Credit: courtesy adams development group
When builders Bruce Crumand Chris Frank acquired 100 acres in Adams Township north of Pittsburgh back in 2000, they saw a golden opportunity. The property was a scant 30 minute drive to downtown, but it was just over the county line, where taxes were lower. The hitch was the water situation: The whole town was on wells. So, to bolster the local infrastructure, the partners coughed up $300,000 to run a 12-inch main down the state highway, thereby creating a pipeline not only to their raw land, but also to the area’s schools and existing homes.
“Then the township took over the water line—which was good—but we became our own worst enemy,” says Crum, whose company, Adams Development Group, is (like the township) named after the nation’s sixth president. “They created the Adams Township Water Authority and ran a complete loop, at which point every property around us started skyrocketing in value. Then we had major players coming in and picking up all the remaining pieces of land.”
Credit: courtesy adams development group
Luxury estate homes and middle-market single-family residences by Adams Development Group had previously done well in the area. But in this increasingly competitive landscape, Crum and Frank found themselves grappling for a new edge. “We were in the last stages of designing another single-family product in the 2,000- to 2,500-square-foot range—all the way through engineering—and noticed that the other builders coming in were doing the same thing,” Crum says. So they scrapped that strategy and recast the land plan, wagering that a higher-density, attached product might fill an unmet need in the marketplace.
In 2003, Adams Development Group introduced Adams Crossing, a community of “classic American carriage homes,” offering luxury living at just over three units per acre. Catering to empty-nesters and young professionals, the attached four-plex units served up many of the goodies that are typically associated with single-family living but at a lower price point. In addition to traditional gabled roofs, entry porticos, island kitchens, tray ceilings, and private outdoor courtyards, options included solariums, steam showers, whirlpool tubs, surround sound, radiant heat flooring, and built-in gas grills.
“We took all our experience designing for the high-end single-family market and put it into a product for the buyer who is downsizing but not downgrading,” says Crum. “They may want less space and less maintenance, but they still want a nice entry, lots of light, a good kitchen for entertaining, and a nice owner’s suite.”
Two years later, the first 60 units (phases one and two) were sold out, but the builder wasn’t content to do more of the same in subsequent phases. Feedback from prospective buyers who had declined to purchase in round one prompted some strategic design tweaks.
Credit: courtesy adams development group
“We had people coming in and saying, ‘We really like it, but we don’t want a home this big. We don’t want to clean it. We don’t want to spend this much. We don’t want any stairs,’” Crum recalls.
In response, the builder introduced two more plan options in phases three and four, which broke ground and opened for presales in 2006. The new plans answer the call for single-story living and high-end appointments in as little as 1,600 square feet. But perhaps their biggest draw is flexibility when it comes to volume spaces. The footprint of each unit is a constant, but the building envelope can be configured more than one way.
“This time we designed the center hall to the bedroom and over the great room like a commercial build-out, so you can either have a two-story great room, or you can have a 9-foot great room with bedrooms, storage, or a game room overhead. It’s a plan that can swing to accommodate different lifestyles,” says Crum. “The breakdown of those taking the two-story great room versus the second-level flex space has been about 50/50,” he adds, noting that cost efficiencies have been achieved by using panelized construction systems.
When the housing market slowed in 2006, Adams Crossing didn’t skip a beat. The next round of carriage homes is currently under construction, with 16 of the 70 units in phase three sold and 24 of the 60 units in phase four sold.
Happy buyers who jumped early on and are now comfortably moved in have proven to be a powerful sales tool. Last June, a “meet the residents” cookout gave prospective buyers a chance to mingle with existing residents and ask questions. “We got a tent, threw some stuff on the grill, and were stunned by the turnout,” Crum says. “Customers really liked having the opportunity to talk to the people who live there. They felt they weren’t being sold; they were getting answers. After that event, we got six contracts.”