Photo by Krista Wadsworth

By Krista Wadsworth

Third phase to start in summer, houses to be built in 2015

A stronger-than-expected new home market in Frisco has caused the Newman family to scramble to keep up with demand in its Newman Village community near Eldorado Parkway and the Dallas North Tollway.

Lots are selling quickly in the Phase 2A and Phase 2B projects, said Jim Newman, president of Newman Real Estate. Phase 2A is already half sold, and Phase 2B is expected to be built out in the next two years, Newman said.

"We waited too late, we sold out of a lot of product, so we had to hurry up Phase 3 so we could get our classical [architectural style] product back online," Newman said. "The market is very strong."

Phase 3 will break ground in June or July, he said. The area, which will be accessed from Legacy Drive, will undergo nearly a year of preparation work to ready the lots for home construction in spring 2015.

"The market just seems to be really good right now," Newman said. "What the housing bubble collapse created was a demand for homes. What happened is that the market collapsed and then everybody held off, not knowing whether to sell or build. After the market came back, it came back very quick, and right now, interest rates are incredibly low."

Homebuilders for the 90-foot-wide lots in Phase 3 include Belclaire Homes and Darling Homes as well as additional custom homebuilders. Houses will start in the $700,000 to $800,000 range.

"Custom lots are what really drive the sale of this neighborhood," said Whitney Newman Brubaker, a Realtor for Newman Real Estate. "It's hard, as Frisco is growing, to find those bigger lots now. Neighborhoods that had those lots available are slowly but surely getting built out."

Newman Village, constructed on the Newman family's homestead property, started in 2008.

There are eventual plans in the development for a Phase 4 of homes, and an additional area for homes the Newman family is calling their "homestead edition," which will be the most expensive homes in the community.

A 27-acre, high-end urban retail development similar to the Shops at Legacy in Plano is also in the neighborhood plan. The area will include shops, restaurants and architecturally unique townhomes.

Newman said the timeline on starting the urban development is four to five years in the future.

"Everything we thought was seven to 10 years out [is occuring quicker]," he said.