Buyers camp out to get lots they wanted in planned community

The Birmingham News - Tuesday, January 30, 2007 - By Dawn Kent
Mark and Mary Jo Kovacs were so determined to claim a lot for a new home in Hoover's Ross Bridge community, they camped out to do it.

The newlyweds from Bessemer ate a sushi dinner and slept in their car parked outside a sales office one stormy night earlier this month, before lots were made available the following day.

They weren't alone. Two other buyers were parked alongside the couple, evidence of the continued popularity of Ross Bridge, where home construction began more than 18 months ago.

Now, development in the 1,600-acre community is moving past the inaugural neighborhoods into new sectors, and officials with developer Daniel Corp. expect demand to remain high.

Ross Bridge's new neighborhoods include Glasscott, where construction recently began. Most of the 37 custom homes will sit on the golf course of the Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa, and prices will start in the mid $700,000s.

Haddon, which is off Ross Bridge Parkway, is another new neighborhood. Plans call for 136 homes with basements, priced from the low $400,000s, and lots will be made available in about two weeks, said sales manager Dorothy Tayloe.

"We think that will be an excellent seller, because it hits a gap in the market we have at Ross Bridge," she said.

So far, a little more than 300 homes have sold in Ross Bridge, where real estate choices range from garden homes with prices that start in the mid $200,000s to custom homes that top $1 million.

Long-range plans call for nearly 1,800 single-family homes and 600 multifamily units.

Among Ross Bridge's first neighborhoods, Abbeyglen has sold out, while Greenside and Freestone Ridge are nearly sold out. Meanwhile, about half of the homes have sold in the neighborhoods of Bellevue and Butler Springs.

Construction also continues in the Village Center, where Signature Homes is building on about 200 home sites. The variety includes million-dollar homes that will line the road leading to the resort and craftsman-style homes elsewhere.

The Kovacses spent the night at Ross Bridge waiting to reserve a lot for one of the craftsman-style homes. Fourteen of the 19 lots made available were reserved that day, and now those reservations are up to 17. Buyers get to pick their lot according to their spot on the reservation list.

Mark Kovacs said he and his wife like Ross Bridge for sentimental reasons - they were married at the resort last summer - but they also have practical reasons for wanting to live there.

It's a good location and good investment, he said, since the community is in its early stages. They also both previously lived in Florida and became familiar with the master-plan community concept there.

"It seems like a fresh slate," Kovacs said. "They've got a lot of land to work with."