The project will test whether downtown’s housing market can support large, luxury products.
So far, the market has responded favorably, according to developers and local officials.
“It’s a new product and we’re testing the market, and obviously it’s started out very well,” said Charlie Simms, owner of Charles Simms Development, developer of the project.
Charles Simms Development has received six paid reservations for the Monument Walk townhouses.
Interested buyers put down a $500 deposit, which holds their position in line for when the final pricing is released in November. People can sign a final purchase agreement starting next month.
“I think all six are very interested,” Simms said. “I think they’d go to a final purchase contract if we could give them the correct price.”
The pre-sale activity for Monument Walk illustrates the strength of downtown’s housing market and the project should add to downtown’s vibrancy, said Acting City Manager Shelley Dickstein.
“Across the country the millennials and baby boomers are shifting to urban lifestyles,” she said. “It is important for the city to capitalize on this momentum.”
Simms was one of the pioneers to test the downtown market, and he continues to widen its urban living options with notable success, said Sandy Gudorf, president of the Downtown Dayton Partnership.
Downtown is a unique neighborhood with a manifold group of housing available within just a few minutes walk, she said.
“It’s important that we broaden the options available downtown because we are seeing broader groups of people want to live downtown,” she said.
The Momument Walk townhouses will be four stories with sizes between 3,200 and 3,500 square feet. The homes will be constructed with stone on the first floor and brick on the upper levels.
The homes will be elevator ready and will have two-car attached garages, as well as two parking spaces in the rear.
The homes will have wood decks and sunrooms on the second floor in the rear.
The structures will also feature a fourth-floor sitting room.
The rooms, similar to a covered porch, will have railings but no windows. They will have stained concrete floors and wood components on the walls. Homeowners can install fireplaces or wet bars on the top level.
Simms said he decided to build this luxury product after hearing from some potential home buyers that they were interested in downtown living but the available townhomes were not large enough or had too many stairs.
The six interested buyers are empty-nesters who most likely will pursue elevators, Simms said.
Simms Development is still determining which features will come standard and which will be optional.
Adding an elevator likely will cost about $30,000. Other add-ons should include granite counter tops, wood flooring and interior trim packages.
The first six homes could open by second quarter of 2016.
Monument Walk will diversify the housing choices downtown and should attract new types of residents to the urban core, Simms said. Downtown’s resurgence depends on attracting a healthy mix of people to the center city
Monument Walk will bring the number of homes Simms Development has built downtown to 104. It will be the firm’s fifth project in the center city.
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