REVISION FOR OLDER BUYERSIf there was one surprise in the project, it was the number of older buyers. Barratt had expected to draw mainly commuters who wanted to get closer to work in San Diego. Instead, it attracted significant interest from over-50 locals who were ready to transition from large, high-maintenance homes to a smaller space closer to the amenities of downtown Escondido.
The big drawback for older buyers was the number of stairs they needed to climb in the largest and most popular unit, plan 3. That plan has its entrance on the first floor and requires walking all the way up to the third floor to enter the unit. Then, there's another flight of stairs to the master bedroom.
As a result, City Square's second phase will offer a personal elevator as an option for plan 3. Quiet, nicely decorated, and large enough to carry three or four people comfortably, the elevator option “will be the answer for those who wanted to buy, but for the stairs,” Clemens says. “We're contacting them now to tell them, ‘Your dream has come true.' ”
Pricing for phase 2, which is under construction now, has gone up by $3,000 to $6,000 per unit, except for the plan 3 with the elevator option, which will run an extra $25,000 to $30,000.
“We knew we needed to raise pricing a little to make the phase 1 people happy, but not so much to be out of the market,” Hewitt says. “At Barratt, we've been really, really conscious of not slashing and burning prices. It's not fair to the people who already bought, and it devalues the community.”
LOCATION: ESCONDIDO, CALIF.Community: City SquareTotal acreage: 3.57Date opened for sale: June 2007
URBAN CHIC: The soaring two-story living room gives buyers the sense of a much larger space in plan 3, the largest unit at City Square, at 1,903 square feet.