San Antonio firm offers some ‘Serenity’ to housing market
San Antonio Business Journal - by Tricia Lynn Silva
Luxury homebuyers could soon have a new place to call home.The first shovel of dirt has been turned on Serenity at Westover Hills — a new luxury garden-home development slated for the city’s far West Side.
The community will be located off of Westover Hills Boulevard and State Highway 151 — on land situated between the Hyatt Hill Country Resort and the Radisson Resort Hill Country. The neighborhood will actually be on land adjacent to the Radisson, says Rick Montelongo — whose firm, Montelongo Investment Corp., is serving as the developer and general contractor on the project.
Plans call for 35 garden homes that will range in size from 2,200 to 3,000 square feet. The price for a home: Anywhere from $345,000 to $425,000.
The first six model homes in Serenity are set for completion in early spring, says Montelongo, who adds that he expects to sell all 35 homes in the community within 24 months.
“Our first clients are already coming through the front doors,” Montelongo says.
He puts development costs for Serenity at about $10 million.
Boom location
Besides being sandwiched between two high-end hospitality ventures, Serenity is also poised to benefit from the residential and commercial boom taking place on the city’s far West Side — including the growth in master-planned community Westover Hills.
“That whole Westover Hills area — the new companies coming in — it’s the natural (location) for a high-end housing development,” Montelongo says.
But given recent numbers posted in the city’s housing market, is it wise for Montelongo to strive for Serenity now?
According to Houston-based Metrostudy, for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2007, construction began on 12,594 homes — down from the 19,098 housing starts recorded at the end of 2006.
Current stats, however, have not dampened Montelongo’s mood about Serenity at Westover Hills. “I feel very confident about (the project),” he says. “The market has been calling for it.”
It is the entry-level production builders that have been feeling the brunt of the local housing downturn, Jack Inselmann of Metrostudy told the Business Journal this past November. Inselmann is the vice president of the U.S. Central Division of the housing-research firm.
“The custom guys are telling me, ‘We can’t keep up (with demand),’” Montelongo adds. “High-end homes with custom amenities are still in demand.”
And Serenity, Montelongo continues, is targeting a growing demographic among homebuyers — the Baby Boomers with a desire to downsize from their large homes and the young professionals looking for something high-end. Both groups, he adds, share a desire for something that is luxurious, but also low-maintenance.
Montelongo is already well-known in the residential arena. He is the president and CEO of Montelongo Homes & Remodeling — one of the city’s largest residential remodeling firms.
The firm ranked No. 2 on the Business Journal’s list of the Largest San Antonio Remodeling Firms — reporting $4.2 million worth of remodeling work in 2006.
Montelongo Investment was created in 2002 as a means for offering acquisition/investment, development and construction services to a new market — including clients doing business in the commercial real estate arena, the firm’s founder says.