Home Sales Drive Bella Vista Toward Completion Next Year
People looking to buy a new custom home in Bella Vista had better act fast.
The subdivision at the southern reach of Sullivan Road will soon be done expanding.
“It’s one of the premier neighborhoods of the Valley, and we’re currently selling the last two phases and then it will be complete,” said Janet Ekstrom, president of Janek Co., the company marketing the new homes. She said both phases should be complete by spring of 1997.
The Bella Vista Heights and Skyview Ridge Estates additions will add 58 new houses to the 200 or so that now make up the subdivision.
“We’re having a tremendous amount of interest,” Ekstrom said. “It’s satisfying being involved with the last phases of an established neighborhood … you don’t have the uncertainty about what will be built around you.”
The Bella Vista Heights addition will be made up of 34 homes, priced from $240,000 to $400,000. Ekstrom said 15 lots remain for sale there, two now completed.
Skyview Ridge Estates will consist of 24 lots, 11 of which are still for sale. Those pricier homes will sell for from $350,000 to $1 million, and will feature large lots, anywhere from one-third of an acre to one acre in size. Ekstrom said it will have a “very exclusive feel” thanks to a large elaborate entry monument and trees lining the roadway.
No Skyview Ridge Estates homes have been built yet. Construction should begin in about 60 days.
New homes near University?
Developer Ken Tupper wants to build 43 single-family homes on an eight-acre parcel north of 12th Avenue between University and Pierce roads.
But the county commission has to approve a zoning change first, upping the allowed density from 3.5 houses per acre to seven.
Tupper’s request was turned down earlier by the hearing examiner committee. He appealed to commissioners.
About 15 neighbors showed up at the Tuesday hearing to protest the zoning change, saying it would devalue their property and increase traffic.
Tupper told commissioners that, without the change, he couldn’t build homes in the $79,000 to $99,000 range as planned. He said he would have to raise prices to about $140,000.
“There were good arguments on both sides,” County Commissioner Steve Hasson said after the hearing.
Tupper could not be reached for comment.
Commissioners will accept written comments from neighborhood residents until Feb. 27. They will announce their decision March 5.
January sales up from ‘95
Valley home sales were up last month compared to January 1995, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors.
A total of sales 68 closed last month. The average price was $119,942. Last January, 42 home sales closes, fetching an average price of $115,919.
Homes moved quicker, too, remaining on the market for an average of 71 days compared to 77 days last January.
Last month’s sales total
Rob Higgins, executive vice president of the SAR, said the increase can be attributed to mild weather through most of January and still-low interest rates.
Although December 1995 figures were better - 91 homes sold for an average of $150,920 - Higgins said it probably doesn’t reflect a true month-to-month decrease. Realtors often forget to report or delay reporting closed sales, he said, so when a year’s end rolls around, a glut of late-filed reports can boost December figures.
, DataTimes