Condos: Market Factors Changing
5-10-07 The Cincinnati Enquirer

Developers must have zoning permits before getting building permits.

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

He 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 Cente,r with a combined 190 units planned.

Caldwell said developers are quickly building condos on available land that's zoned for that use.

Robert Ware, a senior planner at the Warren County Regional Planning Commission, agrees. "Developers see a market for these condos or they would not be doing them," he said.

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

There were requests for 61 building peprmits 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.

At the same time, requests for building permits for single-family homes totaled 63 lasta year, down nearly 50 percent from 131 in 2005. There were 30 peprmits requested for single-family homes through April this year, up from 28 in the same four-month period last year.

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

But he said there is still a demand for condos in Mason. Nicholls pointed to Falling Brook, a new 123-unit condo development off Fairway Drive near the Grizzly Golf Course.

At The Woods, eight units have been built, eight more are being built and 11 have sold. The project is expected to be done by 2010. It will include a country club, outdoor heated swimming pool and fitness center, and carry a monthly $185 condo fee.

Gridiron Development is hoping to find success at The Woods as it did at The Maples at 20 Mile Farm in Loveland.

General Manager Singson said 81 of the 90 condos at The Maples have been sold, about two years after it was announced.

"We hope to attract a combination of Baby Boomers and empty-nesters looking to downsize," says Mike Gates, an owner and president of Gridiron Development, speaking of The Woods.