down from 141 in 2005, says Greg Nicholls, Mason's chief building official. Through April, building-permit requests totaled 12, down from 20 in January-April of 2006.

"Less land to build condos and Mason not annexing land from near-by communities in recent years could be among factors condos development has dropped the past couple of years," Nicholls says.