Feeling The Squeeze: Houston-Based Green Builder Turns Two East Dallas Lots Into Room For Six Ultra-Modern Homes
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Solutions 4 Living is planning to build six modern custom homes on Oates Road in East Dallas.
Sometimes, overly modern homes can look a bit like spaceships that land in the middle of otherwise suburban areas. It’s best, I think, if you want to build a modern home to do so amidst other modern homes.
These kind of clusters are becoming more and more popular. Take Urban Reserve for example. This Mathews-Nichols Group development hugs White Rock Creek and offers homes in a broad price range — from the high $300Ks to upwards of $1 million — in a very natural setting.
Solutions 4 Living, a Houston-based builder of sustainable homes, is doing something very similar, if not on a much, much smaller scale.
The development, which will include six modern, sustainable homes, will occupy what was formerly two lots on Oates Road. Lots will range from 14,000 to 20,000 square feet, while the homes will be in the 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot range. The homes are being marketed in the $400,000 to $500,000 range, and the developer is looking to break ground on lot No. 6, a spec home, this fall.
“The original expectation was to give buyers three home plans to choose from,” said Dara Childs of Solutions 4 Living, “however, as a custom home builder and designer, if a client were to request a new design, we would certainly strive to accomodate them and we are close to putting Lot No. 1 under contract in this manner.”
Subdividing lots, especially when they are that sizable, is nothing new. Personally, I think six lots is kind of a tight fit. I’d feel more comfortable with my neighbors if it were, perhaps, four lots. That’s enough distance without giving up too much in the way of profit.
Burke Lowe, who has partnered with Childs on the project, says the lots vary in depth from 200 to 295 feet. All of them, he added, will back up to a creek.
“We feel that the area is ready for development,” Childs said. “In the words of Robert Frost, the lots are ‘lovely, dark and deep.’ We think the lots will sell themselves.”
I do, however, like the idea of creating a niche of green custom homes in an area that is heavily treed and is right next to a creek. The only thing than concerns me a little is this post on the Solutions 4 Living blog extolling the virtues of composting toilets.
Bleurg.
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I love this, and Dallas needs more "affordable" inventory, though I would have been happier to see the entry prices closer to $250,000. While I believe that Mathews-Nichols is the realtor for Urban Reserve, the talented builder Diane Cheatham is the builder/developer. I know her well. The dwellings feature green construction, and designs by a select group of recognized architects, among them Dan Shipley, Russell Buchanan, Max Levy, and Patricia Magadini. Yup, right over there on Central near Forest. Diane also built 6400 Northaven in conjunction with the talented Caroline Summers, daughter of Emily, an agent extraordinaire with Briggs Freeman. The 6,200-square-foot home was finished in 2006 and sits on an acre overlooking a pond. It was the culmination of three years of meticulous planning by interior designer Emily Summers, ASID; architect Sharon Odum, AIA; Cheatham; and the owner. It has five bedrooms, a sleek gourmet kitchen, five full and one half baths, a screened porch, an office, a playroom, and a three-vehicle carport. The home also has a unique entrance through a gabion wall that takes in the pool and fountains. Expansive glass walls maximize the beauty of the treed lot and pond, and evoke the impression that every room—even the back patio—is floating. Glass-walled hallways bridge the living and service wings to the entertainment wing. The master suite features a huge tub with an exterior view and large rainfall shower/sauna, which provides a courtyard view and opens to a private exterior patio. So unique, when marketed in 2007 for $5.2 it sold, to one of the owners of the Container Store, William Tindall
I love this, and Dallas needs more "affordable" inventory, though I would have been happier to see the entry prices closer to $250,000. While I believe that Mathews-Nichols is the realtor for Urban Reserve, the talented builder Diane Cheatham is the builder/developer. I know her well. The dwellings feature green construction, and designs by a select group of recognized architects, among them Dan Shipley, Russell Buchanan, Max Levy, and Patricia Magadini. Yup, right over there on Central near Forest. Diane also built 6400 Northaven in conjunction with the talented Caroline Summers, daughter of Emily, an agent extraordinaire with Briggs Freeman. The 6,200-square-foot home was finished in 2006 and sits on an acre overlooking a pond. It was the culmination of three years of meticulous planning by interior designer Emily Summers, ASID; architect Sharon Odum, AIA; Cheatham; and the owner. It has five bedrooms, a sleek gourmet kitchen, five full and one half baths, a screened porch, an office, a playroom, and a three-vehicle carport. The home also has a unique entrance through a gabion wall that takes in the pool and fountains. Expansive glass walls maximize the beauty of the treed lot and pond, and evoke the impression that every room—even the back patio—is floating. Glass-walled hallways bridge the living and service wings to the entertainment wing. The master suite features a huge tub with an exterior view and large rainfall shower/sauna, which provides a courtyard view and opens to a private exterior patio. So unique, when marketed in 2007 for $5.2 it sold, to one of the owners of the Container Store, William Tindall
Composting toilets? I think I'll pass. SMH
Composting toilets? I think I'll pass. SMH