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February 16, 2007 - 5:31AM
Developer postpones East Valley subdivision
Comments | RecommendMisty Williams, Tribune
A Scottsdale-based developer has postponed plans to build 155 new homes in Gilbert until the housing market recovers.
Cachet Homes’ Velvendo Village project would sit on 88 acres near the southeast corner of Williams Field and Lindsay roads.
But with the market in a slump, the builder decided to let escrow on the property run out.
Many Valley builders have put their land acquisition prospects on hold until the housing outlook improves, said Jim Shelly, Cachet’s vice president of land development.
“Hopefully, as the market improves, we can put a timeline to it,” Shelly said.
Right now, anyone could go in and buy the property, though Cachet has already spent time and money bringing the Velvendo project through initial city approval processes.
Taking that risk is part of doing business, Shelly said.
“We typically don’t do that,” he said. “We thought long and hard when we let the escrow expire.”
Builders are cutting back on production, said Tyler Wright, a land use planner with the Mesa law firm Pew & Lake, which specializes in helping developers with land use and zoning issues.
“It’s all a matter of absorption,” Shelly said. “You just need less lots in the pipeline.”
Valleywide, builders are busy trying to unload hundreds of existing homes in inventory.
Still, both residential and commercial developers are working on future plans, Wright said.
Gilbert planners are seeing quite a bit of activity and interest from builders, principal planner Maria Cadavid said.
Initial plans or rezonings for residential projects were approved by the Planning Commission last week on some 200 acres of land, Cadavid said.
It takes up to two years to build homes once a builder buys up raw land, so developers can plan in advance for when the market picks back up, she said. “We have seen a slow down, but it’s not dramatic or critical yet,” she said.
Cachet is moving forward with plans for a 65-lot subdivision called Carrera Estates at Higley and Germann roads in Gilbert.
Construction could start on that project in the next 60 days, Shelly said.“We’re very confident in the Gilbert market,” he said.
If built, Velvendo Village would have homes ranging in size from 3,900 square feet to 5,300 square feet with roughly 15 percent of the land designated as open space, said Wright, who worked with Cachet on the project.
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