A little over a year ago, in our Sept. 23 New Tampa issue, we told you about an upcoming townhome community that Lennar was getting ready to build, called the Townes at Cross Creek.
The unique thing about this development is the fact that it is new residential construction, in the heart of what was otherwise an entirely built out and established Cross Creek Blvd. corridor, something that hadn’t been seen in years.
For the past couple of years, townhomes have been extremely popular with buyers — especially with rising real estate prices —as a mostly less-expensive option to traditional single family-homes, while still offering the living space, garages and floorplan options buyers desire, just with less land.
And, that’s been great for Lennar, as the construction giant has been actively building a large portion of the new townhome market around the Tampa Bay area, typically at the lowest price point compared with their competitors, with DR Horton being Lennar’s closest rival.
Keeping Pace
According to sales rep Carlos Torres and construction manager Fernando Ospina, the Townes have been going absolutely gangbusters since they began being built in June of this year. And, that’s without even having an onsite sales office open yet!
The Townes at Cross Creek are divided into two phases. Although there is no “Phase A” or “Phase C” (and we have no idea why), “Phase B” consists of 60 units (located directly across the street from the entrance to the Heritage Isles community); and “Phase D,” consists of 35 units further to the east, being built almost simultaneously together, but oddly about a half mile from each other on two completely separate parcels of land.
As of Nov 25, 27 of the 60 units in Phase B were already, according to Lennar’s website, and the Lennar team told us a few more were working towards closing, including the “model,” where the garage space was actively being built into the on-site sales office for the development (but it was not yet open as of our press time).
We were told that the buyer for the model was itching to close because, when the model sells while still being used as a model, the builder will do a lease-back to the buyer, effectively paying the buyer rent until Lennar is done using it and will then convert the sales office back into a two-car garage.
When Ospina, was asked why the on-site sales office wasn’t finished yet, he explained that, “It took longer than expected to get the needed permit, but it was received Nov. 16,” where they promptly started the build-out, and are now close to adding furniture. He chuckled and said the delay was due to, “The City of Tampa, you know, being the City of Tampa,” eluding to the always- arduous permitting process.
Other than that, he said construction had been going really well, with the number of days for each townhome building completion (under his purview) being only about 129 days, a full month faster than the average for his company.
“Even though we’ve been doing great, we could ideally use another construction manager to help keep pace,” Ospina said as he flipped through the multi-page checklist he had in his hands, detailing inspection item after inspection item, everything that needed to be perfect before a unit could be finished.
Details & Pricing
The day we showed up to look at the community, three other groups of people also pulled up (one of whom had an appointment), but Torres was able to effectively split up his time, making sure everyone’s questions were answered.
Torres said that they’ve been so busy that they wondered if they would really even need to open the on-site sales office at all. He’s been driving out and meeting people with appointments on-site, and currently any customers who want to sit down and discuss numbers or go over paperwork have met him at Lennar’s Two Rivers office in Zephyrhills, about 10 minutes away, at: 35027 Brackett Bend Rd.
Ospina said that most of the buildings will be done over the next five months, with occupancy for Phase D being ready in March, April, and May. The very last building on the project schedule is actually a 6-unit building across from the future on-site sales office in Phase B, to be ready for occupancy before the fall of next year.
As construction progresses, units are only being released for sale in very small handfuls. Lennar’s online transparency makes seeing the inventory quick and straightforward. The website for the community actually shows which units have sold, which are currently for sale (with exact current prices) and which ones are upcoming on an interactive map, along with the floorplans.
All three floorplans feature 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms with usable covered patios that can easily be screened. All units also have large kitchen islands (above), as well as a second-story loft, which even the in the small plan was still a usable size and layout. Here are the three units at the Townes:
Allegiance – 1,597 sq. ft., with a 1-car garage; being offered at $319,990
Constitution – 1,760 sq. ft., 1-car garage; being offered at $339,900
Declaration- 1,807 sq. ft., 2 car garage; being offered at $364,900 (this is the model and the end units on each building)
These were the advertised online prices at the time of writing the article and are subject to change), but Torres said that additional discounts may be offered at various times, and the prices for the Declaration plan may go all the way up to around $410,000, depending upon the lot.
The prices seem very competitive to whats being offered in other Lennar communities, especially considering these are being built in the desirable and geographically well-positioned New Tampa. Prices are even similar to what was being sold by Lennar up in Connerton, a community on the north end of Land O’ Lakes, but these New Tampa units do come with some drawbacks.
The $384 monthly homeowner association (HOA) fee is definitely on the high side, especially considering that this community has no amenities. Torres also says that no utilities are included in the HOA fee, but that it does cover outside maintenance and insurance. The units at the Townes also have tiny backyards — noticeably smaller than other recent townhome communities we’ve toured.
Torres asked that anyone interested in seeing the community should make an appointment, and check to see if the on-site sales office has been opened yet. The phone number is (888) 211-6153. Carlo Torres also can be reached by email at carlo.torres@lennar.com.